New 2011 census estimates highlight sweeping changes in the nation's racial makeup and the prolonged impact of a weak economy, which is now resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the U.S.
"This is an important landmark," said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. "This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders."
The report comes as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on the legality of Arizona's strict immigration law, with many states weighing similar get-tough measures.
"We remain in a dangerous period where those appealing to anti-immigration elements are fueling a divisiveness and hostility that might take decades to overcome," Harrison said.
As a whole, the nation's minority population continues to rise, following a higher-than-expected Hispanic count in the 2010 census. Minorities increased 1.9 percent to 114.1 million, or 36.6 percent of the total U.S. population, lifted by prior waves of immigration that brought in young families and boosted the number of Hispanic women in their prime childbearing years.
But a recent slowdown in the growth of the Hispanic and Asian populations is shifting notions on when the tipping point in U.S. diversity will come — the time when non-Hispanic whites become a minority. After 2010 census results suggested a crossover as early as 2040, demographers now believe the pivotal moment may be pushed back several years when new projections are released in December.
The annual growth rates for Hispanics and Asians fell sharply last year to just over 2 percent, roughly half the rates in 2000 and the lowest in more than a decade. The black growth rate stayed flat at 1 percent.
The immigrants staying put in the U.S. for now include Narcisa Marcelino, 34, a single mother who lives with her two daughters, ages 10 and 5, in Martinsburg, W.Va. After crossing into the U.S. from Mexico in 2000, she followed her brother to the eastern part of the state just outside the Baltimore-Washington region. The Martinsburg area is known for hiring hundreds of migrants annually to work in fruit orchards. Its Hispanic growth climbed from 14 percent to 18 percent between 2000 and 2005 before shrinking last year to 3.3 percent, still above the national average.
Marcelino says she sells food from her home to make ends meet for her family and continues to hope that one day she will get a hearing with immigration officials to stay legally in the U.S. She aspires to open a restaurant and is learning English at a community college so she can help other Spanish-language speakers.
If she is eventually deported, "it wouldn't be that tragic," Marcelino said. "But because the children have been born here, this is their country. And there are more opportunities for them here."
Of the 30 large metropolitan areas showing the fastest Hispanic growth in the previous decade, all showed slower growth in 2011 than in the peak Hispanic growth years of 2005-2006, when the construction boom attracted new migrants to low-wage work. They include Lakeland, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Atlanta; Provo, Utah; Las Vegas; and Phoenix. All but two — Fort Myers, Fla., and Dallas-Fort Worth — also grew more slowly last year than in 2010, hurt by the jobs slump.
Pointing to a longer-term decline in immigration, demographers believe the Hispanic population boom may have peaked.
"The Latino population is very young, which means they will continue to have a lot of births relative to the general population," said Mark Mather, associate vice president of the Population Reference Bureau. "But we're seeing a slowdown that is likely the result of multiple factors: declining Latina birth rates combined with lower immigration levels. If both of these trends continue, they will lead to big changes down the road."
William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the census data, noted that government debates over immigration enforcement may now be less pressing, given slowing growth. "The current congressional and Supreme Court interest in reducing immigration — and the concerns especially about low-skilled and undocumented Hispanic immigration — represent issues that could well be behind us," he said.
Minorities made up roughly 2.02 million, or 50.4 percent of U.S. births in the 12-month period ending July 2011. That compares with 37 percent in 1990.
In all, 348 of the nation's 3,143 counties, or 1 in 9, have minority populations across all age groups that total more than 50 percent. In a sign of future U.S. race and ethnic change, the number of counties reaching the tipping point increases to more than 690, or nearly 1 in 4, when looking only at the under age 5 population.
The counties in transition include Maricopa (Phoenix), Ariz.; King (Seattle), Wash.; Travis (Austin), Texas; and Palm Beach, Fla., where recent Hispanic births are driving the increased diversity among children. Also high on the list are suburban counties such as Fairfax, Va., just outside the nation's capital, and Westchester, N.Y., near New York City, where more open spaces are a draw for young families who are increasingly minority.
According to the latest data, the percentage growth of Hispanics slowed from 4.2 percent in 2001 to 2.5 percent last year. Their population growth would have been even lower if it weren't for their relatively high fertility rates — seven births for every death. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 27.6 years.
