Freedom Folks

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Nonsense On Stilts!

Source: Arizona daily star
Foreigners prevent population decline in many big cities

WASHINGTON — Without immigrants pouring into the nation’s big metro areas, places such as New York, Los Angeles and Boston would be shrinking as native-born Americans move farther out.
Many smaller areas, including Battle Creek, Mich.; Ames, Iowa; and Corvallis, Ore., would shrink as well, according to population estimates to be released today by the Census Bureau.
“Immigrants are filling the void as domestic migrants are seeking opportunities in other places,” said Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a private research organization.
Immigrants long have flocked to major metropolitan areas and helped them grow. But increasingly, native-born Americans are moving from those areas and leaving immigrants to provide the only source of growth.
The New York metro area, which includes the suburbs, added 1 million immigrants from 2000 to 2006. Without those immigrants, the region would have lost nearly 600,000 people.
Without immigration, the Los Angeles metro area would have lost more than 200,000, the San Francisco area would have lost 188,000, and the Boston area would have lost 101,000.
The Census Bureau estimates annual population totals as of July 1 using local records of births and deaths, tax records of people moving within the United States, and census statistics on immigrants. The estimates released today were for metropolitan areas, which generally include cities and their surrounding suburbs.
About 36 million immigrants live in the United States. Approximately one-third are in the country illegally. The Census Bureau, however, doesn’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants.
The White House floated a plan last month that would grant work visas to illegal immigrants, but they would have to return home and pay hefty fines to become legal U.S. residents.
Lawmakers were unable to reach an agreement last year on how best to stem the flow of illegal entrants. Immigration was a contentious issue in many congressional races in November.
Many demographers associate shrinking populations with economic problems, typically poor job markets or prohibitive housing prices. Advocates for stricter immigration laws question whether a stable, or even a shrinking, population is bad.
“Don’t we have concerns about congestion and sprawl and pollution?” asked Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates stricter immigration policies. “Maybe those metro areas should think about what it would take to make Americans want to live there.”
I think the headline might be a bit misleading, let's see if we can fix it so it actually matches the article...
Foreigners create "domestic migrants," government clueless!
Heh! And let me guess, these asshats all attended institutions of higher drinking, yes? Score another point for the "highly educated idiots" category!


H/T immigration watchdog

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