Henry Imler May 30th, 2006

A Flood of Bad Immigration Numbers

In a “Web Memo” from the Heritage Foundation, author
Robert Rector claims that the Hagel-Martinez immigration bill (S. 2611)
would unleash a flood of chain migration that would overwhelm America’s
capacity to absorb so many people. He calculates that the bill would
not only allow in an ever escalating number of new temporary workers,
but that almost all of them would eventually become citizens, enabling
them to sponsor spouses, children, parents and even grown siblings to
immigrate.
The headline number certainly generated buzz, but it flows from
assumptions that don’t hold up to scrutiny. Its bottom-line number
doesn’t even pass the laugh test.

To total 103 million legal immigrants over 20 years, immigration
would need to average more than 5 million a year. During the past
decade, legal and illegal immigration combined has averaged 1.5 million
a year. Nobody who specializes in immigration believes current inflows
will triple if even the most generous version of S. 2611 were to become
law.

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