Reports
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
Constitutional Citizenship: A Legislative History
Attacks against the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment have picked up in recent months, with legislators at both the national and state levels introducing bills that would deny U.S. citizenship or “state citizenship” to the children born to unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. There are two strands of attacks on birthright citizenship. One strand arises out of simple nativist anger at the impact of immigrants, legal or otherwise, on society. The other argues that the current interpretation of the Citizenship Clause as covering the children of “illegal” immigrants is inconsistent with the “original intent” of the Framers of the 14th Amendment. Originalism is often used as a method to clarify unclear portions of constitutional text or to fill contextual gaps in the document. This is not, however, how originalism is being used in the context to the Citizenship Clause. Here, originalists use clever arguments and partial quotations to eradicate the actual text of the Amendment. In essence, they claim the Framers did not really mean what they said. Read More
A Rising Tide or a Shrinking Pie
Our national debate over urgently needed immigration reform is now careening through our state legislatures, city halls, and town councils due to political gridlock at the federal level. And nowhere is that debate more contentious than in Arizona, where in April of last year the state’s legislature sought to rid the state of undocumented immigrants with passage of S.B. 1070. The law is specifically designed to trigger a mass exodus of undocumented immigrants from the state by making “attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona.” The economic analysis in this report shows the S.B. 1070 approach would have devastating economic consequences if its goals were accomplished. When undocumented workers are taken out of the economy, the jobs they support through their labor, consumption, and tax payments disappear as well. Particularly during a time of profound economic uncertainty, the type of economic dislocation envisioned by S.B. 1070-type policies runs directly counter to the interests of our nation as we continue to struggle to distance ourselves from the ravages of the Great Recession. Read More
Immigration and Temporary Labor
Across the country, American companies rely on immigrant workers to fill seasonal and labor-intensive jobs that cannot otherwise be filled. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has found that lowskilled immigrant workers help companies grow and create additional – often higher-paying – job opportunities for Americans.1 In 1986 under… Read More
Immigration and Temporary Labor
Across the country, American companies rely on immigrant workers to fill seasonal and labor-intensive jobs that cannot otherwise be filled. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has found that lowskilled immigrant workers help companies grow and create additional – often higher-paying – job opportunities for Americans.1 In 1986 under… Read More
Immigration and Innovation
For generations, hard-working immigrants have come to the United States, started their own companies and created millions of American jobs. Foreign-born entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors have been vital to establishing America as a world leader in business, technology and innovation. Yet, America’s immigration system too often blocks future leaders from… Read More
Immigration and Innovation
For generations, hard-working immigrants have come to the United States, started their own companies and created millions of American jobs. Foreign-born entrepreneurs, scientists and inventors have been vital to establishing America as a world leader in business, technology and innovation. Yet, America’s immigration system too often blocks future leaders from… Read More
Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Starting American Companies and Creating American Jobs
New businesses are the single best creators of new jobs, and – even with current visa impediments – immigrants are among the leading drivers in creating new businesses: In 2010, immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month as natives. From 1995 to 2005, immigrants helped… Read More
Immigrant Entrepreneurs: Starting American Companies and Creating American Jobs
New businesses are the single best creators of new jobs, and – even with current visa impediments – immigrants are among the leading drivers in creating new businesses: In 2010, immigrants were more than twice as likely to start businesses each month as natives. From 1995 to 2005, immigrants helped… Read More
The Racial Blame Game
Immigrants Are Not the Cause of High Unemployment and Low Wages Among Minority Workers Some observers have suggested that immigrants are to blame for the high unemployment rates and low wages experienced by so many minority workers in the United States. However, the best available evidence suggests that immigration is not the cause of dismal employment prospects for American minorities. For instance, cities experiencing the highest levels of immigration tend to have relatively low or average unemployment rates for African Americans. This should come as no surprise; immigrants go where jobs are more plentiful. The grim job market which confronts many minority workers is the product of numerous economic and social factors: the decline of factory employment, the deindustrialization of inner cities, racial discrimination, etc. Immigration plays a very small role. However, that role is generally positive. Immigrant workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs help to create jobs and give a slight boost to the wages of the vast majority of native-born workers. Some unscrupulous employers do exploit undocumented immigrants to the detriment of wages and working conditions for both native-born workers and legal immigrants. But the most practical solution to this problem is an earned legalization program for undocumented immigrants and stronger worksite enforcement of wage and labor laws. Immigrants are not the cause of minority unemployment. Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
