A new analysis of the impact on unrestricted immigration into the United States shows that the nation’s population will jump to 420 million by 2060, driven by an explosion in immigrants and their offspring.
Using Census Bureau data, the group Negative Population Growth said that current policies suggest that 79 million immigrants will boost the population during the period.
“Under current immigration policy U.S. population will rise to 420 million in 2060, versus 341 million if no immigration was allowed over the 2012 to 2060 period. This implies that immigrants arriving over the next 45 years, and their U.S. born children and grandchildren, will add 79 million to U.S. population by 2060. More than two-thirds of U.S. population growth over this period will be due to immigration,” said the new analysis.
The report reviews some of the costs of legal and illegal immigration on the country and taxpayers and makes the case for a national population policy that considers that impact.
It highlights, for example, the 1965 reforms to the Immigration and Nationality Act which were to limit immigration but actually fed it through so-called “chain migration,” where one new immigrant, in an example shown, could bring in some 19 relatives.
The report also puts a spotlight on the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States who automatically become citizens. It describes those babies as “deportation insurance.” The report said:
The U.S.-born baby is, of course, a U.S. citizen, whose illegal alien parents are eligible to receive, on the baby’s behalf, food stamps, nutrition from the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, and numerous tax benefits, including the EITC.
Most importantly, the newborn is deportation insurance for its parents. Illegal aliens facing deportation can argue that to deport one or more parents would create an “extreme hardship” for the new baby. If an immigration officer agrees, we’ve added a new adult to the nation’s population. At age 21 the former birthright citizen baby can formally apply for green cards for parents and siblings, and they, in turn, can start their own immigration chains.
