Just the Facts

In Arizona, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation industries, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to Arizona’s economy. Read more...

Published On: Thu, Aug 22, 2013 | Download File

In New York, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation industries, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to New York’s economy. Read more...

Published On: Thu, Aug 22, 2013 | Download File

Preliminary Findings from the National UnDACAmented Research Project

by Roberto G. Gonzales, Harvard Graduate School of Education

and Veronica Terriquez, University of Southern California

As Congress continues to debate immigration reform, August 15th marks the one-year anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. While not granting a path to legalization and citizenship, DACA provides an opportunity for a segment of the undocumented immigrant population to remain in the country without fear of deportation, allows them to apply for work permits, and increases their opportunities for economic and social incorporation. This research summary presents preliminary findings on the impact that DACA has had on some of the young people who have received it.

We find that the DACA recipients we surveyed experienced a pronounced increase in economic opportunities, such as getting a new job, opening their first bank account, and obtaining their first credit card. Many seek further social integration beyond DACA. In fact, almost all DACA recipients indicate that they would apply for U.S. citizenship if given the opportunity. Our study also shows that DACA recipients are often fearful that family members and friends could be deported at any time. Overall, our research indicates that although DACA opens up some economic opportunities for young aspiring Americans, it does not address the constant threat of deportation still facing those closest to them, including mothers, fathers, and siblings.Read more...

Published On: Thu, Aug 15, 2013 | Download File

In Florida, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation economy, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to Florida’s economy.Read more...

Published On: Wed, Jul 24, 2013 | Download File

In California, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation economy, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to California’s economy. Read more...

Published On: Wed, Jul 24, 2013 | Download File

The House of Representatives and the Senate have embarked upon very different paths when it comes to immigration reform. On June 27, the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill—S. 744 (the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act)—that seeks to revamp practically every dysfunctional component of the U.S. immigration system. The House leadership, on the other hand, favors a piecemeal approach in which a series of immigration bills are passed, each addressing a different aspect of the larger immigration system. To date, the most popular of these piecemeal bills has been H.R. 1417 (the Border Security Results Act), which was passed unanimously on May 15 by the House Committee on Homeland Security. H.R. 1417 is, in marked contrast to S. 744, an enforcement-only bill which does not acknowledge the existence of any other component of immigration reform.

Nevertheless, the border-enforcement provisions of S. 744 aren’t all that different from those contained within H.R. 1417. Both bills share the arbitrary and possibly unworkable goals of “operational control” (a 90 percent deterrence rate) and 100 percent “situational awareness” along the entire southwest border. The Senate bill also added insult to injury in the form of the Corker-Hoeven (“border surge”) amendment, which seeks to micromanage border-security operations and would gratuitously appropriate tens of billions of dollars in additional funding, and hire tens of thousands of additional Border Patrol agents, before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has even determined what resource and staffing levels are needed to do the job.Read more...

Published On: Wed, Jul 24, 2013 | Download File

Anti-immigrant activists and politicians are fond of relying upon anecdotes to support their oft-repeated claim that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, are dangerous criminals. This mythical claim is usually based on rhetorical sleight of hand in which individual stories of heinous crimes committed by immigrants are presented as “proof” that we must restrict immigration or “get tough” on the undocumented in order to save the lives of U.S. citizens. While these kinds of arguments are emotionally powerful, they are intellectually dishonest. There is no doubt that dangerous criminals must be punished, and that immigrants who are dangerous criminals should not be allowed to enter the United States or should be deported if they already are here. But harsh immigration policies are not effective in fighting crime because—as numerous studies over the past 100 years have shown—immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of immigration are not associated with higher rates of crime. This holds true for both legal immigrants and the undocumented, regardless of their country of origin or level of education.

Crime Rates in the United States Fell as the Size of the Immigrant Population (Including the Unauthorized) Increased Dramatically.

• Between 1990 and 2010, the foreign-born share of the U.S. population grew from 7.9 percent to 12. 9 percent {Figure 1} and the number of unauthorized immigrants tripled from 3.5 million to 11.2 million {Figure 2}.

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Published On: Thu, Jul 25, 2013 | Download File

In South Carolina, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation economy, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to South Carolina’s economy.

• From 2006 to 2010, there were 11,869 new immigrant business owners in South Carolina, and in 2010, 6.7 percent of all business owners in South Carolina were foreign-born.

• In 2010, new immigrant business owners had total net business income of $521.9 million, which is 5.3 percent of all net business income in the state.

• Immigrant entrepreneurs have contributed to South Carolina’s economy throughout the state’s history, founding such companies as Dominion Tar and Chemical Company (DOMTAR), which employs 8,700 people and brings in over $5.6 billion in annual revenues to South Carolina.

Highly skilled immigrants and foreign-owned companies are vital to South Carolina’s innovation economy.Read more...

Published On: Fri, Jul 19, 2013 | Download File

In North Carolina, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation economy, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Read more...

Published On: Fri, Jul 19, 2013 | Download File

In Michigan, there is no doubt that immigrant entrepreneurs and innovators play an important role. Immigrant entrepreneurs bring in additional revenue, create jobs, and contribute significantly to the state’s economy. Highly skilled immigrants are vital to the state’s innovation economy, and to the metropolitan areas within the state, helping to boost local economies. Furthermore, local government, business, and non-profit leaders recognize the importance of immigrants in their communities and support immigration through local “welcoming” and integration initiatives.

Immigrant entrepreneurs contribute significantly to Michigan’s economy.

• From 2006 to 2010, immigrants founded 30,223 businesses in Michigan, and in 2010, 10.4 percent of all business owners in Michigan were foreign-born.

• In 2010, new immigrant business owners had a total net business income of $1.8 billion, which is 9.2 percent of all net business income in the state.

• Michigan’s foreign-born were more than three times as likely as the native-born population to start a new business between 1996 and 2007.

• In particular, 32.8 percent of high-tech startups in Michigan between 1990 and 2005 had an immigrant founder, which places Michigan third out of all fifty states and means that Michigan’s immigrants are six times more likely to start a high-tech firm than U.S.-born residents.

Highly skilled immigrants are vital to Michigan’s innovation economy.Read more...

Published On: Fri, Jul 19, 2013 | Download File