Weekly Immigration Update: Immigrants are Vital to Economic Recovery
A new study published by the CATO Institute has findings on immigrant productivity and concluded that the focus on repelling immigrants does more harm than good to the U.S. economy; the report was covered by the Wall Street Journal and by Walter Ewing, published in the Philadelphia Inquirer. According to WSJ:
"Increased enforcement and reduced low-skilled immigration have a significant negative impact on the income of U.S. households," write Peter Dixon and Maureen Rimmer, the study's authors. "In contrast, legalization of low-skilled immigrant workers would yield significant income gains for American workers and households...a program that allowed more low-skilled foreigners to enter the U.S. workforce lawfully would put smugglers and document-forgers out of business," explain the authors. "It would also allow immigrants to have higher productivity and create more openings for Americans in higher-skilled occupations."
Using a dynamic economic model that weighs the impact of immigrants on government revenues and expenditures, the study seeks to quantify the benefits of comprehensive immigration reform versus the enforcement-only approach. It finds that legalizing the entry of more low-skilled immigrants would result in economic gains of about $180 billion annually to U.S. households. A focus on more enforcement alone would not only result in an annual net economic loss of around $80 billion, say the authors, but fewer jobs, less investment and lower levels of consumption as well. "Modest savings in public expenditures would be more than offset by losses in economic output," says the report.
In other news, the Asian-American Community flexed more muscle this week in the fight for immigration reform, covered by various news outlets.
More Advertisers Drop Glenn Beck - More companies came out this week opting out of being associated with his xenophobic dinner theatre. Hopefully the next step is: Glenn Beck off air. Join in to "Stop the Race Baiting." Next - we Drop Dobbs and Limbaugh.
Other headlines this week:
Immigration Reform is NOT Health Care Reform
White House Reiterates Commitment to Fixing the Broken Immigration System - let's keep on it!
White House Meeting on Immigration/NDN Backgrounder on Immigration Reform
Only Three Fifths of a Person - More Deaths in DHS Detention
- Zuraya Tapia-Alfaro's blog
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