Why We Need Illegals

One in 4 children living in the U.S. in 2016 had at least one parent who was born outside the U.S., according to a study released Wednesday (4/18/2018).

If 25% of the children born in the US are born to immigrants, then are we correct to assume immigrants make up 25% of the US population? Well, no, we aren't:

More than 43.7 million immigrants resided in the United States in 2016, accounting for 13.5 percent of the total U.S. population of 323.1 million, according to American Community Survey (ACS) data.

Immigrants have 25% of the babies, but make up only 13.5% of the population. But what percentage of the immigrant population is illegal?

Lawful immigrants account for three-quarters of the foreign-born population in the U.S. – 33.8 million people out of 44.7 million in 2015, the most recent year for which numbers were available.

So, illegal immigrants are 25% of the immigrant population. But wait! How many children are there in the US?

[T]he number of children (under age 18) in the United States is at an all-time high of 74.2 million. But, the share of the national population who are children is at an all time low of 24%. Based on data from the 2010 census, we find that while there is a small increase in the number of children, the rate at which that population is growing has slowed dramatically over the past 20 years.

Wow. The population of children is not growing much. But, if the US has 74 million children, and one in four belong to immigrants, then 18.5 million children belong to immigrants. What percentage of those 18.5 million belong to illegal immigrants?

4.5 million children born in the U.S. lived with at least one undocumented parent.

If illegals have 4.5 million children, and immigrants have 18.5 million children, then illegals have 25% of immigrant children.

Conclusion:
Immigrants make up 13.5% of the nation.
Immigrants beget 25% of the nation's children.

Illegals make up 25% of the immigrant population.
Illegals beget 25% of all immigrant children.

Immigrants, both legal and illegal, are punching way above their weight when it comes to producing the next generation of Americans. In fact, immigrants produce twice as many children as we would expect (Notice that the all-time high percentage of immigrants to this country is 14.8% in 1890. We aren't at peak immigrant.)

Why are immigrants producing so many children? Because the median age of America is 37 and rising. As a nation, we are slowly approaching menopause. The median age of white Americans is 43, with a modal age of 55. That group is well past menopause.

On the other hand, legal immigrants are, on average, much younger than Americans. Illegal immigrants are, on average, much younger than legal immigrants.

Lawful immigrants are more likely to be of working age (18 to 64) than people born in the U.S. ... Three-quarters (76% in 2014) are in this age group, compared with 60% of the U.S. born and 92% of unauthorized immigrants.

But, even though immigrants are much younger than the rest of Americans, and even though immigrants have twice as many kids as the rest of America,  America's fertility rate is still below replacement level. It is just 1.8 children per fertile woman. It needs to be 2.1. We are turning into Japan, a nation that currently sells more adult diapers than baby diapers.

Mars needs women. So does America. Fertile women. Legal, illegal, doesn't matter. If we don't have children, we disappear as a nation. Ask Toys R' Us or America's colleges and universities how America's contraception/abortion mentality that kills off children (i.e., future customer/citizens) works out.

We need illegals as much as they need us.