Immigrants help create jobs

Those who believe that immigration reform is just about immigrants are grossly mistaken. They should look at the economic gains that immigration reform – and a path to legalization – would bring communities across this nation.

The Immigration Policy Center spells out the economic benefits of legalization in a series of recently released reports. Relying on careful analysis and data studies, the Center points to the positive outcomes lived by the undocumented immigrants who benefitted from the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of the 1980’s. These immigrants boosted their earnings. As a result, poverty rates for overall IRCA beneficiaries fell dramatically over time—faster than for the rest of population.

The improved economic standing of IRCA immigrants had a ripple effect on the broader community. For example, legalization made it difficult for unscrupulous employers to pocket payroll taxes municipalities should have expected to receive. And once legalized, some of the billions of dollars immigrants were sending home as remittances was invested instead in local communities.

Heavy-handed, enforcement-only approaches, on the other hand, exact an economic toll. Experts point out how immigration raids in Postville, Iowa have reduced the consumer base there and caused small businesses to close. “A legalization program would have consolidated economic gains in Postville,” said economist Dr. Sherrie A. Kossoudji, who has studied legalization benefits.

Locally, research out of Adelphi University has shown how immigrants, including those who are undocumented, contribute a net revenue benefit to Long Island, even after factoring the expenditure of public dollars for services.

The legalization of undocumented immigrants is the opposite of a narrow, special interest. Immigrants are a vital part of the American social fabric and hold a key to growth for our nation.

Humane immigration reform is in all of our interests—those with and without working documents.