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December 19, 2014

The Diversity Explosion

The white population in the United States is about to start an irreversible decline in size. A newly published book, The Diversity Explosion, by William Frey, describes the massive demographic shifts that have been taking place, in large measure due to immigration but also due to the tripling of interracial marriages since 1990. Frey places immigrants within the context of the entire American population.

Her says, “I am convinced that the United States is in the midst of a pivotal period ushering in extraordinary shifts in the nation’s racial demographic makeup.

Quoting from his introductory chapter:

What will be different going forward is the sheer size of the minority population in the United States. It is arriving “just in time” as the aging white population begins to decline, bringing with it needed manpower and brain power and taking up residence in otherwise stagnating city and suburban housing markets.

…….a growing diverse, globally connected minority population will be absolutely necessary to infuse the aging American labor force with vitality and to sustain populations in many parts of the country that are facing population declines.

1. the rapid growth of “new minorities”: Hispanics, Asians, and increasingly multiracial populations. During the next 40 years, each of these groups is expected to more than double (see figure 1-2). New minorities have already become the major contributors to U.S. population gains. These new minorities—the products of recent immigration waves as well as the growing U.S.–born generations—contributed to more than three-quarters of the nation’s population growth in the last decade. That trend will accelerate in the future.

2. the sharply diminished growth and rapid aging of America’s white population. Due to white low immigration, reduced fertility, and aging, the white population grew a tepid 1.2 percent in 2000–10. In roughly 10 years, the white population will begin a decline that will continue into the future. This decline will be most prominent among
the younger populations. At the same time, the existing white population will age rapidly, as the large baby boom generation advances into seniorhood.

3. black economic advances and migration reversals. Now, more than a half-century after the civil rights movement began, a recognizable segment of blacks has entered the middle class while simultaneously reversing historic population shifts. The long-standing Great Migration of blacks out of the South has now turned into a wholesale evacuation from the North—to largely prosperous southern locales. Blacks are abandoning cities for the suburbs, and black neighborhood segregation continues to decline. Although many blacks still suffer the effects of inequality and segregation is far from gone, the economic and residential environments for blacks have improved well beyond the highly discriminatory, ghettoized life that most experienced for
much of the twentieth century

December 10, 2014

In your state, how many undocumented immigrants?

Where do they come from? Age, length of time in the U.S., marital status, formal education, work status, income level, etc -- these and more are estimated. Drawn from data collected 2008 - 2012.

Go here for the report from the Migration Policy Institute.

December 5, 2014

Notable facts about undocumented immigrants


The website 538 draws figures from the Pew Research and the Migration Research Institute to note some important facts about undocumented immigrants:

Reasons for fall-off in undocumented immigrants:

Pew estimates there were 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2013. That figure has been pretty much flat for the past five years, and is down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007. In other words, more unauthorized immigrants have left the country in the past six years — voluntarily or through deportation — than have arrived.

The slowdown in illegal immigration is partly the result of the weak U.S. economy, and especially the weak home construction industry, which was a major source of jobs for many migrants. But the flow across the Mexican border, in particular, began to slow before the recession, the result of tighter border security and a falling birthrate in Mexico, which meant there were fewer young Mexicans seeking jobs in the United States.

Half or more undocumented immigrants arrived legally, then overstayed:

Most of those Asian immigrants, and many Latin American immigrants as well, likely entered the country legally on tourist, student or other visas. A 2006 Pew study found that 40 percent to 50 percent of unauthorized immigrants entered the country legally and never left, as opposed to crossing the border illegally.

Most have been here for 13 or more years:

The typical unauthorized immigrant has been here for nearly 13 years, up from about 9 years in 2007. Only 16 percent have been here under five years — an important cutoff because Obama’s plan doesn’t apply to anyone who’s been here for less time than that.

65% are working.

A majority are poor:

A majority of unauthorized immigrants are struggling financially. Nearly a third live in poverty, and nearly two-thirds earn less than twice the federal poverty line. Two-thirds lack health insurance, and less than a third own their own homes.

December 2, 2014

Arguments pro and con re legality of Executive Actions


The Department of Justice issued a paper on November 19, “The Department of Homeland Security’s Authority to Prioritize Removal of Certain Aliens Unlawfully Present in the United States and to Defer Removal of Others.”

The Center for Immigration Studies published today an article against the Executive Actions, “President Obama's "Deferred Action" Program for Illegal Aliens is Plainly Unconstitutional”, by Jan Ting.