IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR KIDS MAY PRODUCE 63% OF GROWTH.Byline: LISA The first personal computer to include integrated software and use a graphical interface. Modeled after the Xerox Star and introduced in 1983 by Apple, it was ahead of its time, but never caught on due to its $10,000 price and slow speed. FRIEDMAN Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Immigrants and their children will account for more than half the country's population growth over the coming half-century, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a study released Thursday. The examination of new census figures by the Center for Immigration Studies The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is a right-leaning, immigration reduction-oriented, non-profit, non-partisan research organization and was founded in 1985 with roots in the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and anti-immigration activist John found that U.S. population levels, currently hovering around 301 million, will shoot up to 468 million by 2060. California alone, meanwhile, could be home to more than 60 million. Immigrants -- both legal and illegal -- as well as their descendants are expected to make up about 105 million, or 63 percent, of the national increase. "It's important to understand where we're headed in population size and why. The why is largely, but not exclusively, immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. ," said Steven Camarota, author of the report. The Center for Immigration Studies, a D.C.-based think tank, openly advocates immigration restrictions. While demographers across the ideological spectrum verified the group's numbers, opinions vary on what they mean for America's future. William A.V. Clark, a geography professor at the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. , called 468 million "a really huge number, and it's being driven by immigration, there's no doubt about that." Neither politicians nor city planners are preparing for -- or even discussing -- immigration's impact on population growth, he said. Meanwhile, the impact in California, which is home to about 10 million foreign-born, will be particularly acute. "If you think the 405 is bad now, it won't be moving unless they put a double-decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two levels. While double-decker long-distance coaches are in widespread use around the world, double-decker city buses are less common. on it," Clark said. "This is like the elephant in the bathtub," he said. "We're not building the infrastructure for the population we have now, much less this kind of growth." But Jeff Passell, spokesman for the Pew Hispanic Center, which also is preparing population projections based on immigration, noted that without newcomers the U.S. could not have a growing labor force. Dowell Myers Dowell Myers is a professor of urban planning and demography in the School of Policy, Planning, and Development, at the University of Southern California (USC). He directs the school’s Population Dynamics Research Group, whose recent projects have been funded by the National , a professor of urban planning urban planning: see city planning. urban planning Programs pursued as a means of improving the urban environment and achieving certain social and economic objectives. at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , agreed. Myers studies aging trends and called immigration part of the solution to the graying of America. He noted that the ratio of senior citizens to working-age people will go up 30 percent in the next decade and spike another 30 percent after that. "That is the central policy question America has to solve, and we have to solve it now," he said. Because foreigners who come to the U.S. tend to be young, he said, immigration can reduce the aging problem by about a quarter. "If you cut immigration, you make the aging problem worse, and we do not want to make it worse. It's already pretty bad," he said. Myers also cast doubts on the study, noting that the analysis hinges on the assumption that fertility and immigration rates will both remain high -- a point on which he says demographers disagree. Currently, the nation sustains an immigration rate of about 1.2 million annually, according to the study. Researchers based their projections partly on the past five decades, during which there has been a net immigration increase. lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com (202) 662-8731 |
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