Immigration: A Catholic Response Part I: The Current Debate

1
(No Transcript)
2
Immigration A Catholic Response Part I The
Current Debate
3
Whats The Fuss?

• Economy thrives Investment, production and trade
  increase with immigration.
• Remittances to Mexico are nearly 20 billion a
  year.
• Hispanic immigrants share same Christian faith
  and values of most Americans.

4
Myth 1 Immigrants take jobs from natives
depress wages

• False Number of jobs is not limited, but always
  expanding.
• No significant evidence to prove loss of jobs or
  depressed wages.
• More immigrants create more jobs, e.g., bigger
  cleaning, landscaping companies, home health care
  workers, nannies, etc.
• They buy and consume.
• Jobs they take are visible while jobs they create
  are invisible.
• Mexican immigrants hardly compete for jobs
  because of high illiteracy and little English.

5
Myth 1 Immigrants take jobs from natives
depress wages

• As US immigrant population has increased,
  educational levels have improved immigrants make
  US poor more qualified, e.g., TSA, health care,
  IT, managers.
• As population ages, more low cost workers needed
  e.g. in nursing homes
• Immigrants bring creativity Google idea came
  from a Russian immigrant who gave to an American
  who got an Indian to give initial financing.
  Noon in England invented Indian prepared food.
• 1990-2004 in California, immigrants boosted the
  economy induced a 4 real wage increase for
  average native worker.

6
Myth 2 Immigrants Are Lazy

• No evidence exists. 90 of immigrants find jobs
  within 90 days of arrival.
• Why sacrifice so much to be lazy in U.S.?
• Tend to be younger, fitter, more enter-prising,
  self-selected minority of risk takers.
• Immigrants are happy to do menial jobs.

7
Myth 3 Immigrants hurt economy

• 1990-1997 710,000 Russian Jews emigrated to
  Israel, increasing working population by 15,
  while natives wages increased and unemployment
  dropped.
• Studies show increase in immigration leads to
  increase in wages and reduction of unemployment
  e.g. California study.
• Greenspan Sharp rise in immigration was
  principal reason for sustained economic boom in
  1990s without wages spiraling upward.
• Immigrants and their businesses contribute 162
  billion to U.S., state and local taxes.

8
Myth 4 Skilled immigrantstake jobs

• Bring superior skills and qualities
• Their energy leads to increased productivity.
• Knowledge of homeland and culture foster new
  trading links to their countries of origin
• Boost innovations
• Correlation exists between more foreign students
  in engineering and higher number of U.S. patent
  applications.
• Problem solving improves from synergy of
  diversity.
• By 2000, Chinese Indian engineers were running
  29 of Silicon Valleys businesses, generating
  more than 19.5 billion in sales nearly 73,000
  jobs in Silicon Valley.
• 25 of MicroSofts employees are foreign born.

9
Myth 5 Immigrants live off dole

• No evidence on welfare in significant way.
• Immigrants unlikely to be on public welfare given
  sacrifices they have made. Certain states,
  however, bare brunt.
• Do not come here to live off the dole.
• They have little right to benefits, only their
  children.

10
Myth 5 Immigrants live off dole

• Ratio between their use of public benefits and
  taxes paid is consistently favorable to U.S.
• Earn about 240 billion a year.
• Pay more than 90 billion a year in taxes.
• Use about 5 billion a year in public benefits
  (school, lunches, emergency rooms, etc.)
• 70 of immigrants arrive in prime working age and
  U.S. has not spent a penny on their education.
• Money spent to educate immigrants children is
  not spending on undeserving but investment in our
  future.

11
Myth 6 Immigrants dont pay their own way

• Immigrants pay income, property, sales, state and
  local taxes 90-140 billion/year
• Social Security Suspense File is huge,
  (unmatched workers names numbers) grew by 20
  billion in recent 3 years.
• 1990-1998 Undocumented workers estimated to have
  contributed 20 million to social security and
  will never receive it.

12
Myth 6 Immigrants dont paytheir own way

• Hard to prove and depends
• If arrive young educated,
• they make a net contribution in long run.
• If arrive old, they are net beneficiaries.
• Same as for natives while in school, are net
  beneficiaries, while working, are net
  contributors.
• Their descendents are definitely net
  contributors.
• Just as US population, more young people who are
  net contributors are brought in to attend to them
  and help pay for aging natives. Europe needs
  immigrants to help pay for increase of elderly.

13
Myth 7 Immigrants dont assimilate

• Within 10 years of arrival, more than 75 speak
  English well.
• All children learn and even prefer English within
  2 years in school.
• Demand for adult English classes far exceed
  supply.
• 33 of immigrants are naturalized citizens

14
Myth 8 Diversity weakens economy

• False Diversity spurs economy
• Cities with high ratio of foreign born are more
  cosmopolitan, thus desirable.
• Correlation between greater diversity and
  economic success and technological advances.
• Diversity increases productivity and thus wages
  of even native workers.

15
Myth 9 If break a law, must pay.

• Jesus broke laws he considered unjust, e.g.,
  spoke to Samaritan woman, healed on Sabbath, etc.
  but not called an illegal.
• For Jesus, compassion trumps law.
• No one is an illegal person.
• Employers of undocumented workers are not called
  illegals, though they break the law.
• Naming people illegals criminalizes them
  helps us avoid asking why they broke law and what
  is wrong with our system of immigration.

16
Myth 9 If break a law, must pay.

• Catholic tradition allows for breaking law, e.g.,
  starving widow can take bread without paying
  baker.
• US grants amnesty to others who break laws, why
  not to people who are desperate and work for us
  for little?

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)