United States Citizenship: Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Earlier this month, Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, of UCLA, in conjunction with the Immigration Policy Center and the Center for American Progress, published a new study, Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform. In that study several points emerge:
- The current policy of apprehension and enforcement has not worked. According to statistics on the report, sourced from the Office of Immigration, over the last 18 years, undocumented/unauthorized immigrants have increased from 3.5 million in 1990 to 11.9 million in 2008, while border patrol costs and agents have increased.
- A comprehensive legalization policy for the undocumented 12 million would increase the GDP growth over the next 10 years by $1.5 trillion, whereas, maintaining the status quo of deportation, would reduce the GDP by $2.6 trillion over that same time frame.
- Legalized workers earn more, move on to better paying jobs, buy homes and increase their consumer spending.
- Under comprehensive reform, substantial economic gains of legalized workers would generate $4.5 to $5.4 in additional tax revenue and every sector of the U.S. economy would experience an impact and benefit.
The clear conclusion of the study demonstrates that enacting comprehensive legalization reform , which would allow undocumented workers to pay fines and back taxes, become legal residents and set them on a fast track to citizenship, would not only enhance our diverse citizenry but also have a tremendous positive economic impact.
Read the Full Study
January 23, 2010