GROUP 8Chin-yin Tsai, Shu-ching Chang, Jefrey Zakharia2014.8.5

SHOULD THE US PASS COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION?

Comprehensive Immigration Legislation•WHY: Comprehensive Immigration Reform 2014,

one of Obama’s main policy•WHO :11 million Unauthorized Immigrants in USA

(ex: Hispanic people, Latino, Asian)•WHAT: four Legislative pillars of immigration reform•WHERE: from Mexico,…•HOW: social and political issue

Four Basic Legislative Pillars of immigration reform1. Creating a path to Citizenship for Unauthorized

Immigrants in USA that is contingent upon securing the border and combating Visa overstays.

2. Improving the Legal Immigration System and attract the World’s Best and Brightest.

3. Strong Employment Verification.4. Admitting New Workers and Protecting Workers’

Right.

Obama’s vision for a 21st century immigration policy

Responsibility by the federal government to

secure the borders

Accountability for businesses that break the

law by undermining

American workers and

exploiting undocumented

workers

Strengthening our economic

competiveness by creating a

legal immigration system that reflects our values and

diverse needs

Responsibility from people

who are living in the United

States illegally

(Building A 21st Century Immigration System, pg 3. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/immigration_blueprint.pdf)

America needs more workers (Fact sheet the Economics of Commonsense Immigration Reform from the Economic Report of the President 2013, pg 15 http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/fact_sheet_the_economic_case_for_commonsense_immigration_reform_from_the_erp_2013_final.pdf)

The Economic Imperative for Immigration Reform

Immigrants are Job Creators• Immigrants started 25 percent of the highest-growth companies between 1990 and 2005• Immigrants are nearly 30 percent more likely to start a business than are non-immigrants

and represent 16.7 percent of all new business owners in the United States• immigrant business owners generate $67 billion of the $577 billion in U.S• Recent research highlights that in the 1990s alone, skilled immigrants helped boost GDP

per capita by between 1.4 percent and 2.4 percent.

Immigrants are Tax Contributors • legalization for unauthorized immigrants would increase federal revenues by $48 billion

but would only incur $23 billion in increased costs from public services, producing a surplus of $25 billion for government coffers. (CBO 2007)

• The new immigrant population is, on average, younger than the native born population. Thus, foreign-born workers increase the number of workers per retiree in the U.S., helping counter the fiscal effects of an aging population, would reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over the next 10 years, because of increased tax revenues.

• the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that undocumented immigrants paid almost $50 billion in federal taxes between 1996-2003. Nonetheless, about 40 percent of undocumented immigrants currently work off the books

(Building A 21st Century Immigration System, pg 11-12. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/immigration_blueprint.pdf)

Do they really workforce contributors or job stealers?•From the analysis by Tennessee state government based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), All of Tennessee’s Employment Growth Since 2000 Has Gone to Immigrants, Yet Natives Accounted for Two-Thirds of Population Growth. •So a bill like S.744 which allows foreign workers (skilled and unskilled) allowed into the country is not justified.

Social context of current reform

•Immigration reform is fueled by other aspects of social changes:① the 1965 amendments to the INA eliminated the bias that favored EU immigrants

over the other. ② An asylum and refugee provision was introduced in 1980 that brought the U.S. in

compliance with international standard of refugee protection following the Vietnam War.

③ The November election of 2012 with the impact of Latino, Asian and new American voters, jumped started the conversation on new immigration provision.

A desirable immigration reform• Family-based, work-based, and humanitarian immigration policy.•A point-based immigration system. based upon a list of characteristics a country finds valuable, such as education, occupation, work experience, language ability, or age. • Increasing the number of visas available in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. • Encouraging foreign entrepreneurs to invest in the United States, have widespread support among Republicans and Democrats.• Ensuring that immigration enforcement enhances national security and community safety without undermining due-process protections, and supports families and American values.