The Need for Immigration Reforms

The Need for Immigration Reforms

It is not news that these are rough times for immigrants. The view ahead is not good, not only are there no jobs, but the new controls and restrictions on immigration make it look as if blame is being cast on the wrong people.

The contribution of immigrants to the nation's economy is becoming more glaring everyday. To find out how important they really are, one can understand the issue by checking out " immigrant workers and the Great American Job Machine", a report released in December 2002 by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. The study shows that immigrants accounted for at least half the growth in the nations labor force in the past ten years. They filled openings in the manufacturing and service industries that otherwise would have remained unfilled. The lower level maintenance jobs that do not require special skills, such as, messenger, building laborers, plantation workers and factory workers. According to the report, without immigrants, male shortages would have become a daily economy reality and nightmare in many areas of the country.

Also going through the Census Bureau data showing a 57% increase in the foreign born population during the 1990's, to about 3.1 million. Without the new immigrants, the United Staten would not have experienced the record economic expansion of the 1990's, and its economy would have faltered. Other aspects that the report focused on was that at no time in the past 90 years was the nation so dependent on immigrant workers to meet its growing need for labor. Especially among the male worker whose native supply barely increased in the past decade and actually declined in a number of regions, especially in the Northeast region states like New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maine.

But, many of those workers on which the nations economy depends are undocumented and must live in the shadows, hidden because of their status. Immigrants who have stayed for a particular number of years without criminal activities should be granted amnesty because they are an important part of the American economy.

Another discovery by the Northeastern researchers contrary to what many people believe, most immigrants contribute more in taxes than they use in services. This brings back the popular saying