Immigration is Overwhelmingly Good for the United States
This is another thread where I'll likely drop articles I happen across over time. The evidence is actually quite overwhelming that immigration, both legal and illegal, is a huge boon to the US in basically all ways, and has effectively no downsides.
Immigration's Economic Impact - White paper from the White House under George Bush - Council of Economic Advisors
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"Our review of economic research finds immigrants not only help fuel the Nation's economic growth, but also have an overall positive effect on the income of native-born workers."
-Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Edward P. Lazear
1) On average, US natives benefit from immigration. Immigrants tend to complement (not substitute for) natives, raising natives' productivity and income.
Annual wage gains from immigration are between $30 billion and $80 billion.
2) Careful studies of the long-run fiscal effects of immigration conclude that it is likely to have a modest, positive influence.
3) Skilled immigrants are likely to be especially beneficial to natives. In addition to contributions to innovation, they have a significant positive fiscal impact.
4) Immigrants are a critical part of the U.S. workforce and contribute to productivity growth and technological advancement. They make up 15% of all workers and even larger shares of certain occupations such as construction, food services and health care. Approximately 40% of Ph.D. scientists working in the United States were born abroad. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; American Community Survey)
5) Entrepreneurial activity is nearly 40% higher for immigrants than for natives.
6) Assimilate quickly: Although 72% of first-generation Latino immigrants use Spanish as their predominant language, only 7% of the second generation are Spanish-dominant.
7) Immigrants have lower crime rates than natives. Among men aged 18 to 40, immigrants are much less likely to be incarcerated than natives.
8) Immigrants slightly improve the solvency of pay-as-you-go entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare. (Source: Social Security Administration)
9) The long-run impact of immigration on public budgets is likely to be positive. A careful study published by the National Research Council estimated that immigrants and their descendants would contribute about $80,000 more in taxes (in 1996 dollars) than they would receive in public services.
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Ten Economic Facts about Immigration
A heavily researched white papers on immigration. Some highlights:
3) On Average, Immigrants Improve The Living Standards Of Americans
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Immigrants raise the overall standard of living of American workers by boosting wages and lowering prices.
4) Immigrants Are Not A Net Drain On The Federal Government Budget
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Taxes paid by immigrants and their children, both legal and unauthorized, exceed the costs of the services they use. In fact, a 2007 cost estimate by the Congressional Budget Office found that a path to legalization for unauthorized immigrants would increase federal revenues by $48 billion but would only incur $23 billion of increased costs from public services, producing a surplus of $25 billion for government coffers. According to the Social Security Administration Trustees' report, increases in immigration have also improved Social Security's finances.
6) Immigrants Do Not Disproportionately Burden U.S. Correctional Facilities And Institutions
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U.S.-born citizens are more than five times more likely than immigrants to be institutionalized.
7) Recent Immigrants Reflect America's Melting Pot (and Fully Integrate into Society)
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Recent waves of immigrants and their children are integrating into the U.S. economy, just as previous immigrant families did.
More than 90 percent of the children of recent immigrants speak English, regardless of their country of origin.
9) Immigrants Start New Businesses And File Patents At Higher Rates Than U.S.-Born Citizens
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Immigrants are 30 percent more likely to form new businesses than U.S.-born citizens.
Immigrants are three times more likely to file patents than U.S.-born citizens.
10) America Is Issuing A Declining Number Of Visas For High-Skill Workers
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With its top-level universities, dynamic business environment, and wide-ranging economic opportunities, the United States has a history of attracting high-skill workers. However, a recent study suggests that this trend may be waning; many of today's international students either plan to leave the United States or are uncertain about remaining, raising the potential for a reverse brain-drain of the skilled workers who contribute to U.S. global competitiveness.
This one is just sad and dumb and a huge loss for us. Brain drain is a huge reason we have dominated in technology and innovation over the last century.
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What Immigration Means For U.S. Employment and Wages
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Economists do not tend to find that immigrants cause any sizeable decrease in wages and employment of U.S.-born citizens, and instead may raise wages and lower prices in the aggregate. One reason for this effect is that immigrants and U.S.-born workers generally do not compete for the same jobs; instead, many immigrants complement the work of U.S. employees and increase their productivity. One reason for this effect is that immigrants and U.S.-born workers generally do not compete for the same jobs; instead, many immigrants complement the work of U.S. employees and increase their productivity. For example, low-skilled immigrant laborers allow U.S.-born farmers, contractors, and craftsmen to expand agricultural production or to build more homes^Wthereby expanding employment possibilities and incomes for U.S. workers. Another way in which immigrants help U.S. workers is that businesses adjust to new immigrants by opening stores, restaurants, or production facilities to take advantage of the added supply of workers; more workers translate into more business.
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Economists have found that immigrants slightly raise the average wages of all U.S.-born workers.
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Unauthorized Immigrants Pay Taxes, Too
At least half of unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes.
The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has estimated the state and local taxes paid in 2010 by households that are headed by unauthorized immigrants. Collectively, these households paid $11.2 billion in state and local taxes.
In spite of the fact that they lack legal status, these immigrants - and their family members - are adding value to the U.S. economy; not only as taxpayers, but as workers, consumers, and entrepreneurs as well.
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Immigrants Are Makers, Not Takers
Immigrants will add a net of $611 billion to the Social Security system over the next 75 years. Immigrants are a key driver of keeping the Social Security Trust Fund solvent, and Stuart Anderson of the National Foundation for American Policy finds that cutting off immigration to the country would increase the size of the Social Security deficit by 31 percent over 50 years.
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