# Need help with immigration statistics **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-immigration-statistics/508292 "2009-08-30T22:31:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-immigration-statistics/508292/21 "2009-08-31T17:39:38Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > So, in the interest of ensuring bias-free information you point to FAIR, but you say nothing about MALDEF?!?!?! > > Guess your bias about their extreme bias reveals yours. I didn’t look at MALDEF’s page in any detail, nor did I post it, and I posted a source which posts statistical demographic information. I’m a busy person and I don’t have the time at the moment to research every citation someone posts, so I comment on those that I am already familiar with. > [@](#): > > And, yes, for the record, FAIR has an agenda: [here it is:](http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/about/) > > You seem to bristle at the mention of FAIR. Which of these positions do you find so troubling? If you call what I posted “bristling,” you should see me when I’m _really_ pissed off. Let’s just say that I’ve read FAIR’s materials for 10+ years, and if their actual daily rhetoric matched their position statements, I’d have far fewer issues with them. But if we get into my real opinions, we are going to end up in GD and/or the Pit. The OP asked for factual information, which I posted. But I suspect that among other things, FAIR’s concrete positions on what constitutes an appropriate immigration level to suport the reunification of nuclear families and the U.S.’ appropriate share of refugees would differ significantly from my own. Or do think that a multi-year separation for, say, the spouse of a permanent resident is acceptable? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-immigration-statistics/508292/22 "2009-09-01T00:40:21Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > I didn’t look at MALDEF’s page in any detail, nor did I post it, and I posted a source which posts statistical demographic information. I’m a busy person and I don’t have the time at the moment to research every citation someone posts, so I comment on those that I am already familiar with. > > If you call what I posted “bristling,” you should see me when I’m _really_ pissed off. Let’s just say that I’ve read FAIR’s materials for 10+ years, and if their actual daily rhetoric matched their position statements, I’d have far fewer issues with them. But if we get into my real opinions, we are going to end up in GD and/or the Pit. The OP asked for factual information, which I posted. > > But I suspect that among other things, FAIR’s concrete positions on what constitutes an appropriate immigration level to suport the reunification of nuclear families and the U.S.’ appropriate share of refugees would differ significantly from my own. Or do think that a multi-year separation for, say, the spouse of a permanent resident is acceptable? **Eva** , time to close the computer and get ready for the wedding. You’re getting defensive about a post that was NOT addressed to you. Again, congratulations. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-immigration-statistics/508292/23 "2009-09-01T14:04:58Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > **Eva** , time to close the computer and get ready for the wedding. You’re getting defensive about a post that was NOT addressed to you. Again, congratulations. That’s not so much wedding-related distraction as the cumulative effect of an average of 4 hours of sleep a night over the past couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-immigration-statistics/508292/24 "2009-09-01T17:36:41Z")
I would like to add one comment. I lived for six monthes in Switzerland in the 60s. There was a severe labor shortage that they were trying to overcome with "Fremdarbeiter|, foreign workers. They had important several hundred thousand of them (the total population was around five milllion). But it didn’t work. Or worked poorly. The reason was that these workers required food, housing, clothing, etc, all of which created demand for more labor. Turning it around, if all the illegal workers were deported, all the demand created by their presence would disappear and many jobs would disappear, even as Americans came to do the jobs the illegals used to do. There would likely be some net gain, but only a small fraction of what you might otherwise expect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-with-immigration-statistics/508292.md?page=1)