US Immigration

During the Great Depression, unemployment reached 35% from 5% in 1929.  The lack of jobs caused Congress to curtail immigration in the 1930s.  Immigrants were required to have “sponsors”, who would support them until they could become employed.  These were often relatives of the immigrants.  Immigration had been limited to 3% and then 2% based on the US population by country of origin.  US immigration policy was based on the need for labor.

Early 1900's US Immigration Flow

1901 - 1910	8,795,386 immigrants arrive in the US
1911 - 1920	5,735,811 immigrants arrived in the US
1921 - 1930	4,107,209 immigrants arrived in the US
1931 - 1940	532,431 immigrants arrived in the US (massive fall due to the Great Depression)

http://www.emmigration.info/us-immigration-trends-1900-1940.htm

Immigration remained restricted throughout the 1940s. Immigration from the 1950s to 1989 varied from 200 thousand a year to 300 thousand a year.  These included H1B degreed engineers and seasonal agricultural workers.

In 1989, US immigration doubled from 500,000 to over 1 million and remained over 1 million for the past 27 years. In many of these years, immigration reached 2 million and 3 million a year.  Illegal immigration delivered up to 30 million illegals over the period.  The Jobs Recession that started in 2008 is the result of excessive immigration, NAFTA and other bad trade agreements and the election of Obama in 2008 and 2012.

There are 94 million working-age US citizens who do not have jobs.  Our current economy cannot even support the 1.8 million new grads we have each year.  If we froze all immigration, it would take 25 years to allow half of these US citizens to secure employment.

In 2000, our National Debt was $5 trillion and federal revenue was $2 trillion.  Now our National Debt is approaching $20 trillion and federal revenue is $4 trillion.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader