Facts to Back Up the Blather

Pundits spew bitter screeds about its horrors and folkies ululate about its heartbreak in songs, but how much do you really know about the human species’ eternal, often unsettling movement about the globe?

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1. What is the estimated number of illegal immigrants in the United States?

a) 800,000

b) 1.4 million

c) 5.6 million

d) More than 10 million

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2. Rank countries from which immigrants have come to the United States illegally, from most to least:

Colombia

El Salvador

Mexico

Guatemala

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3. Which of the following states experienced the greatest percentage increase of illegal immigrants from 1990 to 2000?

a) Georgia

b) North Carolina

c) Colorado

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4. True or false: The United States’ 11.5% immigrant population is the highest in this country’s history.

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5. Since 1990, the number of refugees admitted to the United States has:

a) Risen

b) Fallen

c) Remained about the same

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6. Match the number of immigrants to the U.S. since 1980 with their country of origin.

Afghanistan 9,550

France 40,585

Iran 78,235

Latvia 170,090

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7. What is the Muslim population of Europe?

a) 150 million

b) 15 million

c) 1.5 million

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8. Which of these European political parties does not have a strong anti-immigration platform?

a) Danish People’s Party

b) Austrian Freedom Party

c) British National Party

d) Vlaams Blok (Belgium)

e) Francophone National Front

f) United Russia

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9. True or false: President Vladimir V. Putin has called for more labor immigration to Russia.

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10. How many European Union citizens believe that immigration increases unemployment?

a) 1.5%

b) 13%

c) 51%

d) 100%

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11. How much of the labor force of each of the following countries is foreign-born?

Australia less than 1%

Britain 5%

Ireland 7%

Japan 16%

U.S. 24%

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12. International trafficking of human beings into forced prostitution has mushroomed into a trade rivaling drug trafficking and gunrunning and is valued annually at:

a) $16 million

b) $130 million

c) $5 billion

d) $12 billion

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13. Where do as many as 1,000 suspected war criminals from Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Balkans find refuge from criminal prosecution?

a) Australia

b) Sweden

c) Thailand

d) Switzerland

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14. True or false: There are 2 million Indians living outside their country.

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15. How much, according to one study, do foreign students contribute to the U.S. economy annually?

a) $30 billion

b) $13 billion

c) $40 million

d) $920,000

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16. Since 9/11, international students are not attending college in the United States in the numbers they historically have because of:

a) High costs

b) Rising anti-Americanism

c) Tougher visa requirements

d) All of the above

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17. Number of languages spoken in the Los Angeles Unified School District:

a) 20

b) 50

c) 95

d) 950

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18. How many of California’s foreign-born are now citizens?

a) 86%

b) 39%

c) 11%

d) 4%

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Answers

1. d; 2. Mexico (6 million), El Salvador (189,000), Guatemala (144,000), Colombia (141,000); 3. b (North Carolina’s undocumented-immigrant population grew 692%, Georgia’s 571% and Colorado’s 365%); 4. False: The United States’ population consisted of 15% immigrants between 1900 and 1910; 5. b; 6. Latvia: 9,550, Afghanistan: 40,585, France: 78,235, Iran: 170,090; 7. b; 8. f; 9. True; 10. c; 11. Australia: 24%, Britain: 5%, Ireland: 7%, Japan: less than 1%, U.S.: 16%; 12. d; 13. b; 14. False: 20 million Indians live abroad, 2 million in the U.S.; 15. a; 16. d; 17. c (Spanish speakers are 93% of the non-English-speaking student body); 18. b

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Sources: Pew Hispanic Center, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Migration Policy Institute, Census Bureau, BBC, Institute of Race Relations (UK), Prime-Tass Business News Agency, William I. Hitchcock, International Herald Tribune, Reuters, International Organization for Migration, Institute for International Education, California Language Census.