Due to a combination of a declining American economy, declining Latin American birthrates and Improving Latin economies, Immigration from those nations have fallen sharply. In the case of Mexico, it has crawled to zero. This changes the whole equation in the illegal immigration debate. If the legal numbers are down, that means those who are coming here illegally now are not doing it to seek jobs. They are coming here for drug distribution. If there are available visas slots from Mexico, that means those seeking work are not coming.
Immigration from Mexico to the United States has slowed down toward zero: that’s the thrust of an excellent story by Damien Cave in the New York Times (complete with excellent interactive graphics). I plan to write a column on that subject, but I can’t resist pointing out that I have been predicting this trend for more than two years now.
Examples:
● June 7, 2009 blogpost. “There’s a need on all sides to rethink immigration policy. Both advocates and opponents of comprehensive bills have based their arguments on the assumption that large-scale immigration from Latin America and parts of Asia will continue indefinitely. But what if that assumption is false? Yes, our current recession is presumably temporary. But there is at least one other reason to assume that immigration from Latin America may not resume at previous levels: birth rates in Mexico and other Latin countries fell sharply around 1990.” The decline in Mexican birth rates is mentioned in the New York Times story.
This takes away a weapon from the Amnesty crowd. I have in my personal observation a decline in legal immigration from Latin American nations. As mentioned declining birthrates lowers the immigration poll. The improved economies in Latin America give people an incentive to stay home. Hence the call for amnesty is nonsense at this point. It’s not workers that will be legalized, they can apply for visas now due to the declining numbers. It will be cartel lackeys and drug runners.
On a flip side, the United States has a set quota of visas for Immigrants to enter per year. If Latin and Asian immigration have declined, who do you think are filling up the slots?
You know the answer.
Tags: Illegal Immigration, immigration, Latin America, Michael Barone
