The first thing to be said about current immigrant flows to this country is that in historical terms they are fairly moderate. While the actual number of foreign citizens now entering the U. S. may seem high--about 650,000 per year, counting legal, illegal, and refugees, and subtracting out-migration--it amounts all in all to an annual increase in the population of only about one-fifth of 1 percent. At the turn of the century, by contrast, when immigration was at its height, it increased the U. S. population by about! Percent per year. Furthermore, the fraction of our current population that is foreign-born is not only well below earlier U. S. peaks, it is lower than the present levels in several West European nations, and considerably below the proportions in other immigrant nations like Australia and Canada.
Do you think we are concentrating more on the war in Iraq than the flow of illegal refugees in our country?
And what is your point of view on this subject?
Do you think we are concentrating more on the war in Iraq than the flow of illegal refugees in our country?
And what is your point of view on this subject?