Policy

Hanford Sentinel Myth-Busting Article Cites Several IPC Resources

Published on Tue, Aug 06, 2013

An article in the California newspaper The Hanford Sentinel cited a number of resources from the Immigration Policy Center in an attempt to bust a number of immigration myths. The article cites the recently posted California state fact sheet, a separate California fact sheet highlighting immigrants and innovation, and the recent report by Jack Strauss on Latino immigrants, African-Americans, and the myth that they are in competition for jobs.

"“Immigrant workers spend their wages in U.S. businesses,” said an Immigration Policy Center summary. “They buy food, clothes, appliances, cars and much more. Businesses respond to the presence of these new workers and consumers by investing in new restaurants, stores and production facilities. Immigrants also are 30 percent more likely than the native-born to start their own businesses. The end result is more jobs and more pay for more workers.”

What about immigrants’ effect on African-Americans? “Cities experiencing the highest rates of immigration tend to have relatively low or average unemployment rates for African-Americans,” Saint Louis University economist Jack Strauss concluded in an analysis of Census findings. “Cities with greater immigration from Latin America experience lower unemployment rates, poverty rates and higher wages among African-Americans.”

This may be counter-intuitive, but it’s probably because Latino newcomers and African-Americans don’t compete for the same jobs.

“Native-born workers take higher-paying jobs that require better English-language skills,” said the Immigration Policy Center report."

Published in the Hanford Sentinel

AIC Executive Director Ben Johnson Published in Arizona Daily Star

Published on Sun, Jul 28, 2013

The American Immigration Council's Executive Director, Benjamin Johnson, was published as a guest columnist for the Arizona Daily Star this weekend, in an article titled, "Legalizing Undocumented Immigrants Makes Economic Sense."

"The mass deportation of immigrants would cause a steep reduction in labor supply. Because labor is a key factor of production, a drastic reduction in its supply would in turn lead to a contraction of the state economy and a decline in overall state fiscal revenue.

Pull people out of the economy and it shrinks. In fact, more than 60 percent of all undocumented immigrants have been living and working in the state for more than a decade, which makes it even more destructive to the economy. Thus, 'deportation only' is anything but good policy.

What would happen if nothing changes? If we fail to reform the immigration system, we may not necessarily lose a lot from an economic perspective, but we stand to gain very little.

Immigrants, even the unauthorized, are already contributing to the state's economy. For example, immigrants already account for 15 percent of total economic output in the Phoenix metropolitan area, according to a study by the Fiscal Policy Institute."

Published in the Arizona Daily Star

Wall Street Journal Cites IPC to Refute Rep. Steve King

Published on Fri, Jul 26, 2013

In a recent post in their "Political Diary," the Wall Street Journal cited a recent fact sheet from the IPC's senior researcher, Walter Ewing. The post, which was refuting Iowa Representative Steve King's recent offensive comments about DREAMers, cited the fact sheet, "From Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime."

'"For every ethnic group without exception, incarceration rates among young men are lowest for immigrants, even those who are least educated," wrote Mr. Ewing in a 2007 study that he co-authored with Ruben Rumbaut. "This holds true especially for Mexicans, Salvadorans, and Guatemalans who make up the bulk of the undocumented population." By the way, these findings comport with federal and state studies going back a century. If anything, today's immigrants are less likely to be involved in criminal activity than their predecessors.'

Published in the Wall Street Journal

Tackling the Toughest Questions on Immigration Reform

Throughout 2013, immigration reform has captured public attention. Millions of people followed S. 744 as it worked its way through committee and watched as the Senate voted 68 to 32 to pass a comprehensive immigration reform plan. In the next few months, immigration reform will be high on the list of priorities in the House of Representatives. Despite significant public support for immigration reform among members of the public in both parties, many of the most basic facts about immigrants and immigration remain misunderstood. Debunking the myths about immigration and providing short, concise answers to the often complex issues raised by the immigration debate is a challenge. Smart, thoughtful answers often take longer than the sound bites and quick retorts that the media demands today. The staff of the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) has prepared this Q&A Guide to help you get to the heart of the toughest questions on immigration. While we’ve included succinct answers to many immigration questions, more in-depth analysis, fact sheets, and data can be found on our website, www.immigrationpolicy.org.

I. The Importance of Immigration Reform

Q: Why do we need Immigration Reform?Read more...

Published On: Mon, Jul 29, 2013 | Download File

Washington Post Highlights IPC Fact Sheet in Response to Rep. Steve King

Published on Wed, Jul 24, 2013

The Washington Post draws attention to a recently-updated IPC Fact Sheet, "From Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime" to refute Rep. Steve King's claims about DREAMers being criminals.

The post reads:

"King has absolutely no proof for this disgusting, prejudiced statement. (Then again, one wonders what constitutes proof for a congressman who thinks snow disproves global warming.) As the Immigration Policy Center points out, using data from the census, the Pew Hispanic Center and the FBI, crime rates have fallen in the United States as the immigrant population (legal and illegal) has increased."

Published in the Washington Post

Florida: Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Innovation, and Welcoming Initiatives in the Sunshine State

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

California: Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Innovation, and Welcoming Initiatives in the Golden State

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

An Unlikely Couple: The Similar Approaches to Border Enforcement in H.R. 1417 and S. 744

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

From Anecdotes to Evidence: Setting the Record Straight on Immigrants and Crime

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}.

Fig. 1 Read more...

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

South Carolina: Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Innovation, and Welcoming Initiatives

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