August 2003

U.S. Borders Open to Mass Immigration & Terrorists

Increased Threats to National Security and Environment

It’s hard to believe but the Wall Street Journal has called for closing the border against visitors and immigrants coming from Hong Kong or mainland China because of the lethal disease SARS [cf Walter Pringle reprint in VDARE.com]. Maybe it’s time that the WSJ addressed the ongoing threats of mass immigration that comes from almost anywhere! For example...

Immediate Threat: Al Qaeda From the South

The Iraq War has done little, if anything, to diminish the threat from Al Qaeda. Indeed, one could argue that threat has increased, as many Arabs have rallied against perceived U.S. imperialism.

In February 2003, a team of prospective terrorists tried to hire Mexican people smugglers known as “coyotes” to guide them across the U.S. border. Not unusual, the OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) are becoming increasingly common on the border. However, one thing set this particular group apart: their destination.

The terrorists were headed to Crawford, Texas, the site of President Bush’s Prairie Chapel Ranch, a.k.a. the “Texas White House”. Thanks to the efforts of the Border Patrol, they were unsuccessful. This time.

And just last month, The Washington Times reported that another group of Al Qaeda terrorists were attempting to infiltrate the U.S. via Mexico — with the help of Mexican organized crime — to begin carrying out attacks on the American people.

The fact is that the huge annual legal immigrant flow (1.5 million in 2001), coupled with hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings, not only provides opportunities for terrorism, but also causes population growth, which increasingly stresses our overburdened environment.
The threats to our national security from massive legal and illegal immigration are immediate and increasing daily. Are we prepared for another 9-11?

Most Americans see that our government continues to be ineffective in deterring illegal entries and monitoring our newest residents. Thanks to our past inattention, the activities of the nineteen 9-11 terrorists, 16 of whom initially entered the country legally, were ignored as they repeatedly crossed our borders, broke immigration laws, and attended schools that taught them how to fly, but not to land. A post 9-11 U.S. is more aware of the threat of terrorism and collectively concerned about uncontrolled illegal immigration.

But most Americans may not be aware that there are 500 million (yes, five hundred million) annual legal crossings of foreign nationals — mostly visitors — across our borders. About 2 million plan to become residents every year. This number is massive in itself and leads, today, to a cumulative total of about 34 million foreign people who are U.S. residents. Counting the U.S.-born children of these recent immigrants, approximately 65 million out of our population of 290 million have recent — and sometimes tenuous — ties to American society and tradition.

Not only is massive legal immigration a proven opening for terrorists, the massive numbers are rapidly changing and destroying our environment and quality of life. Yet nothing has been done to improve our national security by reducing the number of legal immigrants.

U.S. aquifer's are depleted at a rate 25% faster than they are replenished. Many states, such as New York, Maryland, Georgia, and Colorado, are suffering from intense multi-year droughts.Current annual legal U.S. immigration levels of over a million a year exacerbate sprawl, pollution, wage depression, and unemployment, while devouring valuable natural resources, such as clean water and open space.

Massive Legal Immigration Threatens Environmental Security

Over the last three decades, mass legal immigration has caused considerable population growth and building to accommodate the population increases in much of the U.S. — irreparably damaging areas with fragile ecosystems and draining natural resources. Communities are forced to rapidly add infrastructure at the same time as attending to normal maintenance of existing facilities.

Some services and amenities are limited not only by infrastructure, but by underlying resources. Potable water supplies, for example, are limited and increasingly difficult to obtain, especially in fast growing regions. California, Florida, Georgia, and Southern Texas, for example, all face potable water shortages. Such resource shortages are not limited to the U.S.

By 2050, water shortages are projected to affect between 2 and 7 billion people out of an estimated global population of 9.3 billion. The demand for water is increasing three times faster than the world’s population growth rate. Pressure to immigrate to the United States can thus only increase. The United States can choose to have a rational immigration policy in place soon, or can choose to be overwhelmed.

