Time to take a Head Count

VA has a couple of entries up this morning that are very interesting, both having to do with the immigration situation in this country and in the wider west. In VA's top post, The Prospects for the West, Part II, she opens the entry with the most basic question that any conservative, any 'traditionalist,' any American oughta be asking himself/herself on a daily basis: “How many illegal aliens are in our country?” It's a great question, and one that we need to somehow, some way, get a more accurate 'guesstimate' of in the very near future...

VA goes on to elaborate on why the question is such an important one to Americans, and why we need to get a handle on it quick, fast, and in a hurry:

We hear the figure '12 million' bandied about a lot, but there is no solid basis for believing that figure to be accurate; it is repeated although no one can cite a source for it, or provide evidence to back it up.

But in discussing the issue of the future of the West, and whether the United States or Europe is in greater demographic danger, it would be helpful to have a real idea of how many illegals are here now, and how many are entering over the course of a year.

I have searched for authoritative information, but found little that is clear and straightforward. We should also keep in mind that NO ONE KNOWS how many illegals are here, or how many come in each day or each year. It's all speculation and guesswork.

The federal government and our politicians seem to like that implausibly low figure of 12 million, but it's in their interests to keep the figure modest; if they confessed that they have no idea how many illegals are here, or if they gave an inkling of the suspected numbers, there would likely be an uproar, especially now that so many Americans have been mobilized against amnesty for those unknown millions of trespassing illegals.

So we are probably safe in assuming the 12 million figure is lowballed.

I agree. Some say 12 million is the most reliable figure, or they at least imply that is the most reliable estimate available by their constantly citing it. I've heard some estimates ranging from 12 to 20 million, others from 12 to 30 million. The only figure that it seems everyone can agree on is the 12 million figure as a low end estimate. I think the 30 million 'high end' estimate by some to be suspect too, and think that it may well be itself a 'lowballed' figure. But how can we know for sure? Better yet, can we know for sure? Can we at least get this number of illegal aliens in this country narrowed down to a figure that is reliable enough that we can estimate more accurately what kind of an impact they're having on our society, whether negative or positive? I think we can, I think we should, and I think the reality is that we must at some point in the very near future.

And I think the best, and probably the only way of doing it with any real hope of obtaining accurate numbers is for the States and the local governments to do the counting themselves. I mean, if we can all assume with a high degree of confidence that the numbers of votes collected at the local level, transmitted to that of the state, and those numbers to the central authority from the various States with regard to our Presidential elections is at all within the ballpark, then surely the local and the state governments may be safely entrusted with collecting and transmitting data as pertains to the numbers of illegals residing within their own borders, can't they? If the answer that comes to mind is “no,” then I can hardly see how we can place any confidence at all in the results of the presidential elections, or any other national election numbers, for that matter.

The state and local governments have themselves a vested interest in obtaining some degree of accurate numbers in this regard. And even if they have a soft spot in their hearts for immigrants, particularly of the illegal variety in this case, an accurate assessment of the numbers of them residing in their particular locals would still be advantageous to the respective governments for any number of reasons I can think of off hand.

Certainly there would be some 'cooking of the books' going on in certain locations, but I'll reiterate, this reality doesn't cause us to throw out our whole elections process even though we know without a doubt that we have pets voting in increasing numbers in our elections, as well as dead people and the whole works.

And seriously, folks, as VA has said before, it isn't like these immigrants are hiding from anyone. No; they are fearlessly traipsing about all over this great land of ours. And if they're going to walk around in the open air with no evident fear of their being shipped back to their country of origin anytime soon, then there's no time like the present for us to start counting them up. Irregardless of what the figure ultimately ends up being, we need to know what it is within a reasonable degree of accuracy. We also need a reliable way of estimating how many are continuing to come in illegally on an annual basis.

Here's something for our illustrious Congress to start to work on - put together an immigration bill, “in pursuance thereof,” that has the state and local governments complying with a 'uniform' census project intended to get an accurate estimate of how many illegal immigrants actually reside in these United States at the moment it is taken, with an additional provision stipulating this be done on at least a 'semi-regular' basis so that we'll also have some reliable indication of how many are coming in yearly. Seems to me like a pretty good plan, how about you?...

-DW