Mr. President. there is widespread alarm in this country about the influx of refugees. not only from Southeast Asia but. more recently. from Cuba and Haiti. A number of people are very. very much disturbed as to what economic disruption this flood of refugees may cause. I call attention. therefore. to an article by Mr. Bethell. entitled "Scuttled Masses." Tom Bethell is the Washington editor of a magazine called the "American Spectator." Let me read a few words from the pamphlet to indicate the general thrust of this article. According to Mr. Warren Brookes in the Boston HeraldAmerican. Bethell points out that the U.S. economy was built by immigrants and he adds: Americans would do well to remember that this Nations greatest economic growth took place from 1880 to 1930. when we took in 37 million immigrants who. with their offspring. accounted for fully 60 percent of our huge population growth In that time. Brookes argues that the Nation as a whole today may be suffering more from restricting immigration than benefiting from it. Brookes further points out that Cubans began arriving 20 years ago into Florida and since then. Floridas personal income and jobs "have consistently grown twice as fast as the Nations." and its unemployment rate fell sharply during the period of highest immigration. The portion of Floridas population on welfare has declined by 18 percent since 1970. while it has grown by 31 percent in the Nation as a whole. So. Mr. President. immigration. far from something to be feared. the people who do not speak English. who come here sometimes only with the clothes on their backs. are among our great national resources. The degree to which they are important natural resources is pointed out by the author. Tom Bethell.
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immigration immigrants refugees