On other issues, Americans were left to their own devices, as the political class blissfully ignored pressing national concerns. On immigration, the consequences were demographic in several ways. America is a big country. And starting in the 1980s, Americans. in large numbers, moved out of entire slates racked by uncontrolled immigration, a "tolerant” people fleeing diversity. Californians fled to Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Utah, and elsewhere out West. For every Central American immigrant that moved into South Florida, a native moved out of Dade County and other neighboring municipalities. Northeasterners packed up and traveled not only to the old perennial, Florida, but now to Virginia, the Carolinas. and Georgia. In the 1990s alone, over one million people left the New York City metropolitan area. Politicians in the Midwest, especially Senators Spencer Abraham of Michigan and Mike DeWine of Ohio (both Republicans), steadfastly refused to consider immigration restrictions. There was some irony in their position. The once-mighty stales of the industrial Midwest continued to lose congressional seats to such high-immigrant states as California, Texas, and Florida. That hardly bothered these two militant immigrationists.[Page 112, Revolt from the Heartland: The Struggle for an Authentic Conservatism , by Joseph Scotchie, 2004.]