Births actually have been declining for both whites and minorities as many women postponed having children during the economic slump. But the drop since 2008 has been larger for whites, who have a median age of 42. The number of white births fell by 11.4 percent, compared with 3.2 percent for minorities, according to Kenneth Johnson, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire.
Asian population increases also slowed, from 4.5 percent in 2001 to about 2.2 percent. Hispanics and Asians still are the two fastest-growing minority groups, making up about 16.7 percent and 4.8 percent of the U.S. population, respectively.
Blacks, who comprise about 12.3 percent of the population, have increased at a rate of about 1 percent each year. Whites have increased very little in recent years.
Other findings:
—The migration of black Americans back to the South is slowing. New destinations in the South, including Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Orlando, Fla., saw sharp drop-offs in black population growth as the prolonged housing bust kept African-Americans locked in place in traditional big cities. Metro areas including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco had reduced declines or gains.
—Nine U.S. counties in five states saw their minority populations across all age groups surpass 50 percent last year. They were Sutter and Yolo in California; Quitman in Georgia; Cumberland in New Jersey; Colfax in New Mexico; and Lynn, Mitchell, Schleicher and Swisher in Texas.
—Maverick County, Texas, had the largest share of minorities at 96.8 percent, followed by Webb County, Texas, and Wade Hampton, Alaska, both at 96 percent.
—Four states — Hawaii, California, New Mexico and Texas — as well as the District of Columbia have minority populations that exceed 50 percent.
The census estimates used local records of births and deaths, tax records of people moving within the U.S., and census statistics on immigrants. The figures for "white" refer to those whites who are not of Hispanic ethnicity.
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Associated Press writer John Raby in Charleston, W.Va., contributed to this report.
THE LIES KEEP COMING? SPEAK-UP!
The mandated E-Verify law is being exposed to the public eye once again, with increased resistance from GOP House speaker, John Boehner of Ohio and Dave Camp of Michigan, who is Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Americans must insist these lawmakers stop blocking the 50-state H.R.2885 - Chairman Smith's 'Legal Workforce Act’. The E-Verify bill, should concern every jobless citizens and legal residents, as if implemented on a national scale would reject illegal foreign workers.
On the topic of E-Verify, Sen. Sessions recalled something that a Border Patrol agent told GOP Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney: “The administration has also been resistant to the popular E-Verify program, never once including it in any of its jobs or economic plans. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, has effectively ended worksite enforcement operations, meaning employers can continue to hire illegal workers rather than out-of-work Americans. . . .”
They [Border Patrol agents] said “when employers are willing to hire people who are here illegally, that's a magnet, and it draws them in. And sanctuary cities, giving tuition breaks to the kids of illegal aliens..... Those things also have to be stopped. If we want to secure the border, we have to make sure we have a fence, determining where people are, enough agents to oversee it, and turn off that magnet. We can't talk about amnesty; we cannot give amnesty to those who have come here illegally”.
Beforehand Sen. Sessions delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling for an end to the Child Tax Care loophole that allows illegal aliens to collect thousands of dollars in tax refunds by filing with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). This has been going on for years. This cannot continue. It must be stopped, and fixing it can't be delayed. The Treasury Department's own inspector general for Tax Administration, who analyzes problems within the agency and issues reports, reported that in 2010 the Internal Revenue Service paid illegal aliens a staggering $4.2 billion in child tax credits for dependents, a great deal of whom don't even live in the country. This has been going on for years. This cannot continue. It must be stopped, and fixing it can't be delayed.
According to a WTHR Indianapolis TV station there were four illegal alien workers living in the same Trailer park. Between the four of them, they claimed 20 children as dependents, but while investigating the story, only one child was seen living at the home. "We found, in many cases, they're getting these tax credits for nieces and nephews and children who aren't even in the United States," All these people have to do is possess a not from the school, which in itself is open to large areas of fraud. Claimed on a federal form 8812, this credit is for specific taxpayers who get lesser than full amount of the child tax credit. Prior to this outcry by Sen. Sessions, the bill to close the loophole has gone nowhere, but now H.R. 1956 has passed the house and need your voice to add to the anger and utter frustration. Call the Washington central switchboard at 202-224-3121 and inundate your U.S. Senators and demand this law passes, along with mandatory E-Verify and the Birthright Citizenship amendment.
