The Council In the News

Immigration reform needs addressing

Here's yet another argument supporting the need for comprehensive immigration reform, an issue that the Obama administration has thankfully targeted as a priority in 2010.

A study released last week concluded that legalizing the status of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in our country would create jobs, increase consumption, boost wages, add to tax revenues and, in sum, "yield at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years."

Published In: Arizona Star | 01/10/10

Legalization would boost U.S. economy, study says

Legalizing the status of the roughly 12 million undocumented immigrants living in America would create jobs, increase wages and boost the sagging U.S. economy, according to a study released Thursday. The study by UCLA associate professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda found that citizenship and flexible limits on legal immigration would serve future labor demands and boost wages for native-born workers.

Published In: San Francisco Chronicle | 01/08/10

Immigrant legalization viewed as a boon

Legalizing the status of the roughly 12 million unauthorized immigrants living in this country would create jobs, increase wages and boost the sagging U.S. economy, an academic study released Thursday says.

Published In: San Antonio Express | 01/08/10

Benjamin Johnson Discusses the Economic Benefits of CIR

No one ever said legislating "change" would be easy. With Congress mired in health care, cap and trade and more, why not take on another issue that has vexed it for years? Take immigration. Ben Johnson of the American Immigration Council says the stars have aligned for reform.

Published In: NPR | 01/08/10

Legalization would bring economic benefits

Based on the experience of immigration reform in 1986, a change in the law to legalize the undocumented would bring great benefits to the U.S. economy, adding to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) around 1.5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.

Published In: La Opinión | 01/08/10

Study: Immigration Reform Would Boost US Economy

If the United States were to create a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants currently living in the country, it could boost its gross domestic product by $1.5 trillion in just 10 years, a new study claims.Conducted by a U.C.L.A. economist and released by the Immigration Policy Center and the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan research institute based in Washington, the study argues that if comprehensive immigration reform were passed it would result in higher wages, which would lead to a rise in consumption that, in turn, would create more jobs and generate more tax revenue.

Published In: Sphere | 01/08/10

Immigration Reform Will Ease Economic Decline, Study Says

WASHINGTON--A new study by a leading academic researcher contends that legalizing undocumented workers through comprehensive immigration reform would yield $1.5 trillion to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over a 10-year period, generate billions of dollars in additional tax revenue, increase wages and consumer spending, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The study, “Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” was conducted by Dr. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Hinojosa presented the findings during a telephonic press conference moderated by Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy and advocacy at the Center for American Progress.

Published In: New American Media | 01/08/10

Immigration and the Economy

Panelists talked about a report on the effects of allowing illegal immigrants to gain legal status in the U.S. Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda summarized the contents of the report, Heather Boushey and Daniel Griswold debated its findings, and Benjamin Johnson made closing remarks. Topics included the impact of previous legalizations on the U.S. economy. Following their remarks, the panelists responded to questions from members of the audience.

Published In: C-SPAN | 01/07/10

Legalizing unauthorized immigrants would help economy, study says

Legalization of the more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States would raise wages, increase consumption, create jobs and generate more tax revenue, two policy institutes say in a joint report Thursday. The report by the Center for American Progress and the American Immigration Council estimates that "comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes currently unauthorized immigrants and creates flexible legal limits on future immigration" would yield at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over a 10-year period.

Published In: CNN | 01/07/10

UCLA study says legalizing undocumented immigrants would help the economy

Even during the ongoing recession, immigration reform legislation that legalizes undocumented immigrants would boost the American economy, according to a new study out of UCLA. The report said that legalization, along with a program that allows for future immigration based on the labor market, would create jobs, increase wages and generate more tax revenue. Comprehensive immigration reform would add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years, according to the report.

Published In: L.A. Times | 01/07/10