Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Wednesday that America needs new immigrants "now more than ever" to combat declining reproduction rates and the lowest population growth in the country's history.
"Now more than ever, we're short of workers. We have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to," Schumer said during a press conference Wednesday. "The only way we're going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants. The 'Dreamers,' and all of them."
He said the "ultimate goal" is to help not only the Dreamers, but to "get a path to citizenship for all 11 million [illegal immigrants]."
U.S. population growth plummeted to 0.1% in 2021, the lowest level ever recorded since 1961, according to the World Bank.
The growth rate was 1.7% in 1961, but has since levelled off, hovering around 1% from 1968-2010, where it again dropped to 0.8% and continued to decline to just 0.5% in 2019.
The rate briefly rose back to 1% during 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic but dropped precipitously the following year to the new low, according to the organization.
The World Population Review reported that the slight population increases in recent years are being "driven by a high level of immigration."
Customs and Border Protection reported that some 4 million illegal migrants have been encountered at the border in the fiscal years 2021 and 2022, as well as 230,678 in October alone to begin the new 2023 fiscal year.
Hispanics increased their share of the population, growing from 12.6% of the population in 2000 to 18.5% in 2019, while the Black community remained relatively constant around 12%, and whites declined from 69% to 60% during that time, according to the Brookings Institute.
The largest increasing group of Latinos and Hispanics are aged 16 and below, increasing from 17.2% of that cohort population in 2000, to 25.8% in 2019.
According to the institute, the white decline was "pervasive," including all 50 states and in 358 of the nation's 364 metropolitan areas as well as dropping in 3,012 of the country's 3,141 counties.
Although abortion levels have dropped in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 630,000 abortions were performed in the United States in 2019 alone including just 10,000 (1.5%) for cases of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother was at risk.
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