California: A Frightening Case Study and an Approaching Water Crisis

California, the leading magnet state for mass immigration is a sobering example of what the rest of the country may soon be confronted with — a near total breakdown in environmental security. For the first time, the federal government is enforcing the limit on water withdrawal from the Colorado River. The river is the major water supply for seven states and Mexico, and even now faces multi-year drought conditions. Denied the overdraft it traditionally took, California will instead be forced to find “new” sources of water for its growing population (and what might these be, we ask), or learn to live within its carrying capacity by stabilizing its population.

The severity of a drought crisis is determined in large part by the number of water users. Cycles of greater and lesser rainfall are nothing new. What is new, is the growing number of people dependent on the local water supply.

Exploiting “new” water sources is both costly and limited by a strictly limited supply. The only sustainable solution to preserving the U.S.’s resources is population stabilization through an immigration moratorium.

U.S.A. at One Billion?

Immigration and the children born to recent immigrants accounted for 87 percent of population growth in the period from 2000 to 2002. If current trends continue, immigration will account for more than 95 percent of population growth in the U.S. over the next 50 years, bringing the U.S. population to half a billion in 2050 and 1 billion in 2100. For every person added to the population, one acre of wild or farm land is lost to development. If human population continues to expand, non-human species face shrinking habitats and the threat of drastic declines in their numbers, or complete extinction.

The current rate of species loss is 150 times higher than the natural background rate of extinction. The only way to save what is left of the U.S.’s precious ecosystems is to put a cap on human population growth immediately, and that means dramatically reducing immigration.

U.S.: A Leader in Extinction of Species

At the current extinction rate, 25 percent of present numbers of species will be lost by 2050. Diversity of habitat and species is essential for environmental health and well-being. Many people fail to appreciate that plant biodiversity supports our health care and our food production system. The United States is a leader in plant species that are identified as threatened or endangered at 29 percent. As plant biodiversity decreases, so will our variety of food, drugs, clothing, and other products.

So, as well, will the diversity of animal species. The destruction and degradation of habitat is the most pervasive threat to biodiversity in the United States. For example, 25 percent of America’s 800 bird species are threatened by habitat destruction, pollution, and disease, among other things.

Our growing human population is clearly the major cause of the severe environmental threat of species extermination. To support current U.S. population growth, we continue to threaten, exploit, and destroy invaluable habitat for thousands of diverse species. We will not be able to extinguish this threat without first stabilizing the human numbers.

As population continues to increase in the United States, the few remaining valuable habitats, such as wetlands, forests, rivers, and oceans will continue to be degraded to support the growing population. Experience shows that short-term human needs trump environmental values and, inevitably, long-term human well-being. For example, the effort to permit exploration for oil in the ANWR (the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve) seems about to receive congressional approval. These trends will continue to increase the numbers of species that become threatened or extinct, limiting biodiversity, and ultimately our national quality of life.

What You Can Do NOW to Enhance National and Environmental Security:

1. Contact your Legislators and the Bush Administration today! Tell your Representatives to support an immigration moratorium by signing on to H.R. 946 (Tancredo, R-CO), with an amendment lowering the number to 100,000 a year. 100,000 is the highest number which would even allow the U.S. population to stabilize. Call your Senators and urge them to sponsor a companion moratorium bill in the Senate. Your calls and faxes are crucial to stabilizing U.S. population! (Experience shows that handwritten or typed letters are the most effective way for individual citizens to reach and influence lawmakers, followed by telephone calls and faxes.)

2. A Unique Opportunity — The “line-up” of key Committee Chairmen in Congress is more potentially favorable to passing immigration reduction legislation than it has been in years. BUT we need your special donation if we are to realize this potential. And your donations are vital in helping BALANCE stabilize America’s population before it’s too late. BALANCE and its ASAP! Coalition allies are the only nonprofit grassroots organizations fighting for an immigration moratorium.

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