The Immigration And Asylum Debate :: essays research papers

Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky has once again horrified the politically correct and "culturally sensitive" by suggesting that White people, who comprise only eight percent of the world's population, should unite to keep from being overwhelmed by non-Whites. The reaction from Western governments and the news media to their current archdemon has been predictable. Any attempt to preserve the integrity of the White race, in their view, constitutes the most vile form of racism and bigotry, and anyone advocating such a plan must be pilloried as a dangerous criminal. It is, therefore, no surprise that only a few farsigà itical philosophers have addressed the looming American immigration crisis. Our elected officials have failed for more than two decades to act to control immigration. As a result, demographers are already taking note of the dramatic changes occurring in the population of the United States. Leon Bouvier and Cary Davis, respected demographers with the Population Reference Bureau, prepared population projections demonstrating the changes which large-scale Third World immigration is causing. They warn that projections are not predictions. Immigration could increase or decrease. The future will never turn out to be exactly like the projections. Yet projections by the population experts are important because they give an approximation of future population demographics if immigration continues at current high levels. What do the experts' predictions show? Current levels of immigration are transforming the United States from a predominantly European-descended, English- speaking nation into a melting pot, a land in which Asians, non-White Hispanics, Blacks and Whites are all minorities. This transformation is happening fastest in the states favored by immigrants, such as California, Texas, Florida and New York. The speed with which this change occurs depends on the level of immigration. Because most immigration to the United States is now illegal, no precise figure can be given for annual net immigration. However, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials and leading scholars are able to make educated estimates. Legal immigration is currently in excess of 600,000 persons annually. Illegal immigrants fall into two broad categories: (1) visa abusers/fraudulent document users and (2) surreptitious border crossers. The latter category is well known to the American public. Chiefly Mexicans and others from Central America, these illegal aliens cross the border without visas or other documentation -- usually under cover of darkness. More than 1.2 million such aliens were captured this year, and Border Patrol agents estimate that two to three illegal aliens slip by for each one that is apprehended.