FOREIGN COUNTRIES POOR ARE SMUGGLING THEIR UNBORN BABIES OVER HERE, FOR U.S. TAXPAYERS TO SUBSIDIZE THEM. IT’S NO WONDER THE WHITE BABY POPULATION IS LOW, AS ILLEGAL ALIENS DON’T HAVE TO PAY WHILE AMERICAN MOTHERS CANNOT AFFORD A CHILD?
The child tax reimbursement is not some kind of loophole for illegal alien workers to use to grow their refunds. The IRS rules for eligible children still apply and the law is very clear that the credit is limited to those children who are classified as “a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or a U.S. resident alien.” All others are committing fraud; as was previously discovered years back, when prison detainees were caught in the act. This is why we must seriously rethink the “Birthright Citizenship” law on the books now. This policy needs to be amended,--immediately so no foreign mother who slips past the U.S. border Patrol, or lies on their entry form prior to arriving on an international flight cannot use the U.S. taxpayers, as their own personal bank account?
This law is ridiculously out of date with global travel, as any pregnant female can arrive on U.S. soil and claim American citizenship for their new born baby. No change in the law is required, just an amendment, so babies born in the jurisdiction of the United States--at least one parent must be a citizen. Otherwise the annual estimated number of 400.000 newborns entering this country will add up in the billions. Once status is claimed, these mothers with babies are eligible for food, housing, medical and schooling until the age of 18 including their mother. Reported by the Center for Immigration Studies an average annual cost per child K-12 is $7,161.00 and exceeds $109 billion annually per cycle of ‘Foothold’ babies. That’s your taxes given out to the 400,000 mothers and their kids annually, gaining a nice little inheritance from Americans.
Is there so much money just lying around, as the Solar panel manufacturer “Solyndra’ with 535 million worth of loan guarantees or the General Service Administration (GSA) debacle in Las Vegas and whatever else is out there? How much more money are taxpayers supposed to conjure up, without accountability? Illegal Immigration unfortunately has adverse consequences on all our lives, but mainly the cost of supporting them. $113 billion dollars a year and climbing is a very unhealthy situation, when we cannot cater to our own poor.
As I see it and millions of Americans, no matter their race, color or faith should join up with the TEA PARTY? The outcome is to rid the Congress of those politicians’ that are obstacles in changing laws detrimental to the welfare, security and health of all citizens and residents. Gone already is Richard Lugar, who deliberation was no other politician could unseat him, when as a Republican he was siding with the Liberals to pass another Amnesty for illegal aliens. Who is next to clock out and which state is to be hounded by the Department of Justice for protecting their citizens? First it was Arizona, Then Sheriff Joe Arpaio’and then Alabama was intimidated? Yet these Liberal czars condoned by Obama, has done nothing to stop the emergence of Sanctuary States like California and Nevada?
But even so we must be on our guard against all future elections, even down to the municipal level, as non citizens in large numbers have been discovered in the voter rolls in Florida. Democrats no matter the future consequences of the citizen’s right to vote have shown indifferent to any new measure to stop any ineligible person voting. In fact they have shown no desire to strengthen election laws, by insisting that every person who appears to vote has an official picture ID? Just by this reluctance for a fair and respect for our voting laws, illustrates they don’t care who votes, especially by illegal aliens for the left? Read everything you wanted to know about illegal immigration, true statistics and more at NumbersUSA and American Patrol.
In addition the National Liberal media had reported nationwide, the dwindling of numbers of illegal aliens crossing the Southern border. The source was coming from the Pew Hispanic Research Center? But the Washington Examiner press negates this as a lie; the original data was coming from the Obama Administration. When conducting interviews with Border Patrol officials the numbers are not slowing down.
A Border Patrol official working along the Texas border said administration officials are deliberately failing to document what is actually happening on the border. “In many cases my supervisors make it clear that they don’t want increased apprehension numbers, which means no arrests,” he said.
Saying, “Security is being compromised as the government seeks to keep a lid on the border as a campaign issue during the presidential election cycle. Department of Homeland Security’s Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are being told not to make arrests of noncriminal illegal immigrants and not to patrol areas of high traffic along the roughly 2,000-mile Southwest border”.
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