Immigration: A Catholic Response

Part I: The Current Debate

– 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.

What’s The Fuss?

• 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.

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.

Myth #1: Immigrants take jobs from natives & depress wages

• 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.

Myth #2: Immigrants Are Lazy

• 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.

Myth #3: Immigrants hurt economy

• 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 Valley’s businesses, generating more than $19.5 billion in sales & nearly 73,000 jobs in Silicon Valley.

– 25% of MicroSoft’s employees are foreign born.

Myth #4: Skilled immigrantstake jobs

• 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.

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.

Myth #5: Immigrants live off dole

• 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.

Myth #6: Immigrants don’t pay their 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.

Myth #6: Immigrants don’t paytheir own way

• 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

Myth #7: Immigrants don’t assimilate

• 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.

Myth #8: Diversity weakens economy

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.

• 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?

Myth #9: If break a law, must pay.