By Felicia Persaud
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Oct. 12, 2012: Just when you thought the scapegoating of immigrants could not get any worst, anti-immigration group, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, (FAIR), has sunk to a new low.
FAIR officials have issued a new report that claims immigrants – yes you read this right, immigrants – are to be blamed for the drought gripping parts of the United States. The claim is a new take on Millie Vanilli’s ‘Blame It On The Rain’ with FAIR officials singing “Blame It On The Immigrants.”
In “Running Dry: Looming Water Shortages in the United States,” the group, whose own acronym should really be unFAIR, claims that as a result of rapid population growth triggered primarily by immigration increases between 1970 and 201, overall water consumption in the U.S. remains at unsustainable levels.
“This summer’s drought reminds us, yet again, that our failure to consider the impact of population growth on our environment and our natural resource base presents a looming crisis of our own making,” claims Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “Looking ahead, the picture is even bleaker. If we maintain immigration at current levels, our population will grow by another 117 million by mid-century, with immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants accounting for more than 80 percent of that growth.”
The report which interestingly comes ahead of the November Election is undoubtedly designed to instill fear into the right wing base of Americans who love the blame the immigrants’ game.
It claims that immigration policies have been made “without any consideration for their economic, social and environmental consequences.”
And the report adds by way of recommendation: “Our looming water crisis cannot be solved by a good soaking rain. It can only be solved by a political leadership that is willing to acknowledge that immigration-driven population cannot be sustained at current levels without potentially catastrophic consequences. This summer’s drought was a wake-up call that we ignore at our own peril.”
FAIR never ceases to amaze with its continued assault on immigration and immigrants but this claim is a new height of madness. But it’s not surprising since this is the same organization that has claimed continually that “rapid, immigration-fueled population growth results in increased unemployment and decreases in per capita income … (and) also leads to significant declines in quality of life, such as environmental degradation, urban sprawl, increased congestion, stress on public infrastructure, and strains on vital social institutions.”
This ignores all of the studies that state that immigration and immigrants have made a significant contribution economically to the United States and without them, including the undocumented, the ramifications would be tremendous. As The Perryman Group in a 2008 report claimed, that the long-term negative effect of eliminating the unauthorized workforce would include roughly $245 billion in lost GDP and 2.8 million lost jobs.
The facts are clear. Americans must be wary of groups like FAIR who distort the facts and come up with theories such as the latest, which is laughable and comparable at best to the birther theory about the President. Immigrant voters must go out and vote this November and ensure they send a clear message – that this type of anti-immigrant claims and fallacies, will not be tolerated.
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
