Economic Impact
Immigrants are essential to the U.S. economy, filling roles from high-skilled tech sectors to agricultural labor and driving economic growth. They also contribute to the tax base and consumer spending. We champion reform that will maximize this effect and create a more diverse and competitive workforce.
House Subcommittee Continues Assault on All Forms of Immigration
Washington D.C. – Opponents of immigration reform are often quick to differentiate their disdain for unauthorized immigration from their alleged support of legal immigration. However, finding any evidence of that support has always been elusive and, over the past several months, the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement has… Read More
House Subcommittee Hearing Highlights U.S. Need for Foreign Scientists and Engineers
Today, a House Immigration Subcommittee hearing underscored the U.S. economy’s reliance on scientists and engineers from abroad. The hearing, entitled “H-1B Visas: Designing a Program to Meet the Needs of the U.S. Economy and U.S. Workers,” was characterized by considerable disagreement among witnesses and subcommittee members as to how the H-1B program for highly skilled foreign professionals should best be structured in terms of wage protections and job portability. But virtually everyone, including Subcommittee Chairman Elton Gallegly (R-24th/CA) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-21st/TX), agreed that foreign-born scientists and engineers, including many who come to the United States on H-1B visas, make critical contributions to the U.S. economy. Read More
Statistical Hot Air: FAIR’s USA Report Lacks Credibility
Many politicians who champion the deport-them-all approach to unauthorized immigrants have been relying upon a bloated and deeply distorted report issued by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in July 2010. That report, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers, is not a credible source of data, yet its numbers have been cited repeatedly in this year’s debates over immigration legislation in the states. The report relies upon flawed and empirically baseless assumptions to inflate its estimate of the costs which unauthorized immigrants impose on federal, state, and local governments. Much of what FAIR counts as the cost of unauthorized immigration is actually the cost of education and healthcare for U.S.-citizen children. In fact, over half of FAIR’s cost estimate consists of educational and healthcare expenditures for the children of unauthorized immigrants, of whom nearly three-quarters are native-born U.S. citizens. These native-born children are counted as a “cost” of illegal immigration if they are under 18, but as U.S. citizens if they are working, taxpaying adults. In its rush to place a price tag on unauthorized immigrants, FAIR is unable to see that investing in children today pays off economically tomorrow. FAIR also neglects to mention the enormous fiscal and economic costs that would be incurred by attempting to remove unauthorized immigrants from the United States. As the negative impact of anti-immigrant legislation on the fiscal bottom-line becomes more apparent, many taxpayers may begin to see that the “costs” cited by FAIR do not tell the whole story. Read More
A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie
Washington, D.C. – As Arizona approaches the one-year anniversary of the passage of SB 1070, the Immigration Policy Center and Center for American Progress release a new report, A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie: The Economic Impact of Legalization Versus Deportation in Arizona, by Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda… Read More
New “E-Verify Self Check” Pilot Program is Not a Cure-All
BY TYLER MORAN, NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER E-Verify has a problem: Washington politicians want to force American employers to use the electronic employment verification system, but the system is still not ready for prime time. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) took a step toward remedying the database error rates by announcing E-Verify “Self Check.” This pilot program will allow people in select states and the District of Columbia to go online and verify their identity and authorization to work in this country—and to fix any errors before applying for a job with an employer who uses E-Verify. While a positive step, the pilot program is only one piece of the puzzle in fixing E-Verify and will likely be inaccessible to many—including the low-income workers who most need it. Read More
Immigrant Entrepreneurs May Speed Up Our Economic Recovery
As America’s economic recovery continues to be a national priority, leaders on both sides of the aisle are finally beginning to look at reforming our nation’s immigration system as a strategy for promoting job creating and growth. President Obama commented in his State of the Union Address that instead of expelling immigrants, we should make it easier for them to start new businesses. This Monday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) commented that “if bringing in high-skilled workers from abroad helps us keep thousands of jobs here in America, our antiquated laws should not be a barrier.” And in a bipartisan effort last week, Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Richard Lugar (R-IN) introduced the StartUp Visa Act of 2011 (Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has also joined as a co-sponsor). The bill is intended to “drive job creation and increase America’s global competitiveness by helping immigrant entrepreneurs secure visas to the United States.” Read More
Foreign-Born to Help Fill Gap in U.S. Doctors
While Americans are justifiably worried about high unemployment levels and the “jobless recovery,” Reps. Lamar Smith, Steve King, and Elton Gallegly are attempting to use America’s concerns as an opportunity to pass more restrictive immigration policies. In fact, immigration restrictionists across the country have taken advantage of the poor economy to push their anti-immigrant agenda. But there’s another story to be told. Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that there are simply not enough doctors in the U.S. to treat the population. Some areas are already experiencing doctor shortages, and as the new health care law is fully implemented, more and more people will be eligible for health insurance and will need care. As many as 150,000 doctors could be needed in the next 15 years. Immigrants will most certainly be helpful in filling the gap. Read More
House Subcommittee Tries to Propagate Myth that Immigrants Steal Jobs
Today’s House Subcommittee hearing on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, clumsily entitled “New Jobs in Recession and Recovery: Who Are Getting Them and Who Are Not,” was clearly intended to sow fear. In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Elton Gallegly (R-24th/CA) wasted no time in sounding the alarm that unemployed native-born workers are being left to twist in the wind as immigrants gobble up the few new jobs which have become available since the end of the Great Recession. Yet the preponderance of the evidence presented during the hearing failed to support that conclusion. Read More
Utah’s Immigration Solution Not a National Model
Washington D.C. – Late Friday night, the Utah Legislature passed three immigration-related bills that await Governor Herbert’s signature or veto. Utah’s policy discussions were guided by the principles of a much-lauded Utah Compact, which brought together leaders from political parties, business, labor, and faith-based organizations for a thoughtful dialogue about… Read More
Is Utah’s “Immigration Solution” All It’s Cracked Up To Be?
Late Friday night, the Utah Legislature passed three immigration-related bills that now go to the Governor for his signature or veto in the coming week. While some may be quick to celebrate Utah’s unique approach to immigration, others are left wondering whether these bills are all they’re cracked up to be. The first measure (HB 497) is an SB1070-inspired immigration enforcement bill that would go into effect in early May if signed by the Governor. It presents many of the same concerns people had about Arizona’s SB1070—that it would allow local police to enforce federal immigration laws to the detriment of public safety, rack up high implementation costs, threaten racial profiling, and damage the state’s reputation. Read More
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