>Billboard crusade stirs immigration controversy >By Greg
Cresci > >NEW YORK, Aug. 25 (Reuters) - New York City has always
been a place where >people come to make a mark. And so it is for Craig
Nelsen, a 39-year-old >Nebraska native whose goal is to stem the flow of
immigrants into the United >States. After moving last year to the city
whose Statue of Liberty beckons >the world's downtrodden, he set up a
nonprofit group, ProjectUSA, and began a >controversial advertising
campaign in May that associated traffic congestion >with immigration.
``Tired of sitting in traffic?'' his bright red billboards >asked
motorists, ``Every day, another 6,000 immigrants arrive.'' > >The
signs, one in Brooklyn and two in Queens, were recently removed
but >others will come, Nelsen said. ProjectUSA for now consists of a Web
site to >raise money for more signs. ``The unprecedented level of
foreigners arriving >in the U.S. every day is eroding our quality of
life and threatening the >foundation of our country,'' the Web site
says. > >Nelsen, called a hate monger by critics, says the contract
on one sign >expired as scheduled but the other two were cut short after
local political >leaders unhappy about the message applied ``backdoor
pressure'' on the >companies that sold the advertising space. He said he
has met with lawyers to >discuss suing the politicians who he says have
infringed on his free speech >rights. > >Nelsen said
ProjectUSA's purpose is to bring immigration down to >``traditional
levels'' of around 300,000 people a year and to get people >talking about
the issue in general. ``I feel strongly that we don't need any >more
people in this country,'' he said, insisting that his crusade is
based >not on enmity but on statistical concerns related to
overpopulation. > >'WE CAN'T PRETEND THERE'S NO PROBLEM' >``We
can't pretend like there's no problem here,'' he told Reuters.
``We're >doing something that is incredibly horrible to our country. It's
a >disaster.'' He said his effort was meant to keep the United States
from >becoming like China, where he taught English from 1995 to 1997, or
India. >China has more than a billion people and India is fast approaching
the >1-billion mark. > >``Immigration is an extremely
important subject and everyone's afraid to talk >about it. What we're
advocating is to retake control of the borders,'' he >said. He said
policymakers should use whatever means are necessary, perhaps >even
troops. Nelsen said Washington politicians ignore the issue for
fear of >being labeled racists but he is prepared to force the debate,
come what may. >``I'm willing to take the blows, and people are
responding extremely well to >that.'' > >Of course, not
everyone has responded well to Nelsen's message. On Aug. 11, a >group
of New York politicians including city council speaker Peter Vallone >held
a news conference at City Hall to denounce the billboards. The
borough >presidents of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan have also publicly
criticised >Nelsen and he said others have called him everything from a
Nazi to a racist. > >Pat Young, chairman of the board at the New
York Immigration Coalition, said >Nelsen's billboards were bigoted
because they attacked 25 percent of the >state's inhabitants. ``Maybe
these messages play well in Idaho but I don't >think they play well in New
York,'' he said. > >ANTI-IMMIGRATION CRUSADER CALLED 'A
CRANK' >Young said immigrants contribute to U.S. prosperity and enrich New
York >culturally. ``I think that ProjectUSA is out of touch with the
American >tradition of welcoming immigrants,'' he said, calling Nelsen
``essentially a >crank'' who runs an extremist group. Current levels of
immigration to the >United States, which the Immigration and
Naturalisation Service says reached >about 935,000 last year, are
appropriate, Young said. Conceding that only >about 660,000 of those came
legally, according to the INS, he said the U.S. >economy and society can
absorb the flow. ``The U.S. economy is at its most >prosperous in history
with current levels of immigration,'' Young said. >``They (immigrants)
help to provide services that wouldn't be
done >otherwise.'' > >But Dan Stein, executive director of
Washington-based FAIR, a group working >to reduce immigration, said
Nelsen's message is part of a meaningful >political dialogue. ``This is
not hate speech, this is political speech about >policy issues,'' Stein
said, adding that his group will work closely with >ProjectUSA in any
effort to sue politicians who may have pressed billboard >companies to
remove Nelsen's signs. ``These billboards do not target the >character of
immigrants, they seek to raise a discussion of immigration >policy. They
are constructive, innocuous, thoughtful statements about >policies that
Americans need to be aware of,'' he said. > >Stein said opponents of
immigration reform are living in a dream world where >only real estate
developers could be happy. ``How can you defend an >immigration level
that's going to add 150 million more people to our >population in 50
years?'' > >Stanford University professor David Kennedy, who has
written about the >effects of immigration on U.S. society, says Stein's
figures are >``ridiculous.'' Global population growth is slowing, Kennedy
said, and states >with the heaviest flow of immigrants such as
California, New York, Texas and >New Jersey are helped by the influx.
``We have to get out of the frame of >mind that immigrants are some kind
of net drain on the wealth of society,'' >he said.''One of the hallmarks
of American culture over two centuries of >national existence has been its
resilience and its capacity to be transformed >by ... successive waves
of immigration.'' > >22:01
08-24-99