Is Immigration the cause of California's Problems?

Is Immigration the cause of California 's Problems

The discussion of immigration and its impact on American society should be based on facts , on meaningful projections , and on a reasoned discussion of impacts in various areas . The area in which we have the greatest capacity to determine impact is that of demography , though even here , there are arguments about how good our numbers are Nevertheless , it seems to be the case that immigrants are contributing about 40 percent of our recent and current population growth

The American population grew by 22 million

in the 1980s , and the census recorded nine million foreign born who had entered the United States since 1980 . This is larger than the number of legal immigrants recorded , but presumably this figure also includes illegal not recorded in immigration figures , as well as many legal entrants who do not have immigrant status . Conceivably , the number and proportion of the foreign born was greater , since the census probably misses a higher proportion of those here illegally than others . In the states that take in a large proportion of immigrants - California , New York , Texas , Florida , New Jersey--the impact of immigration on population growth (or on moderating population decline ) was predictably greater (Daniels , Roger , 1999 There are regions of United States where population immigration is appeared to reach excessive numbers what negatively influence the goodwill of the State and its citizens . One of them is California State and I will discuss its excessive population further in my paper

The immigrants coming to the boarders of California are predominantly from Asia , Latin America , and the Caribbean . A much larger proportion of immigrants than of the population as a whole are Hispanic and Asian Thus , the percentage of persons of European origin in the population has been declining , from about 80 percent in 1980 to 75 percent in 1990 . The percentage of persons of European origin will undoubtedly decline further since the volume and origins of the immigrant population are not likely to change soon

Something will change , and whether that change will be to increase immigration , to decrease it , or to change its composition racially and ethnically , can 't be said exactly . To try to fix a date when the population of European origin drops below 50 percent , which can be calculated on the basis of various assumptions , is an interesting exercise , but it tells nothing about what will happen : that will depend on us , the American people , taking decisions through our representatives to increase , decrease , or change the character of immigration

The year America becomes "majority-minority " the meaning of the event will be very different from what it seems to mean to us today . One could have , in 1910 , calculated when the population of English and Scottish and Welsh origin would drop below 50 percent , and it might have seemed then very significant , but when that day occurred (and we don 't even know when it occurred because when it did we had lost interest in the question , it meant...