Another is the 1995 recommendation by a bipartisan congressional panel that the United States gradually reduce the number of immigrants to 550,000 annually. And, ending illegal immigration was one of the primary purposes of immigration reform legislation passed in 1996. This heightened concern has been caused in part by the recession and slow economic recovery of the early 1990s, which raised fears of increased job competition, and by the media attention on immigration issues. Yet, most Americans do not view population issues as among our most serious social problems. Rather, they develop inconspicuously through the processes of birth, death, and migration.
Experts often disagree about the severity of population problems.
Debate about population has been going on at least since Aristotle, who cautioned that populations could outstrip their subsistence base, leading to poverty and social discord. 85 Thomas Malthus reached a similar conclusion in the late 18th century. He argued that the natural consequences of population growth are poverty and misery because the population will eventually exceed the food supply. In the 19th century, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels rejected this Malthusian view. They blamed poverty not on the poor or on overpopulation, but on the evils of social organization in capitalist societies.