Effects Of Immigration Reform

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Luis Cholotío-García ENC1102 – Professor Fiedler April 24, 2012 Research Project The Fiscal Effects of a Comprehensive Immigration Reform The critics of immigration reform declare that legalizing 11.5 million immigrants will cost billions of dollars, which will increase the federal debt. Moreover, they blame the undocumented population for taking the jobs of American citizens, and for contributing negatively to the recession that the country is currently experiencing. However, pro-immigration reform studies have concluded the opposite stating that the law will have a dramatic, positive economic impact. Immigrants arrived freely in the United States of America since before the settlement of the thirteen colonies in 1776. Since then—236…show more content…
2621) had become law. The Congressional Budget Office also estimated that, in the same period of time, the increase in federal revenue would have been more than offset with $66 billion in new revenues. (12) The increase in spending would be mostly be due to refundable tax and the use of welfare programs, such as cash assistance, food assistance, Medicaid, and subsidized housing. (Under the current law, undocumented immigrants are ineligible for any of the previous social programs with an exception for medical emergency assistance under Medicaid). Raul Hinojosa pointed out that the reason behind the welfare increase among the majority of newly-legalized immigrants would be due to their low education and income level and not an unwillingness to work (2). The 2006 law initiative S. 2621 would have legalized approximately seven million unauthorized immigrants. The study done by the Immigration Policy Center confirms that immigrants who were legalized in 1986 under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) had an average increase of 15 percent in their hourly wage after five years (sec. 4). This means that the legalized immigrants pay more in federal and state income taxes; in addition, because they have greater income, they also use more services and buy more goods from a wider range of businesses, which will ultimately result in the…show more content…
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