Immigrants are a boon, not a curse
Republicans should stop treating millions of people who want to better their lives as a threat.
Watching the GOP presidential debate last week, it was easy to conclude that the greatest threat facing the U.S. is an influx of undocumented immigrants. Most of the candidates were, as arch-nativist Tom Tancredo put it, trying to out-Tancredo Tancredo. And every time they did, they seemed to get raucous applause from the audience. Why is it, I wondered, that so many people think that having millions of people come to the United States seeking a better life for themselves presents such a massive threat to this country?
Obviously it is wrong for anyone to break the law, but the desire of foreigners to come here to work seems like the most benign sort of lawbreaking imaginable. Lots of other laws are broken routinely -- prostitution laws, speeding laws, tax laws -- and yet they are not the subject of heated exchanges at presidential debates.
What makes illegal immigration so bad? There is no question that an influx of illegals puts pressure on public services, especially in the border states, and that issue needs to be addressed, perhaps with greater assistance from Washington. But it is hardly unmanageable, especially because illegal immigrants, while making use of some government services, also contribute a lot to society via sales taxes and other means without collecting Social Security, unemployment or other benefits available to legal residents. Studies of the net economic effect of illegal immigration show mixed results.
Aside from the cost to government, opponents of immigration claim its biggest downsides are lost jobs and lost identity. Neither argument strikes me as especially compelling.
We constantly hear that immigrants are taking jobs from Americans. Yet over the past quarter-century, even as illegal immigration has remained high, the U.S. economy has outperformed the rest of the industrialized world. Although a recession may be on the horizon, our economy has been booming since the early 1980s, with consistently low unemployment (currently 4.7%). Per-capita income in the U.S., when adjusted for purchasing power, is $41,399, or the third-highest in the world. Per-capita income after taxes has risen by 12.7% since 2001. We have seen 8.3 million jobs created since August 2003 -- 50 straight months of job growth.
It is hard to see how immigration, legal or otherwise, has put a damper on the economy. Quite the reverse: Immigrants contribute significantly to economic growth.
