New Study: Immigration Reform Would Bring $1.5 Trillion in Economic Growth

America's Voice Blog

Posted 01/07/10 at 01:35pm

New Study: Immigration Reform Would Bring $1.5 Trillion in Economic Growth

This morning I was live-tweeting from an event at the Center for American Progress (CAP), co-sponsored by the Immigration Policy Center, where economic experts from a wide range of institutions had come together to document the astounding economic benefits to the United States that would come from passing a comprehensive immigration reform package.

The event centered around a new study entitled, “Raising the Floor for American Workers,” which was written by Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, a professor at UCLA.

As Congress prepares to debate immigration reform early this year, the report crisply lays out the economic argument for fixing our immigration system. Simply put, Americans ignore immigration at the peril of their pocketbooks: passing reform would usher in $1.5 trillion in economic growth. Conversely, we'd see a net drain on our economy of $2.6 trillion over 10 years if we decided to simply deport all undocumented immigrants currently here.

The report examined the impact of the 1986 immigration bill and used economic modeling to make three key findings:

Comprehensive immigration reform generates an annual increase in U.S. GDP of at least 0.84 percent. This amounts to $1.5 trillion in additional GDP over 10 years. It also boosts wages for both native-born and newly legalized immigrant workers.

A temporary worker program with proper labor protections generates an annual increase in U.S. GDP of 0.44 percent. This amounts to $792 billion of additional GDP over 10 years [...]

Mass deportation reduces U.S. GDP by 1.46 percent annually. This amounts to $2.6 trillion in lost GDP over 10 years, not including the actual cost of deportation. [...]

Money While panelists at this morning's event disagreed over a few of the particularities of how to bring in future workers in a regulated, standardized flow, all agreed that comprehensive immigration reform would greatly benefit the U.S. economy-- to the tune of $1.5 trillion. Meanwhile, they agreed that the solution proposed by anti-immigrant hardliners would have an enormous cost-- pegged at $2.6 trillion.

An increase of $1.5 trillion vs. a loss of $2.6 trillion seems like a no-brainer, especially in these economic times.

The author, Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, explained his findings this way to the Los Angeles Times:

"If we are going to create a solid recovery with good wages, we have to fix this hole that we have at the bottom of the labor market. [...] This is not about bringing in a lot of workers. This is about your neighbors and if we are better off where everybody in the economy has the ability to fight for their families and to contribute more to the economy rather than staying in the shadows."

In all fairness, the L.A. Times did cite one critic of the study: Ira Mehlman. The author, Anna Gorman, failed to mention, however, that Mehlman works for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The anti-immigrant organization FAIR has been riddled with controversy, but it's not surprising that this was the only spokesperson the reporter could find to go on record against the economic benefits of immigration reform.

With a number like $1.5 trillion, the economic benefits are clear.

More resources:

MaribelHastings.com (En Español)

Download the full report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Sinopsis disponible en español (pdf)

Video: Immigration Reform Can Bring $1.5 Trillion in Economic Growth (Español)

More coverage:

Wonk Room, Andrea Nill: Study predicts $1.5 trillion increase in GDP if undocumented immigrants are legalized.

Campus Progress, Erin Rosa: Report: Immigration Reform Would Add Trillion To U.S. Economy

Immigration Impact, Walter Ewing: New Report Quantifies Benefits of Immigration Reform to U.S. Economy

Reform Immigration FOR America, Rachel LaBruyere: Immigration Reform would bring in $1.5 trillion over 10 years