Immigration-Fueled U.S. Population Growth Comes at a Cost
Although news reports enthused that Florida will gain two congressional seats due to population gains over the past decade, the U.S. Census carried more sobering side effects.
Thanks to immigration, which accounted for three-quarters of the nation's population increase, the 27.3 million additional U.S. residents was exceeded by only two other decades in American history.
Going forward, the United States is on track to add 130 million more people in just the next 40 years -- nearly doubling the current population.
"Without a change in immigration policy, the nation is projected to add roughly 30 million new residents each decade for the foreseeable future," said the Center for Immigration Studies.
The Washington, D.C.-based research organization that advocates for strict immigration controls and border enforcement, projects that the ongoing influx of immigrants (legal and illegal) will mean:
- Building and paying for 8,000 new schools every 10 years.
- Developing land to accommodate 11.5 million new housing units every 10 years.
- Constructing enough roads to handle 23.6 million more vehicles every 10 years.
"While our country obviously can 'fit' more people, and technology and planning can help manage the situation, forcing such high population growth through immigration policy has profound implications for the environment, traffic, congestion, sprawl, water quality and the loss of open spaces," concluded CIS researcher Steven Camarota.
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Comments (4)
2:29PM JAN 5TH 2011
That puts it in good perspective- thank you!
12:00PM JAN 5TH 2011
"While our country obviously can 'fit' more people, and technology and planning can help manage the situation, forcing such high population growth through immigration policy has profound implications for the environment, traffic, congestion, sprawl, water quality and the loss of open spaces,"
That's interesting. Too bad his thinking stops right there. Especially focusing on the aspect of what all of this means to the economy. Looks like all of this will create lots of employment opportunities...but I guess we can just ignore this fact.
Also, linking immigrant population to environmental issues and water quality is quite a far fetch. There are many, many other sources to blame for this. But I guess it has become the overall mentality that everything bad happening in the country must be the fault of immigrants - whether they are legal or illegal.
That's interesting. Too bad his thinking stops right there. Especially focusing on the aspect of what all of this means to the economy. Looks like all of this will create lots of employment opportunities...but I guess we can just ignore this fact.
Also, linking immigrant population to environmental issues and water quality is quite a far fetch. There are many, many other sources to blame for this. But I guess it has become the overall mentality that everything bad happening in the country must be the fault of immigrants - whether they are legal or illegal.
2:28PM JAN 5TH 2011
That report is right on. The only thing an increasing population is going to do for our economy is lower our salaries while increasing our cost of living.
World population is expected to hit 7 billion later this year. Finite resources are dwindling and renewable resources can only keep up with so much. China, Saudi Arabia and a half dozen other countries are already working to secure resources for their own use. Including farmland- and not so much for more tillable acres, but because it's a way to import water. But the point is, little to no resources, little to no jobs. Besides a lower standard of living for everyone.
Population growth is population growth. It's the numbers that count. To ignore it today while there is time to stabilize it, will only make it harder later. The easiest way to do that would be to have a moratorium on immigration for 5 years (still allowing 250,000 for humanitarian reasons) until we come up with a population policy and a sustainable number.
World population is expected to hit 7 billion later this year. Finite resources are dwindling and renewable resources can only keep up with so much. China, Saudi Arabia and a half dozen other countries are already working to secure resources for their own use. Including farmland- and not so much for more tillable acres, but because it's a way to import water. But the point is, little to no resources, little to no jobs. Besides a lower standard of living for everyone.
Population growth is population growth. It's the numbers that count. To ignore it today while there is time to stabilize it, will only make it harder later. The easiest way to do that would be to have a moratorium on immigration for 5 years (still allowing 250,000 for humanitarian reasons) until we come up with a population policy and a sustainable number.
