NPG’s 10 Principles for a Responsible U.S. Population Policy
10 Principles for a Responsible U.S. Population Policy
1. Unrestricted Access to Family Planning Resources
All U.S. residents – regardless of income, citizenship status, or gender – must have reliable, affordable, and unrestricted access to family planning and educational materials, contraception, and reproductive health assistance. Priority funding must be allocated to research safe, effective, and inexpensive contraceptive methods – with greater emphasis on developing options for males. Free sexual education must be expanded through public schools, as well as private family planning and community organizations.
2. Promotion and Encouragement of Smaller Family Size
As part of a broad public discussion, the United States must endorse smaller families as beneficial to our nation’s future. Free from any coercive measures, we must promote the benefits of having two or fewer children through high-level political endorsement, community and public school education, and tax incentives. Existing subsidies for parenthood must be redesigned to provide generous support for the first child, limited support for the second, and none for subsequent births. Special tax incentives may also be designed for families or individuals who remain childless.
3. Increased Opportunities for Women
U.S. society – and government at all levels – must maximize educational and career opportunities for women. Such advancement has been proven to significantly lower fertility rates. Employment laws, college admissions requirements, and organizational oversight procedures must be adjusted to ensure equal opportunities for the acceptance and advancement of women, as well as equal wages for women in all professional categories.
4. Significantly Reduce Annual Legal Immigration Levels
Annual admissions of legal immigrants, as well as long-term “temporary” migrants, currently average 1.3 million a year. We must phase-out extensive family reunification and “chain migration” policies, gradually reducing total admissions to no more than 200,000 per year. This roughly balances immigration intake with out-migration, and could be adjusted to reflect any changes in future demographic trends. The lowered admissions can then be appropriately apportioned among humanitarian, business, and necessary specialty categories.
5. Strict Enforcement of Existing Laws Against Illegal Entry
In both Congress and the White House, there must be a strong and consistent commitment to upholding our nation’s laws – regardless of political differences. Existing laws barring illegal entry through our border or ports of entry must be strictly enforced. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs, and U.S. Attorneys must be provided with the necessary personnel, resources, and access to high-risk areas to secure our border and ports of entry, as well as prosecute all immigration offenses.
6. Immediate Internal Enforcement within the U.S.
With an estimated 12 million illegal aliens already present, there is strong incentive for millions more to enter our nation. Laws against illegal presence, alien smuggling, and document fraud must be rigorously enforced. Deportation and “expedited removal” procedures should be frequent and speedy. We must mandate America’s 7 million employers to comply with the E-Verify system, denying illegal aliens access to jobs. We must immediately strengthen consular screening and adopt a mandatory check-in/check-out system for temporary visas.
7. Clarification of Birthright Citizenship
Under present interpretation of the 14th Amendment, all children born on U.S. soil – regardless of the residency status of either parent – are granted automatic citizenship. This perpetuates illegal immigration and the growing “birth tourism” industry, along with the forgery of vital documents. Such application of birthright citizenship is granted to more than 400,000 newborns annually – all of whom are later eligible to sponsor the visas of multiple extended relatives through current chain migration policies. The application of the 14th Amendment must be clarified to confer citizenship only when at least one parent is a citizen or legal resident alien.
8. Mandate the Cooperation of State and Local Governments
The federal government presently discourages – or bars outright – many state and local immigration enforcement initiatives under the “federal supremacy” doctrine. Yet Washington often ignores violation of its supremacy as applied to state or local “sanctuary” jurisdictions – which have no legal basis. We must demand cooperation on all levels. Non-compliant governments should be denied federal grants, such as those for law enforcement and community development. State governments should also be encouraged to examine: a) their family planning programs as a long-term population factor, and b) their population policies which subsidize rapid growth or encourage illegal alien settlement.
9. Enlist America’s Young People in the Fight for Their Future
Our nation’s next generation of leaders must play a vital role in planning our future population policies for the future. The federal government must do more to educate today’s students regarding the dangers of overpopulation for our environment, natural resources, and quality of life. We must adopt public education curricula which encourage a sense of personal responsibility for future generations, as well as advocate responsible family planning decisions.
10. Create a National Population Commission
Without delay, our elected leaders must create a permanent National Population Commission – complete with government, private, and academic representatives – to study current and future population growth, its composition and distribution, and its social, economic, and environmental consequences. This Commission can then make recommendations on immigration and other population multipliers to the President, Congress, and state and local governments. The Commission’s goal will be to establish and maintain a national population in balance with our resources and within sustainable limits. Congress should also create a counterpart commission within its committee structure.
CLICK HERE for NPG’s press release on these critical proposed principals.
