population

The 22 million non-citizens in this country (including many here illegally) are having a huge impact on election of representatives to the U.S. Congress.  This is because apportionment of House seats to each state and the drawing of House district lines are based on total population, not on citizenship.

A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies concludes:

“The profound impact of non-citizens can be seen in the 12 districts with the lowest share of citizens, which have roughly the same population of voting-age U.S. citizens as the nine districts with the highest citizen shares. This means Americans in the high-citizen districts have only nine representatives in Congress while those in the lowest-citizenship districts have 12, even though the combined populations of citizens are roughly equal.”

The rule about apportionment is based on the Constitution, section 2 of the 4^th Amendment.  There has been much debate about its interpretation, and whether it’s rightfully applied.  The CIS study makes it obvious that the rule gives states with large numbers of non-citizens an advantage over other states in Congressional matters, which is unjust to citizens and harmful to the sovereignty of the nation.

Table 1 from an earlier CIS study shows, for each state, the apportionment of House seats after the 2020 Census, assuming different populations were not present.  Under each of the assumptions, the table shows that Oregon will have 6 Representatives, a gain of 1 seat over the current number. 

The source of Oregon’s general population increase is a mixture of migration of citizens from other states (32%)  and immigrants (30%), as reported here.  The large migration from other states is likely often related to excessive immigration and overcrowding in the other states.

“California is by far the more recent state of residence for those who move to Oregon, followed by Washington, Illinois, New York, and Texas. These are all states that have seen significant increases in their population, driven in large-part by immigration. Of those who moved to Oregon as an adult from another state, 44% said they did so ‘seeking a better quality of life.’”-- https://www.numbersusa.com/blog/numbersusa-study-population-growth-and-sprawl-oregon

As a FAIR blog comments: “Without a doubt this [Congressional apportionment] is one of the key reasons why the Democrats have been pushing – with the support or acquiescence of cheap labor corporatist Republicans – open borders and mass immigration. After all, during the 2018 midterm elections, almost 90 percent of House districts with a foreign-born population above the national average were won by Democrats. …

“… A persuasive case can be made that the Department of Commerce – which is responsible for conducting the census – can indeed exclude illegal aliens from the census population count (and that the Constitution did not mean for them to be included in the first place). Unfortunately, the DOC has so far refused to do so, for which it was sued by the state of Alabama and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL). Alabama certainly had a good reason to sue, for counting illegal aliens would deprive it of a congressional seat and an Electoral College vote. The bottom line is that states with small foreign-born/non-citizen populations, and in particular those with less illegal alien inhabitants, should not be punished by losing representation.”     Read more about Congressional voting is skewed against citizens; fix needed

A new report from Portland State University's population research center shows how much Oregon’s population has increased recently.  The numbers are concerning for many reasons.  Below is part of an alert from the Sustainability project of Numbers USA, with links to a poll being conducted now by The Oregonian on this subject.

VOTE: "Should Oregon encourage more people to move here or discourage them?"

The Oregonian reports:

Oregon has more than 4 million residents, growing by 41,000 in the past year. Of those tens of thousands of new Oregonians, 86%, or about 35,000, moved here from somewhere else. That's far more than the people who entered the state fresh from the womb.

Nationally, immigration is projected to account for the majority of U.S. population growth. Most of Oregon's growth is coming from other states, including states that are more directly impacted by immigration. Native Californians, for instance, make up 1 out of every 7 people in Oregon, according to channel 9 ABC News:

...according to Realtor Ben Fogelson, the migration of people to Oregon creates some negatives for the local communities. Fogelson said out-of-state home buyers, like those from California, out-buy local Oregonians.

According to the City of Eugene, the city's median income is $44,000 and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, California's median income is $80,000. So Californians have a greater chance of being able to buy an average Eugene's home, which is priced at $315,000.

UPDATE, 12-8-2019

The Oregonian’s poll has been closed for some time now. 

The final results were:

#ComeOnIn      7.2%

#GoAway        92.8% Read more about Should Oregon’s population continue to grow?

Enormous levels of immigration over recent decades have caused wages for all U.S. workers to fall behind. Large numbers of citizens’ wages are now so low that they live from payday to payday and cannot save anything for emergencies or for a comfortable retirement. We see widespread homelessness due partly to rents beyond the reach of many low-paid workers.

Who’s responsible for these developments?  Congress sets the immigration laws, including numbers of immigrants.  Oregon’s Congressional delegation has consistently voted for increases in immigration, lax-to-no enforcement of immigration law, and expensive benefits to illegal aliens, enticing further illegal immigration.

To see the Oregon delegations’ grades over their entire careers, click here.
Here are their grades based on their recent voting records in Congress, as documented by NumbersUSA:

F- :  Senator Jeff Merkley, Senator Ron Wyden, Representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader

B  :  Representative Greg Walden

Senator Merkley is up for reelection next year, as are all of Oregon’s 5 Representatives.

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Labor Day: Four Decades of Dramatic CEO Income Growth; Peanuts for Workers

By Joe Guzzardi, Progressives for Immigration Reform,  August 29, 2019

Excerpts:

A recent Economic Policy Institute Study titled “CEO Compensation Has Grown 940% since 1978” is a Labor Day lament for American workers whose wages during the same period have only increased a meager 12%. EPI’s analysis found that this exorbitant, unconscionable earnings differential is the major income inequality contributor, and has persisted through equally indifferent Democrat and Republican administrations. …

CEOs have unquestionably taken full advantage of their power to enrich themselves, and suppress lower-echelon employee wages. But another variable that contributes to 40 years of flat wages for hourly workers is the executive suite’s addiction to cheap, foreign labor. With what has been an unbroken inflow of illegal immigrant and legal guest workers, between 750,000 and 1 million annually, corporations have no incentive to increase domestic workers’ salaries – and they haven’t. …

That immigration grows the economy is the age-old, half-truth argument. Sure, more people and more workers create a bigger economy. But immigration does not help the per capita income. Immigration’s benefits accrue to the immigrants and to their employers, and not the general public. The traditional solution to filling job openings is to offer higher wages, not import more cheap labor. With more than 6.1 million people unemployed, that pool should be tapped first.

Congress will soon reconvene, but as it has been for too many legislative sessions, creating a fairer immigration system that protects instead of harms American workers isn’t on the agenda.

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Read the complete article here. Read more about Labor Day, Sept. 2, 2019: Four decades of peanuts for workers, courtesy of Congress