“Cost of Doing Nothing” Outlined in New Report

On Sept. 23, 2013, the Immigration Policy Center (IPC) released a fact sheet called “The Cost of Doing nothing; Dollars, Lives, and Opportunities Lost in the Wait for Immigration Reform.”

In June of this year, The U.S. Senate passed S. 744, a broad-based immigration reform bill that addresses all aspects of the immigration process, including border and enforcement issues, as well as various strategies to reform and improve our current immigration laws. The IPC fact sheet demonstrates that the nation’s “enforcement only” approach has led to a breakdown in the system, with a continuation of unauthorized immigration at the cost of American taxpayers.

On October 2, 2013, House Democrats introduced an immigration bill very similar to the Senate bill; however, this bill appears to be going nowhere in the Republican led House of Representatives. Many House Republicans have either opposed immigration reform or favored a piecemeal approach to deal with each immigration related issue separately.

According to the non-partisan Pew Research Center, around 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. as of March 2012, and unauthorized immigrants made up 28% of the entire U.S. population of immigrants in 2012. The U.S. economy and many individuals and families are truly seeing the “cost of doing nothing.” One thing is clear: As long as Congress fails to agree on immigration reform, the American people are losing out on an opportunity to improve our nation’s security and economic well-being.

As outlined in the fact sheet, the last time major changes were made to the U.S. immigration system was in 1986, and since that time the government has spent around $186.8 billion on immigration enforcement. The report also outlined the significant economic benefits that immigration reform would bring to our country. It has been estimated by the founding director of the University of California, Los Angeles North American Integration and Development Center that in the first three years after legalization, immigrants’ new earning power could equal an increase in new person income of $30 to $36 billion, net tax revenue equal to $4.5 to $5.4 billion, and enough consumer spending to support 750,000 to 900,000 jobs. It’s time for members of the House of Representatives to put their differences aside and do what is right for our great nation: pass a comprehensive immigration reform law that will improve the quality of life for immigrants and American citizens alike.