Why Our Immigrants are Dying

One of the reasons some people are anti-immigration has to do with worry about paying for their health care. But the irony is this: The longer minority immigrants stay in the US, the higher their risk of experiencing poor health.

Using public health data gathered between 2007 and 2008, researchers observed a dramatic increase in obesity, diabetes and hypertension among Hispanic immigrants who have lived in the US for more than 20 years, compared to those who have lived here for less than 10 years. Immigrants who have lived in the US for 20 years have a 98% percent greater chance of being obese and 68% greater odds of having high blood pressure.

And what about the people who were here before the Europeans landed? Many Indian tribes have disappeared from North America over the centuries, but the Navajo Nation has done the opposite and have been able to grow to more than 300,000 members today.

In LiveScience.com, Wynne Parry quotes researcher Jared Diamond as saying, "Many tribes decreased their numbers, disappeared or lost their homeland, language or cultural identity/ The Navajos are a striking exception."

What’s their secret? A lot of it was luck: The tribe was just isolated enough to make them less accessible to Spanish, Mexican and US armies. And Navajo land was rugged and dry, making it less desirable as farmland for white settlers (and oil and coal weren’t discovered there until the 20th century).

If aliens land in OUR world, let’s hope we’re that lucky! But we need to be prepared, and one way to do that is to be among the FIRST to read Whitley Strieber’s sequel to Communion, "Solving the Communion Enigma," which is in book stores NOW. A recent Associated Press recent review says the book has "enough compelling material to make even the rigid skeptic ask questions."

Come meet Whitley IN PERSON at our Dreamland Festival in May!