Fair
Public Group
Description
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation’s immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest.
FAIR seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest—more traditional rates of about 300,000 a year.
Our Purpose
Today’s Immigration
Today the United States is receiving more immigrants than at any time in our history. Immigration has become an important issue because it affects virtually every aspect of life in America. With more than a million legal and illegal immigrants settling in the United States each year, immigration has an impact on education, health care, government budgets, employment, the environment, crime and countless other areas of American life. It is evident to most Americans that large-scale immigration is not serving the needs and interests of the country.
Our Response
FAIR advocates a temporary moratorium on all immigration except spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and a limited number of refugees. A moratorium would allow us to hold a national debate and devise a comprehensive immigration reform strategy. A workable immigration policy is one that would allow us time to regain control of our borders and reduce overall levels of immigration to more traditional levels of about 300,000 a year.
FAIR believes America can and must have an immigration policy that is nondiscriminatory and is designed to serve the social, economic and environmental needs of our country. It is a policy that all recent polls show has the overwhelming support of the American public.
FAIR’s Activism
Since it was founded in 1979, FAIR has been leading the call for immigration reform. Representatives of our organization are routinely interviewed by the major news networks, radio talk shows and the print media about all aspects of the immigration debate. FAIR is one of a growing group of reliable sources of information on this subject. Our research and publications are relied on by academics and government officials involved in formulating immigration policy. We testify regularly before Congress on all immigration-related legislation.
With more than 250,000 members and supporters nationwide, FAIR is a nonpartisan group whose membership runs the gamut from liberal to conservative. We have a Board of Directors and a National Advisory Board composed of distinguished citizens. We have a satellite office in Los Angeles and field representatives across the nation. FAIR activities include research, public education, media outreach, grassroots organizing, government relations, litigation and advocacy at the national, state and local levels.
News
Florida Studies Reveal Huge Increase in Cost of Illegal Immigration and Widespread Voter Dissatisfaction
Cost Study and Zogby Poll Offer Comprehensive Statewide Assessment
(Washington, D.C. April 8, 2009) Simultaneous studies, released this week by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), show soaring costs of illegal immigration in Florida and demonstrate strong voter objections to the burdens placed on them by illegal immigration. A new Zogby International poll of 801 likely voters across the state found that, by an overwhelming margin, Floridians believe that illegal immigration is harming their state. Their perceptions are rooted in reality. A separate FAIR study, the Costs of Illegal Immigration to Floridians found that providing education and health care to illegal aliens and their families, and incarcerating criminal illegal aliens, costs state taxpayers more than $3.8 billion annually, more than double the costs measured in 2005.
The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Floridians found that taxpayers spend:
$3.4 billion a year to educate illegal immigrant children and the U.S. born children of illegal immigrants.
$290 million a year on unreimbursed health care for illegal aliens.
$90 million a year to incarcerate criminal illegal aliens.
The total represents an annual cost to each of Florida’s native-born headed households of $678.
The cost study also determined that the illegal alien population in Florida is now 950,000 persons. This represents 7.3 percent of the national total illegal alien population, and it is the nation’s fourth largest concentration of illegal aliens after California, Texas and New York. It is also about 5.2 percent of Florida’s overall population.
The Zogby poll found that:
71.3% of Florida voters say illegal immigration has a negative impact on the state. Only 14.4% believe it has a positive impact on Florida.
83.5% of Florida voters believe illegal aliens have a negative impact on the state budget, versus only 7.9% who believe their impact is positive.
57.5% believe illegal immigration should be reduced through better enforcement of immigration laws. Only 36% of Florida voters favor amnesty or legalization for current illegal aliens.
68.6% of Florida voters want worksite immigration enforcement to continue. Only 21.1% support the Obama administration’s decision to curtail worksite enforcement.
“Voters in Florida, like voters everywhere, want their elected officials in Washington and Tallahassee to protect their interests, their jobs, and their tax dollars from the impact of mass illegal immigration,” said Stein. “At a time when the Obama administration is intent on systematically dismantling immigration enforcement, and congressional leaders are considering a new round of amnesty legislation, voters in this key state are saying unequivocally that it is time political leaders stopped pandering to the illegal immigration lobby, and started enforcing laws that serve the interests of ordinary Americans.”
The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Floridians and a summary of the Zogby International Polling results are available at http://www.fairus.org.
