A slightly lower total fertility rate would be desirable in the interest of halting our population growth sooner, and that might be achieved if our federal government encouraged couples, by non-coercive means, of course, to have not more than two children. For example, a largely symbolic measure such as limiting tax deductions to not more than two children, and a declaration by the President and the Congress that our national goal was to halt and then reverse our population growth as soon as possible, might well be sufficient to lower the fertility rate slightly. Even if this reduction occurred, however, its effect on our population growth would be gradual, and would only make itself felt over a considerable period of time. But we need an immediate and substantial reduction in our yearly population growth, and we can achieve this by limiting legal immigration. Legal Immigration L egal immigration has averaged about 570,000 a year in recent years, and accounts for roughly 25 percent of our annual population growth.
Immigration is thus a basic and important determinant of our population size and growth.
In order to reduce our annual population growth immediately, and hasten the day when it is halted completely and then reversed, we believe that legal immigration should be reduced substantially to an overall ceiling of 100,000 a year, including all relatives and refugees. Such a balance between immigration and emigration would result in zero net migration. An overall ceiling of 100,000 a year would still be generous. It could be considered small or inadequate only by comparison with the present level, which is simply no longer compatible with today's realities, or the vital interests of our nation, in an era of energy shortage. The coming oil crisis, and the long term U.S. energy shortage, will be with us far into the future.