You Decide

…that immigration imposes a massive burden on parts of the country already struggling to cope with rapid population growth?

Immigration may be seen as a national issue, but its effects are local and concentrated in specific parts of the country. More than two-thirds (68 percent) of immigrants settle in just six states: California, New York, Texas, Florida, New Jersey and Illinois.

This means that an incredible one in four Californians are foreign-born, compared with a national average of about one in ten. It also means that the state’s population is rising much faster than most other parts of the country: Whereas the population of the United States as a whole has doubled since 1950, in California it has almost quadrupled in the same period, from 10.5 million in 1950 to 38 million today.

These population increases in specific areas are compounded by the fact that the birth rate is higher in first-generation immigrants than in the rest of the population. In 2004, according to U.S. Census figures, there were 84 births per 1,000 foreign-born women, compared with 57 in the same number of American-born women.

A steady increase in the population will cause shortages in vital resources that we take for granted, like water and electricity. The U.S. government says that it expects up to 36 states to face water shortages in the next five years. The six states listed above in which the majority of immigrants settle are all facing water shortage problems of one kind or another. And the California Energy Commission projects a rising demand for electricity over the next decade, despite increasing energy efficiency and despite the fact that the state already imports more electricity from neighboring states than any other state. The California energy crisis of the 1990s, with its rolling blackouts, could pale in comparison to the problems that the state will face in the near future.

…that stronger borders are diminishing U.S. political influence and goodwill in foreign countries?

Much has been made in recent years about the importance of the United States’ winning “hearts and minds” abroad. But the reality on the ground is one of an increasingly isolationist nation that is winning few friends. And it’s getting worse: A survey by the independent Pew Research Center (for the U.S. Department of State) showed the United States is less popular now than it was in 2002 in 26 out of the 33 countries polled. As an offshoot of the war on terror, tougher immigration laws aren’t helping.

The incredibly complex U.S. immigration system is seen by most foreigners as a victory for bureaucracy over common sense. Even temporary visitors to this country face a bewildering choice between 24 classifications of visa. As one source put it, commenting in the New York Times on the burden for foreign visitors like artists obtaining visas, “It turns everyone into an enemy. It loses us friends around the world and respect around the world.”

Restrictions on foreigners wanting to cross our borders affect the travel aspirations of U.S. citizens as well. Visa treaties are based on reciprocation, so regulations here are mirrored abroad. For example, Russia, Bolivia, Chile and Turkey all raised their processing fees for tourist visas issued to U.S. citizens because the U.S. State Department raised its fees. And Brazil now requires all U.S. passport holders to obtain a visa in advance of travel and to be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival, just as Brazilian citizens — like all foreign passport holders — are on arrival in the United States.

Thank “Fortress America” policy for turning more foreigners against us and for making our own overseas travel more complicated.