More illegals! More illegals over here, please!
Ah, you'll have to excuse me. I have been away from my column for weeks with my nose in numbers for an immigration story that appears in this week's paper version of Unfair Park. I may be a little stat-blind.
The Census released its 2010 numbers yesterday, a tad late for my story, but of course most of what was in the numbers has been busily anticipated: Joel Kotkin has had a book out about it since last February, for goodness sake.
Local glee abounds today over the four additional seats Texas should get out of the new numbers, which show Texas having grown at more than 20 percent in population since 2000, versus places like Ohio, at 1.6 percent growth, or Michigan (my Michigan) at negative six-tenths of a percent. (I say Michigan is just culling.)
Todd Gillman at The News has a story today about all the giddiness over the new seats, along with some recognition that a big chunk of Texas's growth was Hispanic. But that's the story of America too.
The Pew Hispanic Center published a study four years ago predicting that Hispanics would make up the biggest component -- 36 percent -- of the so-called "last hundred million," the people who have pushed the national population over the 300-million mark.
For my feature I spoke to people like state Sen. Leo Berman, who is absolutely foaming at the mouth to get all of the Hispanic immigrants kicked out of Texas as fast as possible. Berman shared with me a fact I did not know: He says Los Angeles is now run by illegal aliens.
GOOD GOD! Let's hope that never happens in an American city.
But here's a factoid I thought I might share with you. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that Texas has the nation's second-largest population of no-papers people or whatever you want to call them -- "unauthorized immigrants," the favored euphemism amongst us libtards, or illegal aliens or baby-bearing dirty bombers, as you may prefer. In 2008 the DHS estimated our population at about 1.7 million. (Research indicates that number probably has fallen somewhat since the study.)
But here's my wrinkle. The Census, you may or may not know, is required by the Constitution to carry out an "actual enumeration" of the "whole number of persons" in the United States.
That means the Census is required by law to count unauthorized dirty-bombers right along with your real people, otherwise known as citizens. An analysis carried out for the Congress and published last January concluded it would take a Constitutional amendment to eliminate illegals from the Congressional redistricting formula.
As it stands now, the more illegals you got in your state, the more seats you may win in the House.
So maybe people like Berman, Republican of Tyler and state Rep. Debbie Riddle, Republican of rich horsey country north of Houston, should pause and reflect on the fact that our illegals may have been a big factor in getting us those extra four seats, one of which may be slated for Dallas-Fort Worth.
In other words: The more illegals, the merrier!
In fact, that thought finally provides me with a holiday greeting I can bear to spit out.
MERRY ILLEGALS EVERYBODY. And a Happy New Year!!
Phew. These number stories are rough. I need to step out and get some air.
