Immigrants set to change nation's population

WASHINGTON (Christian Examiner) – President Obama's immigration policies are set to dramatically change the faces of the United States, with the Center for Immigration Studies projecting that by 2023 present regulations will result in one in seven U.S. residents identifying as either a legal or illegal immigrant.

A record 51 million – out of the nation's total population today of nearly 319 million – will be immigrants by 2023, and by 2060, the proprotion will rise to nearly one in five.

"I think one of the reasons Obama and his friends are so eager to open the gates to more and more immigrants is they think it's going to defeat the conservative movement and the Republican Party," said Phyllis Schlafly, an American constitutional lawyer, conservative activist and founder of the conservative Eagle Forum.

The American republic as a political system is a foreign concept to most immigrants, Schlafly told WorldNetDaily.com.

"Of course, they all come from countries that are not used to the idea of limited government," the conservative activist continued. "They're used to countries where the government makes all the decisions, and they don't know anything different."

Immigration is one of the major issues to be discussed during the 2016 election campaign.

TED CRUZ

Presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has proclaimed his anti-illegal immigration position. He said Wednesday, April 29, in conversation with Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, that he wants to focus on securing the border. He also said he rejects immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

RAND PAUL

Rand Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky also expected to enter the presidential race, says he would move to overturn the Obama-era executive orders that have essentially legalized millions of immigrants, according to an article on Bloomberg.com.

"I am in favor of doing immigration reform, but it should be done in the proper fashion," Paul told David Weigel. He cited the need to tighten border security before attempting anything else, but added that "the 11 million, I think, are never going home, don't need to be sent home, and I would incorporate them into our society by giving them work visas and making them taxpayers."

MARCO RUBIO

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), another undeclared candidate for the White House, wants immigration reform in part because "we have an unsustainable situation on the border," he said on Fox News Sunday last August.

"We have a legal immigration system that's outdated and needs to be modernized so we can win the global competition for talent," Rubio said on Face the Nation last September. "We have millions of people living in this country illegally, many of whom have been here for a decade or longer. We need to find a reasonable but responsible way of incorporating them into American life."

JEB BUSH

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, younger brother of the 43rd president, who earned a degree in Latin American affairs and whose wife of 41 years, Columba, is a woman of Mexican heritage, favors immigration reform.

Bush, the first two-term Republican chief executive of Florida, dates his view officially to 2004, when he supported an unsuccessful bill to allow illegal immigrants to be issued drivers licenses by his state. He spoke Thursday at the National Review Institute's 2015 Ideas Summit, about immigration.

"If you want to grow at 4 percent instead of 2 percent per year, you need younger, more dynamic people inside of our economy to get to 4 percent growth," Bush said. "You can't do it with a declining population; you can't do it with a pathetic productivity rate."

He added that he was willing to listen to the ideas of those who don't favor amnesty and immigration, to see if anyone else has a better plan for improving the economy.

BOBBY JINDAL

Securing the borders is vitally important to all Americans, said Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana), on a Face the Nation interview in February 2014.

"I've said all along that people who want to come into this country, work hard, get an education, that's good for them; that's good for us," Jindal said. "There's nothing wrong with Republicans in Congress saying, 'Let's secure the border first.'

"If this president was serious about moving forward with a comprehensive approach [to immigration reform] he would start by securing the border," Jindal continued. "We don't need a thousand-page bill. It's not complicated. Right now, we have low walls and a narrow gate. That is opposite of what we need. We need high walls and a wide gate, so that more people can come into this country legally."

Jindal is waiting until the state legislative session ends on June 11th before announcing whether he will run for president.

MIKE HUCKABEE

Gov. Mike Huckabee, who led Arkansas for 10 years before becoming a successful news and culture personality on Fox News, ran for president in 2008 but not in 2012, and he has yet to declare his intentions for 2016.

He released a short video in mid-April that explains his views against illegal immigration.

"You don't punish people for living by the rules," Huckabee says in the video, which is being disseminated by the presumptive candidate's America Takes Action political organization. "If you're rewarding people who play outside the rules, and punish people who live within the rules, pretty soon nobody is going to play by the rules. ...

"By securing the border and protecting American workers and their livelihoods, we'll finally help every American earn his or her maximum wage."

SCOTT WALKER

Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin), a conservative in a blue state, also declared his position on legal immigration.

"No amnesty," Walker said Monday, April 27, to radio host Howie Carr. "If you want to be a [U.S.] citizen, that's a whole different thing. You've got to go back to your country of origin and get back in line like anybody else."

Immigration should not adversely affect Americans needing jobs, Walker said on a recent Glen Beck radio program. Walker clarified his remarks to Carr.

"I just said make American workers and their wages your number one priority," Walker told Carr. "If we're always thinking about the impact on the hard-working Americans, we're gonna be fine, and if we don't think about that, well, then we get bad policies in America."