VDARE.COM - http://www.vdare.com/taylor/070110_hispanics.htm
January 10, 2007
Do We Need More Hispanics?
By Jared Taylor
[VDARE.COM NOTE: This is adapted from the New Century Foundation's
report Hispanics: A Statistical Portrait]
There are now 43 million Hispanics living in the United States. At 15
percent of the population, they have displaced blacks as the largest
racial minority. There used to be so few Hispanics that until 1980 the
Census Bureau did not make a category from them. Since then, mass
immigration and high birthrates explain the explosion in their
population: they increased at 14 times the white rate from 2000 to
2005, for example, and at more than three times the black rate.[1] Of
the estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants in this country, the
best guess is that 78 percent are Hispanic.[2] The amnesty President
Bush and a Democratic Congress are planning will legalize them and,
because of the "family-reunification" chain-migration feature of
current immigration law, ensure we get more in the future.
Is this good for America?
The way to answer the question is to look at the Hispanics who are
already here and see how they are doing. We should do this before we
open the door to their brothers and cousins and aunts and nephews. That
is the purpose of the report, Hispanics: A Statistical Portrait,
recently published by New Century Foundation (NCF).[PDF|HTML] It is a
carefully documented compilation of all the standard social indices:
income, education, crime rates, welfare use, illegitimacy rates, and
much more.
It may seem unfeeling to turn an appraising eye on an entire group. But
our policies on amnesty and immigration will establish the character of
our population for generations to come. The decision to open our
country to people who will be the fellow citizens of our children and
grandchildren is not one to be taken in ignorance. What follow are just
a few of the findings from the NCF report, which is available for
download and circulation.
The Numbers
First, what is the economic impact of Hispanics? We are repeatedly told
that immigrants do vital work natives will not do. It is certainly true
that large numbers of low-skilled Hispanics hold down wages in certain
industries. The result is often unemployment for natives and poverty
for the immigrants-at least by American standards. In 2004, the
median per capita income of Hispanics was $14,100-less even than that
of blacks ($16,000)-and about half the white figure of $27,500.[3]
The median net worth even of Hispanics born in the United States was
$10,425, or just 12 percent of the median white net worth of
$88,651.[4]
Poor, low-skilled people consume more in social services than they pay
in taxes, and the Center of Immigration Studies calculates that the
average Mexican immigrant will collect $55,200 more in government
services during his lifetime than he will pay in taxes.[5] The
Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that every year
the net cost of illegal immigrants is $45 billion.[6]
Hispanics who are in the country legally and can get welfare and go on
unemployment seem to lose their storied willingness to take any
available job. In 2004, for example, Hispanics were about 50 percent
more likely to be unemployed than whites,[7] and in the same year,
fully half of all Hispanic households used at least one form of
welfare, compared to 47 percent of blacks and 18 percent of whites.[8]
Hispanics are a high-crime population second only to blacks. They are
2=2E3 times more likely to be in prison than whites (blacks are 6.8 times
more likely), and are four times more likely than whites to commit
murder, robbery or assault.[9] Given that Mexico is our largest
supplier of marijuana and cocaine, and our second-largest supplier of
heroin,[10] it is no surprise that Hispanics are nearly six times more
likely than whites to be locked up for drug offenses. These problems
are sure to get worse: Hispanics are no less than 19 times more likely
than whites to be members of youth gangs (blacks are 18 times more
likely).[11]
Hispanics have a reputation for "family values." But one wonders why.
Their illegitimacy rate is 45 percent-nearly double the white rate
but lower than the 69 percent rate for blacks. Hispanic women are 2.7
times more likely than white women to have abortions,[PDF][12] and are
slightly more likely to get a divorce.[13] Hispanics are also much more
likely than whites to beat women. One study found Hispanic women are
nine times more likely than white women to report domestic
violence.[14]
Of all the major population groups, Hispanics are least likely to have
medical insurance: 33 percent as opposed to 11 percent for whites and
20 percent for blacks.[15] The majority of immigrants from Mexico,
Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have no insurance, which means they
get treatment at public expense. They avoid routine care and often show
up only when they have reached the point they need expensive
treatment.[16] Hispanics are three times more likely than whites to die
of AIDS, and four times more likely to die of tuberculosis.[17] Illegal
immigrants come to America without health screening, and some bring
diseases we thought we had eradicated: polio, typhoid, tuberculosis,
plague, leprosy, and dysentery.[18] Immigrants-probably
Hispanic-brought bedbugs back to New York City.[19]
Hispanics blame their bad health and lack of medical insurance on
poverty, but in 2004, Mexicans saved enough to send $20 billion in
remittances back home. Other Hispanics sent home another $10
billion;[20] this could have bought a lot of medical insurance.
