[CLUE-Talk] Rep Tancredo's Anti-Immigration Stance

[Rita Gibson]

Boy, I hate to get into political discussion on this list, but I can't
hardly resist piping up on this.

I support much of what Tancredo stands for on immigration. I am for further
limiting legal immigration, and I am for enforcing our immigration laws. Not
to do so is unfair and disrespectful to those who have immigrated legally.

The numbers of people who are granted permanent legal status are staggering,
IMHO. Based on the below numbers, I believe we grant legal immigrant status
to more than enough people. The GCIR website (www.gcir.org) quotes a US
Immigration report "Portrait of Immigration in 1997"  stating that from
1990-1997 there were 8,384,203 immigrants admitted to the US. According to
further statistic on the US Immigrations website (www.immigration.gov):

>snip
FY 2002 Highlights

A total of 1,063,732 persons legally immigrated to the United States. Of
that total, 384,427 obtained their immigrant visas abroad from the
Department of State and 679,305 were granted adjustment of status, i.e.,
permanent residence by the INS.


The major categories of immigrants were: immediate relatives of U.S.
citizens (486,748); family preferences (187,069); employment preferences
(174,968); refugee/asylee adjustments (126,084); and diversity program
(42,829).


Sixty-five percent of legal immigrants settled in the following six states:
California (291,216); New York (114,827); Florida (90,819); Texas (88,365);
New Jersey (57,721); and Illinois (47,235).


Five countries accounted for 40 percent of immigrants: Mexico (219,380);
India (71,105); The People's Republic of China (61,282); Philippines
(51,308); and Vietnam (33,627).

FY 2001 Highlights

A total of 1,064,318, persons legally immigrated to the United States. Of
that total, 411,059 obtained their visas abroad from the Department of State
and 653,259 were granted adjustment of status i.e. permanent residence, by
the INS.

The major categories of immigrants were: immediate relatives of U.S.
citizens (443,964), family preferences (232,143), employment preferences
(179,195), refugee/asylee adjustments (108,506) and diversity program
(42,015).

Sixty-five percent of legal immigrants settled in the following six states:
California (282,957), New York (114,116), Florida (104,715), Texas (86,315),
New Jersey (59,920), and Illinois (48,296).


Five countries accounted for 40 percent of immigrants:

Mexico (206,426), India (70,290), The People's Republic of China (56,426),
Philippines (53,154), and Vietnam (35,531).

<end snip>

I was unable to find current estimates of illegal aliens currently in the
US, but Portait of Immigration in 1997 estimated that there were 5,000,000
"undocumented aliens" in the US in 1996.