By 2050, nearly one in five of the projected 438 million Americans is expected to be foreign-born, and the nation’s Latino population would triple in size by this year, to 29 percent of the U.S. population, according to a study released last week by the Pew Research Center .  Significant among the findings of the Pew Center ’s report is that 82 percent of the 142 million additional people who reside in the U.S. by 2050 will consist of immigrants and their American-born descendants.  Of this number 67 million will be immigrants themselves, 47 million will be their children, and 3 million their grandchildren.   

The center’s conclusions are certain to fuel debate over the country’s immigration policy.  "You put this out there, and it will influence policymakers regardless of which side of the immigration debate you’re on," said San Diego State professor and director of the International Population Center , John Weeks.  "This is the wake-up call that the anti-immigration policymakers were looking for.  They’ll feel like if we don’t do something now to stem the tide of immigration, then this country will be like a foreign country in the future."   

The study also revealed the effect that immigration would have on the American labor force.  The data revealed that future immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants will account for all growth in the country’s working-age population of adults between 18 and 62; if there were no new immigration, there would be a decline of 7 million people in the working population.  "It’s very important for our labor force to have immigrants come to the United States ," said demographer William Frey, of the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution.   

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In an effort to alleviate the state department’s workload, President Bush announced last week that the government will allow green-card applicants to obtain permanent residency before FBI security check are complete, Christian Science Monitor reports.  The rule change will instantly benefit nearly 47,000 foreigners hopeful for US residency.  An estimated 3 million people were waiting for green cards in 2006.  The backlog has not been reduced since then, even in the face of a drastic application fee hike last summer, from $395 to $1,010 per applicant.  

The process comes at a time when the application process for US permanent residency has become more arduous and difficult than ever before.  In addition to the often years-long wait and the steep fee increase, applicants must find suitable sponsors and legal representation, gather and submit hundreds of pages of personal documents that vouch for their identity and professional/familial relationships, in addition to scattered countless expenses for photos, medical examinations, and vaccinations.   

With all of these headaches, and despite the Bush administration’s pledge to speed the process along, there’s still a long way to go for a reasonable return on an application status.  "It’s not where we want it to be," said USCIS spokesman Shawn Saucier.  He estimates that an estimate 4 million people outside of the US are still waiting to even have the opportunity to apply for the finite number of visas offered annually.  Citizens of high-volume countries such as India , China and Mexico have so much demand for the applications that exceed availability that it could potentially take longer for them to be eligible for application.   

Though no new application estimates have been released since 2006, Saucier claims that, by that years end, much of USCIS’ applicant backlog had been eliminated and that processing times for "high preference" applications and those not subject to quotas or additional FBI checks has improved measurably.  

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According to a recent survey, immigrants in California are far less likely to land in prison than their U.S.-born counterparts, a finding defiant to the perception that immigration and crime are connected, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.  The survey, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, revealed that while the state’s population is 35% foreign-born, immigrants represent only 17% of the state’s adult prison population.  Additionally, men from Mexico between the ages of 18 to 40, the largest demographic the study indicated that would be in the country unlawfully were found to be eight times less likely to end up in correctional custody than the state’s population in general.   

"Our research indicates that limiting immigration, requiring higher educational levels to obtain visas or spending more money to increase penalties against criminal immigrants will have little impact on public policy," said Kristin Butcher, co-author of the report.  

The study acknowledged several factors that could explain the disparity of incarceration rates between foreign- and U.S.-born residents, including the possibility that certain groups in certain areas may receive more lenient treatment within the criminal justice system or have greater resources to mount a defense.  

The PPIC report is available online at: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=776.