Things do not look promising for the next generation. According to one
study, Hispanics are nearly three times more likely to drop out of high
school than whites and twice as likely as blacks (43 percent, 26
percent, and 15 percent, respectively).[21] Even Hispanics who have
been in the United States for three generations or more are twice as
likely as whites and slightly more likely than blacks not to have
finished high school.[22] Hispanics who manage to stay in school do as
poorly as blacks. The average black or Hispanic 12th-grader reads and
does math at about the level of the average white 8th-grader.[23]
Only 28 percent of Hispanics aged 18 to 24 were in college in 2003,
compared to 38 percent of blacks and 52 percent of whites. From 1974 to
2003, the percentage of Hispanic men who attended college actually
declined, while the percentages for every other group rose.[24]
What sort of citizens do Hispanics become? Even after they are
naturalized, they remain emotionally attached to their homelands. In a
poll taken by the Pew Hispanic Center, only 33 percent of
Hispanic-American citizens said they considered themselves first or
only American. Forty-four percent still called themselves their
original, pre-immigration nationality (Mexican, Salvadoran, etc.), and
another 22 percent said they were first or only "Latino or Hispanic."
When citizens and non-citizens of Mexican origin are taken together, 55
percent consider themselves Mexican, 25 percent Latino or Hispanic, and
only 18 percent American.[25]
The Mexican government works hard to keep it that way. As Juan
Hern=E1ndez of the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (Institute
for Mexicans Abroad) explained on ABC's Nightline, "I want the third
generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think 'Mexico
first.' "[26] If there were ever a sharp conflict between the United
States and Mexico or any other Hispanic country, it is not hard to
predict on which side of the controversy many Hispanics-citizens or
non-citizens-would fall.
As the New Century Foundation report suggests, current immigration
subverts long-standing national goals. We claim to be fighting poverty,
but we import poor people. We claim to be fighting school failure but
we import dropouts. We claim to be fighting disease, but we import
tuberculosis and plague. We claim to be fighting crime, but we import
people with high crime rates. This is baffling for anyone not in the
uplift business and afraid of running out of work.
The process has been a gradual one, but we have redrawn the lines of
the underclass. It used to be that a certain kind of news story was
sure to be about blacks. No longer. In this sample of recent headlines,
who can tell whether we are reading about blacks or Hispanics? "Baby
Dies in Bucket of Mom's Vomit," [27] "Mom Accused of Swinging [her own
four-week old] Baby as Weapon,"[28] "L.A. Police Say Killing Of
3-Year-Old In Gang Attack Was Intentional,"[29] "North Dade Baby Shower
Turns Deadly As Gunfight Breaks Out,"[30] "Another 'Super Safe
Sunday' Ends In Violence."[31]
If we applied ordinary logic to the question with which we
began-Should we add millions of Hispanics to our population?-the
answer would be a unanimous "no."
However, since most Hispanics are not white, the question becomes one
of race relations, to which ordinary logic does not apply.
When it comes to race, otherwise rational whites seem to believe the
only consideration is to avoid being called "racist." The country
therefore does not even ask whether it needs millions more Hispanics,
much less answer the question honestly.
If we were rational, we would weigh the pros and cons and decide that
the cons have it. If the newcomers were white but had Hispanic rates of
crime, poverty, illegitimacy, school failure, etc. we would tell them
to stay home. But the thought of telling non-whites to stay home turns
whites to jelly.
This explains what otherwise makes no sense. It explains why we appear
to have become dissatisfied with only a black underclass, and decided
to establish a Hispanic underclass as well.
Now the two can fight each other in schools and prisons, burden our
social system, and cloud our future for generations to come.
Jared Taylor (email him) is editor of American Renaissance and the
author of Paved With Good Intentions: The Failure of Race Relations in
Contemporary America. (For Peter Brimelow's review, click here.)
[1] Population Division, US Census Bureau, "Table 3: Annual Estimates
of the Population by Sex, Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin for the
United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005" (NC-EST2005-03),
(Washington, DC: USCB, 2006).
[2] Jeffrey S. Passel, "Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized
Migrant Population in the United States" (Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic
Center, 2006), pp. i-ii.
[3] US Census Bureau, "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage
in the United States: 2004" [PDF](Washington, DC: USCB, 2005), pp. 4-5.
[4] Rakesh Kochhar, "The Wealth of Hispanic Households: 1996-2002,"
(Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, 2004), p. 2.
[5] Steven Camarota, "Immigration from Mexico: Assessing the Impact on
the United States" (Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies,
2001),. Accessed June 20, 2006.
[6] Federation for American Immigration Reform, "The Estimated Cost of
Illegal Immigration" (Washington, DC: FAIR, 2004),. Accessed June 20,
2006.
[7] US Census Bureau, Ethnicity and Ancestry Statistics Branch,
Population Division, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and
Economic Supplement, 2004 (Washington, DC: USCB, 2004), , Accessed June
19, 2006.
[8] US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and
Economic Supplement, 2005 (Washington, DC: USCB, 2005), Accessed June
19, 2006.
