Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said Monday that new immigration legislation will allow as many as 200 million legal million immigrants to enter the US in the next 20 years. At present the US admits about 1 million legal immigrants annually; Sessions says that number would increase to between 5 and 10 million annually if the legislation passed by the Senate yesterday becomes law, with most of the new immigrants arriving from Mexico and points south.
Last year, the US admitted about 950,000 legal immigrants; roughly 350,000 of those arrived from other North American countries — which for immigration purposes include Canada, Mexico, Central America and a number of Caribbean countries — and 300,000 of those were from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Another 330,000 arrived from Asia, nearly 130,000 from Europe, and 75,000 each from Africa and South America.
Sessions’ upper estimate of 200 million would amount to two thirds the current US population, and would swell the number of citizens and legal residents to nearly 600 million. It would also amount to more than the current populations of Mexico and Central America combined. The lower limit on his estimate would only equal Mexico’s population.
Of particular concern to Sessions are the results of the “guest worker” program promoted by president Bush and incorporated in the Senate legislation. He ways somewhere between 6 million and 60 million guest workers would be admitted over the 20-year period, along with between 8 million and 73 million of their immeidate family members. Since most of these guest workers would arrive from Mexico and Central America, the total of 130 million at the upper limit would involve a mass exodus from those countries.
And there is, he says, ” nothing “temporary” about these workers. Employers may file a green card application on their behalf as soon as they arrive in the United States, or the worker may self-petition for a green card after four years of work.” And of course the numbers exclude however many illegal immigrants make it past Raytheon’s virtual fence.
It’s likely that Sessions is responsible for Bill O’Reilly’s outburst on Tuesday, when he claimed that demented liberals are plotting the browning of America.
According to the lefty zealots, the white Christians who hold power must be swept out by a new multicultural tide, a rainbow coalition, if you will. This can only happen if demographics change in America.
An open-border policy and the legalization of millions of Hispanic illegal aliens would deeply affect the political landscape in America. That’s what The New York Times and many others on the left want. They might get it
Rush Limbaugh repeated the Sessions figures Tuesday during an interview with Dick Cheney, whose reaction was considerably more low key than Rush and his listeners would have liked.
RUSH: Well, let’s talk about what’s going on in the Senate. There are a number of bills there. The compromise bill we’re being told is Hagel-Martinez, two Republicans proposing this bill. Robert Rector at Heritage and Senator Sessions, who I know you respect, both did joint analyses of this bill and what they project using conservative estimates is anywhere from over the next 20 years, 110 million to 217 million legal immigrants entering the country, and illegals as part of that number, being granted legal status. What is the public policy purpose for doing that in these kinds of numbers?
CHENEY: I haven’t seen their analysis, Rush. And at this point, of course, what you have in the House bill is specifically a border enforcement bill. What you’ve got in the Senate bill is a bill that goes after border enforcement but also in the — you’ve got Hagel-Martinez, and there’s a Kennedy-McCain. There are a lot of proposals kicking around. The Senate has not finalized its package yet, so we don’t know what’s going to come out of the conference. Obviously, we’re going to want to look at it very carefully to make sure it does achieve the objectives the President has talked about.
RUSH: Well, if you haven’t seen it, let me give you the bare essentials. Senator Sessions did his own analysis. It’s a 614-page bill. I know it’s got to be conference, but this is a pretty radical starting point. They have anywhere from 117 million to 217 million legal Americans — that’s two-thirds of the population — over the next 20 years if this bill were to become law, and if the President signed it as is.
CHENEY: These are people who would attain legal status?
RUSH: No, this is a combination of both. This is an increase in the number of legal immigrants, as well as added to illegals who would then be made legal over that 20-year time frame. And it also allows for exponential growth because these people would be allowed to bring in their family members, as well.
And one of the big concerns here is the strain this would put on an already stretched social safety welfare net and this sort of thing. And these numbers are just striking to me. Add two-thirds of the country’s population in 20 years — I don’t think we can handle that financially and certainly not in an assimilation way.
CHENEY: Right. Well, if that’s the case, I would hope that would inform the debate and that Congress will consider those kinds of impacts very carefully before they finally pass something. We’ll certainly weigh in on it.
Measured deliberation: what a concept. Cheney also pointed out that economic considerations prohibit simply rounding up and trucking out the illegal immigrants here now.
Sessions probably doesn’t expect more than 100 million Mexicans and Central Americans and another 100 million immigrants of various other hues to arrive during the next two decades. He may expect the lower figure of roughly 13 million, which would increase our population by less than 5%; certainly not enough to sweep O’Reilly’s White Christians from power even if most Mexicans and Central Americans weren’t Christians. Apparently social theocrats draw a color line; racism trumps religion.
And there you have it: the one issue on which the Bush administration are showing signs of rational thought is the one issue most likely to keep their base at home in November or split the party. The death of irony has gone the way of the end of history.
Senator Sessions: US to become nation of immigrants
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) said Monday that new immigration legislation will allow as many as 200 million legal million immigrants to enter the US in the next 20 years. At present the US admits about 1 million legal immigrants annually; Sessions says that number would increase to between 5 and 10 million annually if the legislation passed by the Senate yesterday becomes law, with most of the new immigrants arriving from Mexico and points south.
Last year, the US admitted about 950,000 legal immigrants; roughly 350,000 of those arrived from other North American countries — which for immigration purposes include Canada, Mexico, Central America and a number of Caribbean countries — and 300,000 of those were from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Another 330,000 arrived from Asia, nearly 130,000 from Europe, and 75,000 each from Africa and South America.
Sessions’ upper estimate of 200 million would amount to two thirds the current US population, and would swell the number of citizens and legal residents to nearly 600 million. It would also amount to more than the current populations of Mexico and Central America combined. The lower limit on his estimate would only equal Mexico’s population.
Of particular concern to Sessions are the results of the “guest worker” program promoted by president Bush and incorporated in the Senate legislation. He ways somewhere between 6 million and 60 million guest workers would be admitted over the 20-year period, along with between 8 million and 73 million of their immeidate family members. Since most of these guest workers would arrive from Mexico and Central America, the total of 130 million at the upper limit would involve a mass exodus from those countries.
And there is, he says, ” nothing “temporary” about these workers. Employers may file a green card application on their behalf as soon as they arrive in the United States, or the worker may self-petition for a green card after four years of work.” And of course the numbers exclude however many illegal immigrants make it past Raytheon’s virtual fence.
It’s likely that Sessions is responsible for Bill O’Reilly’s outburst on Tuesday, when he claimed that demented liberals are plotting the browning of America.
Rush Limbaugh repeated the Sessions figures Tuesday during an interview with Dick Cheney, whose reaction was considerably more low key than Rush and his listeners would have liked.
Measured deliberation: what a concept. Cheney also pointed out that economic considerations prohibit simply rounding up and trucking out the illegal immigrants here now.
Sessions probably doesn’t expect more than 100 million Mexicans and Central Americans and another 100 million immigrants of various other hues to arrive during the next two decades. He may expect the lower figure of roughly 13 million, which would increase our population by less than 5%; certainly not enough to sweep O’Reilly’s White Christians from power even if most Mexicans and Central Americans weren’t Christians. Apparently social theocrats draw a color line; racism trumps religion.
And there you have it: the one issue on which the Bush administration are showing signs of rational thought is the one issue most likely to keep their base at home in November or split the party. The death of irony has gone the way of the end of history.