Population Clock Ringing Urgent Wake Up Alarm with Immigration
During 2017, immigration will be the red-hot topic that President-elect Donald Trump and his administration will have to deal with. Congress is clearly divided between the immigration expansionists and the restrictionists, with a handful falling somewhere in between.
Both sides advance convincing arguments. But one indisputable consequence that neither side talks about, even though each would agree that it’s a negative, is immigration’s immediate and long-term contribution to population growth...
Last week, the Census Bureau introduced a new population clock that shows in real time growth in the United States with births, deaths and migration. Every eight seconds, a birth is recorded; every 11 seconds, a death; and every 33 seconds, the arrival of a net new international migrant.
Translated, the Census Bureau’s clock means that the United States experiences the net growth of one resident every 17 seconds; immigration contributes about 45 percent of that growth. In all, legal and illegal immigrants account for 1.1 million new arrivals each year.
If anything, the Census Bureau data understates immigration’s role in population growth because it doesn’t factor in births to immigrants, the American citizen children born in the United States.
Research by the Center for Immigration Studies, based on the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey data, showed that in 2014 the nation had 42.4 million foreign-born residents, and their American-born children numbered 16.7 million. In all, the 59.1 million immigrants and their children totaled nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population.
The Pew Research Center projects that if the current immigration trend continues, the nation’s population will rise to 438 million by 2050 from today’s 324 million...
...with immigration at record high levels (pre-1965 average, 250,000; post-1965 average, 1.1 million), the United States needs a rational solution before it’s overwhelmed.
Ending chain migration is a good place to start. Family-based immigration must be limited to spouses and unmarried minor children. The current system of extended family admissions is not merit-based, runs on autopilot and creates exponential immigration growth.
Related
How many illegal aliens reside in the United States?
Population Driven to Double by Mass Immigration
Environment and the consequences of immigration-driven population growth
Exponential growth, doubling time, and the Rule of 70
See this interesting 5 minute interactive tutorial: Understanding Exponential Growth.