New Research Shows Many Ways Immigrants Benefit Maryland's Economy
A new report from the Commission to Study the Impact of Immigrants in Maryland concludes that immigrants bring a plethora of economic, social, and cultural contributions to the state of Maryland. The commission, which was created by the Maryland General Assembly, also warns against attempts to deal with unauthorized immigration through enforcement-only policies that needlessly sow fear and distrust in immigrant communities. Rather, the commission admonishes, “Maryland must remain welcoming to immigrants, and the state and its local jurisdictions should further strengthen its efforts to integrate immigrants into the economy and the community.”
The commission’s report, entitled The Impact of Immigrants in Maryland, begins with a survey of the available literature on the economics of immigration and concludes that, “in general, immigration leads to higher economic growth and greater levels of income per capita not only for the immigrants themselves, but, on average, for the U.S.-born persons as well.” As the report notes, immigrants don’t steal jobs from the native-born because immigrants and native-born workers tend to have different, “complementary” sets of skills. Moreover, immigrants fuel entrepreneurship and innovation. The report also finds that “in aggregate and over the long term, immigrants pay more in taxes (federal, state, and local) than they use in government services.”
“A systematic and bipartisan approach to federal immigration reform is essential for a healthy nation and for Maryland.” In other words, the federal government needs to act soon; there is only so much that any state government can do in the absence of immigration reform at the national level.
“To ensure Maryland’s continued global economic and technical leadership, the state must redouble its efforts to provide superior education at every level to all young residents, including the foreign-born, regardless of immigration status.” The reason is simple: “a more educated person is good for our society. They earn more money and are more engaged in the community. They are better informed workers, consumers and voters.” Needless to say, the report opposes any policy which would deny access to education to children who are unauthorized immigrants.
http://www.alternet.org/immigration/154173/new_research_shows_many_ways_immigrants_benefit_maryland's_economy
Somehow I don't think republican-run states like Alabama or Arizona would have established a commission likely to come up with a pro-immigrant conclusions like this one in Maryland did. At the least their governments would have attempted to block the release of results like this.
What a difference Democratic-control of a state makes.
