Indiana Getting Tougher on Illegal Hirings

Businesses in Indiana will soon be required to verify that their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States. NPG fully supports this effort and has called for mandatory E-Verify for all employers across the country. As it now stands, only federal contractors, some state and local governments, and employers in states mandating the use of the program are required to confirm an employee’s eligibility status.

Understanding that most illegal immigrants come to the United States in hopes of finding more lucrative work, removing all job opportunities would serve as a huge deterrent to illegal entry. Indiana Governor Mike Braun and Attorney General Todd Rokita have taken a monumental step in removing illegal aliens from Indiana. According to the Indiana Capital Chronicle article on the new requirement, “A court would be able to suspend a company’s operating authorization for five business days or order permanent revocations at all of the firm’s locations in Indiana, depending on the number of violations and the employer’s history.”

The Attorney General’s office is now working to develop a “formal agreement to share data with the U.S. Department of Labor” to fully implement the program and to know the data is accurate.

While we are happy to see another state enacting stronger rules against illegal immigration, the reality is that illegal workers will simply move across state lines to find other work. Universal application of E-Verify would prevent abuse within the system as all states would be playing by the same rules. Let us hope that Indiana’s example is mirrored by many more states in the near future.

To read the article from Indiana Capital Chronicle, please click here.

Protecting the Most Vulnerable

Endangered Species Day was officially recognized on May 15. Environment America, an organization devoted to protecting the natural world, posted an interesting article on its website outlining the enormous success of the Endangered Species Act, including the following:

“Enacted with deep bipartisan support (194 Democrats, and 160 Republicans) in 1973 under President Richard Nixon, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has helped prevent the extinction of more than 1,000 species in the U.S. As of 2023, 57 species have recovered well enough that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), which administers the list, has ‘delisted’ them. Another 59 species’ situations have improved enough for FWS to upgrade them from ‘endangered’ to ‘threatened.’ Importantly, 99% of all species listed have not gone extinct.” 

Reading the article, you will see how various federal and state agencies are working together to protect wildlife from their biggest threat – people getting too close to their natural habitats. Whether we are speaking of whales, red wolves, ocelots, or grizzly bears, the biggest threat is too many people. We simply have too many boats and fishermen in the oceans, too many roads through once-pristine forests, and too many shopping centers built on the edge of natural habitats.

We applaud Environment America for their thoughtful article and encourage all environmentalists to fully consider the root cause of these problems. The role of nongovernmental organizations is more important now than ever before considering the severe cuts to many environmental programs which began early in Donald Trump’s second term.

To read the article from Environment America, please click here.

To read NPG’s perspective on endangered and threatened species, we encourage you to review many Forum papers by Dr. Karen I. Shragg, particularly What Would the Lorax Do? The Dismantling of Environmental Protections Under Trump 2.0.

The Myth of a Sleepy Neighborhood

Traditionally, population growth and its associated problems – traffic congestion, housing shortages, crowded schools, and poor air quality, to name just a few – were linked to major cities and their immediate suburbs. That trend is changing as smaller neighborhoods experience growth and pull more people to once-rural areas on the outer edges of development.

RentCafe.com – an apartment search website – recently released a report that compiled population growth and housing data from more than 32,000 ZIP codes across the country. According to a Fox 6 News Milwaukee article that summarized the findings: “The report identified ‘newest neighborhoods’ or ‘fastest-growing neighborhoods’ as areas that added at least 51% more housing units between 2014 and 2023, maintained occupancy rates above 89.5%, and had at least 1,000 housing units by 2023.”

Not surprisingly, seventeen of the fifty fastest-growing neighborhoods are in Texas. In an earlier edition of Population Pulse, NPG referred to an article from KXAN News bearing the title Texas sees largest population increase of any state for third consecutive year. That article explains that in the twelve-month period between July 1, 2024 – July 1, 2025, Texas added more than 390,000 new people.

California, Colorado, and Florida are also experiencing significant growth in various neighborhoods. Unexpectedly, communities in Iowa, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Jersey, and Kansas also made the list, indicating that neighborhoods grow significantly even in areas that have not traditionally experienced population growth.

Do you live in or near one of these neighborhoods? Check out the original report from RentCafe.

Please also review the summary story from Fox 6 News Milwaukee and the older KXAN News story.