What limits - if any - will the next administration seek?

The Biden administration removed the guardrails. Illegal immigration spiked from all over the world. Vice President Harris’ “Root Causes” approach failed to stem the numbers. Now she’s the likely Democratic nominee and the Harris-Walz ticket has a combined NumbersUSA immigration grade of 25%. Donald Trump has a proposal that could double legal immigration while his running mate J.D. Vance says “we’re done importing foreign workers.”

Click here or on the image below to view our NEW counter that tells you how many people immigration has added just since midnight today.

Immigration adds 3.5 million people to the U.S. every year (roughly the city of Los Angeles).

Sustainable immigration requires: Reducing legal immigration and Stopping illegal immigration.

What limits - if any - will the next administration seek? I’m Jeremy Beck with Rob Harding. Welcome to the Sustainable Immigration Newsletter!

Border states welcome newcomers to the party

For years, border states like Texas were scoffed at by leaders of sanctuary cities and states for being hard of heart and mean of spirit. Then, Texas started busing migrants to those cities. Now, everyone is fighting.

Texas sends migrants to Denver. Denver sends them to Utah and Illinois. Florida sends them to Massachusetts. New York tries to send them to Canada.

“So, what have we learned from all this turmoil?” asks Henry Barbaro.

“In the name of humanitarianism, America let in as many migrants as we ‘could’ (~a state’s worth of people!). But now we’re worse off than before . . . . Not only has our government’s immigration “system” proven to be unsustainable, but it also has been cruel to both Americans and migrants.”

Read Henry’s article here. Excerpt:

“Massachusetts is the only state in the country to have a ‘right-to-shelter’ law, which was never designed to accommodate a large and expanding migrant population.

“Like so many states before the recent massive influx of migrants, Massachusetts was already facing a housing crisis – rising homelessness and a lack of affordable housing. But now conditions are much worse — there’s an even greater demand for housing, and the state’s emergency shelter system is at capacity, despite hundreds of millions of tax dollars being spent (at about $1 billion per year).

“That’s why, after years of being slammed with waves of illegal migrants, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) announced (on 7/24/2024) that the state would limit stays at emergency shelters to just five days for migrants, and that it will be offering to cover plane tickets and other travel expenses for migrants who wish to leave.”

Does adding 3.5 million people a year through immigration make this problem easier to solve or harder?

Should we drain Lake Michigan?

People are seriously talking about pumping water out of the Great Lakes because “our food producing regions, especially those stretching from the southern Great Plains across the sunny, dry Southwest, rely heavily and sometimes exclusively on groundwater for irrigation. And it’s disappearing — fast.”

It’s no secret that our water infrastructure is under strain. Does adding 3.5 million people a year through immigration make this problem easier to solve or harder?

Another year in ecological overshoot

Did you know? The U.S. meets its consumption demand by taking resources from future generations (drawing down domestic resources), and from other countries (importing resources; exporting waste). Ecological overshoot occurs when ecological footprint exceeds biocapacity.

August 1 was Earth Overshoot Day, the day which marks when we have used more from nature than the planet can renew for the entire year. For the United States, Overshoot Day was even earlier (March 14).

Our national sprawl study makes the case that “the size of each footprint matters, as does the number of feet.” But Congress has set a course, through immigration policy, to ensure that the United States will add tens of millions of people in the coming decades. This is not sustainable! See our fact sheet.

Does adding 3.5 million people a year through immigration make these problems easier to solve or harder?

Sensible immigration policy should prioritize a population size America can sustain over a population size America can contain. Learn more.

8 billion potential customers. Is the U.S. border open?

Lesley Blackner says the “immigration industrial complex” only thinks about the money. For them, more people only means more consumers:

“No discussion of limits, impacts, maintaining a livable state/country, a healthy environment, wildlife or how much the state/country can absorb without being overwhelmed and ruined. There are now more than over 8 billion humans on Planet Earth (up from 2.5 billion in 1950) and many millions are itching to come to the U.S.”

We are adding 3.5 million people (a city of Los Angeles) every year through immigration. But billions more could potentially come.

So, candidates: “How many is too many?”

The 2024 presidential campaign “​​sets up a sharp contrast” in immigration visions, says James Massa, CEO of NumbersUSA.

Indeed, in picking Gov. Walz as her running mate, Vice President Harris ensures that the Democratic ticket will be running on a record of 1) rewarding illegal immigration, 2) weakening enforcement, and 3) increasing overall immigration and employers’ ability to bypass American workers. Their campaign plans to promote the infamous “bipartisan border security bill” that mandated illegal immigration.

But will they articulate what - if any - limits they would seek?

The Trump-Vance ticket will be running on a record much more aligned with NumbersUSA’s vision (legal reform; enforcement reform) than their counterparts (it’s a low bar). But they also should clarify for voters just how many people they believe immigration policy should admit.

Beware the “immigration deception,” warns Karen Shragg:

“The immigration deception is that somehow if the millions coming in illegally could come from higher income countries and go through proper channels making them all legal, all would be hunky dory. That is a lot like trying to solve the 7 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic in L.A. by converting all vehicles to electric. . . .

“. . . . There have been millions of illegal border crossings during Biden’s administration causing huge problems for cities who cannot handle the demand for everything from food to jobs and shelter. But now the presumptive Republican nominee has altered his tougher tune on immigration by suggesting we give green cards to foreign students graduating from our colleges and universities. This would mean welcoming more educated and legal residents, but from a growth perspective it would add approximately 700,000 more consumers within our borders. There are limits to growth and stopping demand is an act of preservation which we as a country have a right to do.”

The next administration could immediately stop releasing 1 million inadmissible aliens into the country every year. But if they also double green cards (for foreign students or otherwise), then the numerical impact would be a wash. We would still be adding . . . 3.5 million people a year through immigration.

One way or another, the citizen lobby will be necessary to secure a better immigration policy - one that we can sustain - during the next Congress and administration. Visit your action board.

Thank you for all that you do,