[9] The total numbers of white and Hispanic prison and jail inmates
were divided by figures for the white and Hispanic population 18 years
and older to determine rates. Children were excluded because they
normally do not enter the adult criminal justice system. Numbers of
prisoners are from Paige M. Harrison and Alan J. Beck, "Prisoners in
2004"[PDF] (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 2005), p. 8 and from US Dept. of Justice, Federal Bureau of
Prisons, "Quick Facts about the Bureau of Prisons" (Washington, DC:
BOP, 2006),. Accessed June 19, 2006. Numbers of jail inmates are from
Paige M. Harrison and Alan J. Beck, "Prisoners and Jail Inmates at
Midyear 2005" (Washington, DC: US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics, 2006), p. 8. Population data are from Population Division,
US Census Bureau, "Table 4: Annual Estimates of the Population by Age
and Sex of White alone Not Hispanic for the United States: April 1,
2000 to July 1, 2005" (Washington, DC: USCB, 2006) and Population
Division, US Census Bureau, "Table 4: Annual Estimates of the
Population by Age and Sex of Hispanic or Latino Origin for the United
States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005" (Washington, DC: USCB, 2006).
[10] Anthony P. Placido, Congressional Testimony, "Threat Convergence
Along the Border: How Does Drug Trafficking Impact our Borders?"
(Washington, DC: US Drug Enforcement Agency, 2005),. Accessed June 20,
2006.
[11] New Century Foundation, "The Color of Crime," 2d ed. (Oakton, VA:
NCF, 2005), p. 11.
[12] Alan Guttmacher Institute, "Abortion in Women's Lives"
[PDF](Washington, DC: AGI, 2006), p. 20. Rates for Hispanics and whites
were determined by comparing the percentages of total abortions
accounted for by white and Hispanic women with their percentages of the
total population. Population data from "Table 4: Annual Estimates of
the Population by Age and Sex of White alone Not Hispanic " and "Table
4: Annual Estimates of the Population by Age and Sex of Hispanic or
Latino Origin."
[13] Matthew D. Bramlett and William D. Mosher, "First Marriage
Dissolution, Divorce, and Remarriage: United States,"[PDF] Advance Data
From Vital and Health Statistics; No. 323. (Hyattsville, Maryland:
National Center for Health Statistics, 2001), p. 1.
[14] Craig A. Field and Raul Caetano, "Longitudinal Model Predicting
Mutual Partner Violence Among White, Black And Hispanic Couples in the
United States General Population," Violence Victims, vol. 20, no. 5
(Oct. 2005).
[15] "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United
States: 2004," p. 18.
[16] Steven A. Camarota, "Immigrants in the United States-2002"
(Washington, DC: Center for Immigration Studies, 2002),. Accessed June
20, 2006.
[17] Donna L. Hoyert et al., Deaths: Final Data for 2003, National
Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 54, No. 13 (Hyattsville, MD: National
Center for Health Statistics, 2006),pp. 44-47.
[18] Federation for American Immigration Reform, "Illegal Immigration
and Public Health" (Washington, DC: FAIR, 2005),. Accessed June 20,
2006.
[19] Bryan Virasami, "City Takes Aim At Exploding Bed Bugs Problem,"
Newsday, September 19, 2006.
[20] "Remittances Sent Home by Mexicans Hits $20 Billion," Reuters,
Jan. 31, 2006.
[21] US Census Bureau, Population Division, Current Population Survey,
February 2006 [Computer file, available here] (Washington, DC: USCB,
2006).
[22] Ibid.
[23] US Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics,
National Assessment of Educational Progress, The Nation's Report Card
(Washington, DC: NCES, 2005),. Accessed June 20, 2006.
[24] Lisa Hudson, Sally Aquilino, and Gregory Hudson, "Post-Secondary
Graduation Rates by Sex and Race/Ethnicity: 1974-2003," Education
Statistics Quarterly, Vol. 7, Nos. 1-2, 2005,. Accessed June 20, 2006.
[25] Pew Hispanic Center and Kaiser Family Foundation, "2002 National
Survey of Latinos," (Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center, Menlo Park:
Kaiser Family Foundation, 2002), p. 29.
[26] Howard Sutherland, "Mexico's Northern Strategy," The American
Conservative, March 10, 2003.
[27] Adam Goldman, "Baby Dies in Bucket of Mom's Vomit," Associated
Press, Sept. 22, 2006.
[28] Associated Press, "Mississippi Professor Gets Jail for Covering
Son With Ants, Hot Sauce," November 21, 2006.
[29] Richard Winton and Erika Hayasaki, "L.A. Police Say Killing Of
3-Year-Old In Gang Attack Was Intentional," Los Angeles Times, October
10, 2006.
[30] Aldo Nahed and Rob Barry, "North Dade Baby Shower Turns Deadly As
Gunfight Breaks Out," Miami Herald, Nov. 20, 2006.
[31] Francis McCabe, "Another 'Super Safe Sunday' Ends In
Violence," Times (Shreveport), June 27 , 2005.
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