WASHINGTON – A new report challenges the argument that illegal immigrants are a drain on Arizona’s economy.
In fact, said the author of “The Consequences of Legalization Versus Mass Deportation in Arizona,” the state could be throwing away millions in potential tax revenues by trying to drive illegal immigrants out.
“There is a real mass confusion and distortion on the reality of immigrant contribution,” said Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, the director of the North American Integration and Development Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of the report.
Hinojosa-Ojeda’s report for the Center for American Progress argues that if every illegal immigrant in Arizona were legalized, the state could gain up to $540 million in taxes every year. If they were all deported, on the other hand, it would cost the state $2.4 billion in sales, income, motor vehicle and other taxes, he estimated.
Supporters of stricter immigration enforcement wasted no time criticizing the report.
“These are based on a selective set of assumptions,” said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “I don’t know how he came to these numbers.”
FAIR has said that illegal immigrants cost the Arizona economy almost $2.6 billion in 2009 for schools, law enforcement, medical care and other costs. It said any taxes paid by illegal immigrant workers “do not come close to the level of expenditures” that state and federal governments have to make on their behalf.
Other immigration and economics experts were not as critical of the report, but said that the underlying assumptions for any immigration claims need to be taken into account.
“These are reasonable assumptions,” said Madeline Zavodny, a professor of economics at Agnes Scott College who has done research on immigration. “But you have to bear in mind that all such reports on something like undocumented immigrants require assumptions to be made.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimated that there were 360,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona in January 2011, up 30,000 from 2000. FAIR estimated the number at 390,000 in 2009.
Hinojosa-Ojeda based his report on estimates of total wages earned by immigrants, taxes they pay and gross state product they generate for the Arizona economy.
“Immigrants contribute heavily to the economy,” he said. “Advocates of mass deportation do not understand the scope of this contribution.”
Their contributions would be even greater if they were legally employed, he said, since they would likely earn more, pay higher taxes and consume more goods and services.
On the flip side, he said, a deportation effort of all illegal immigrants in Arizona would decrease total wages paid by $6.25 billion and lower the gross state product by $13.3 billion.
Hinojosa-Ojeda said the report – one of seven states studied by the center – aims to “strip away” misconceptions about the contributions illegal immigrants make. He said arguments that large-scale deportation will help the economy have “no basis in reality” and that advocates should stop cloaking their anti-immigration sentiments in economic arguments.
But Mehlman challenged the notion that the state economy would be hurt if illegal immigrants left. Just the opposite: He said U.S. workers would easily replace departed immigrants, wages would rise and less money would leave via remittances sent back to immigrants’ home countries.
“All jobs … Americans are prepared to take,” Mehlman said. “It is the wages and conditions that they reject.”
He said illegal immigration is what lets employers get away with such conditions.
But Hinojosa-Ojeda said no American is willing to do the work of an undocumented immigrant.
“Who is going out in the heat to work in the fields?” he asked. “The typical American will not do that type of work for that low wage.”
Michelle Mittelstadt of the Migration Policy Institute, said illegal immigrants occupy a part of the workforce that cannot readily be filled, the “3-D jobs: dangerous, dirty and difficult.”
“Immigrants are a complementary workforce, filling niches in the U.S. economy,” she said.
Zavodny agreed, saying people underestimate the dislocations a mass deportation would cause and that jobs would be left unfilled.
Mittelstadt agreed that currently illegal immigrants would be able to add to the economy if they were legalized. But she was dubious about the 100 percent deportation benchmark used in Hinojosa-Ojeda’s report, saying that would have a significant impact on industries like agriculture and home health care.
She said that Congress has not demonstrated the ability to pass legislation on deportation.
“The idea of enforcement at a federal level in removal of workers in a sustained way is unlikely to happen,” Mittelstadt said.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 6:57 pm on Sun, Sep 9, 2012.
You have got to be kidding me. Talk about a .."picture being worth 1000 words" well the photo of the ...."AUTHOR" ....of these study from ....UCLA...of all places.
UCLA MAKES MOSCOW UNIVERSITY AND PEKING UNIVERSITY LOOK LIKE.....ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY OR BYU.
Come on Cronkite New Service reporters....leave the.....LIBERAL AGENDA...at home where it belongs and try....try and give the readers of the EVT .....some ..."UNBIASED"....for a change.
tededitedit posted at 7:09 pm on Sun, Sep 9, 2012.
LOL! "Their contributions would be even greater if they were legally employed, he said, since they would likely earn more, pay higher taxes..."
If this happened, the economic advantages to immoral employers (lower wage and benefit costs, lower work safety costs, tax evasion, etc.) would go away. These creepy employers would have to replace these now "legal" workers with new illegal ones!
Scott ffolliott posted at 8:19 pm on Sun, Sep 9, 2012.
Orval Faubus was the 36th Governor of Arkansas
Janice Brewer is the 22nd and current Governor of the U.S. state of Arizona
It seems like old times again
Juggernaut8000 posted at 6:28 am on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
Well they sure do give our police officers job security and keep the ER's busy.
wdgnas posted at 6:57 am on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
“The idea of enforcement at a federal level in removal of workers in a sustained way is unlikely to happen,” Mittelstadt said.
unless the chamber of commerce endorses the idea.
lauraaz posted at 7:36 am on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
Why write a story about a report which is, according to the story's own author, made up of questionable statistics? If you want to report on the effects of illegals on the economy do the work yourself to get accurate statistics and write a story. If you want to support someone else's story or discredit their story, you should make your position clear. From your article I can't tell if you are supporting or discrediting the report.
If the report and the statistics behind it are questionable, why are you and the folks at Cronkite News giving credence to it at all? Is this what journalism has come to now? Someone writes a biased and flawed report, and then the media makes lots of noise quoting the report?
DavidNichols posted at 11:49 am on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
January 2008 = The start of E-verify, and the I.C.E. Deportation/Incarceration Programs.
January 2008 Also = The start of "The Great Recession", "The Foreclosure Crisis", and "Our New Ballooning National Deficit".
Fact: For every good, hard working Immigrant Deported or Incarcerated America has Lost over Four Times as many American Jobs!
Fact: The HARD LABOR Immigrants gladly did for America was the very Foundation of our Strong Economy, and this Hard Labor supported all other American Jobs!
Fact: This is our I.C.E.'d Economy, I.C.E. "Put the Car in the Ditch".
The Twenbty-five year period prior to January 2008 was the "Most Prosperous period in Total U.S. History!
We all Worked Hard together for America, including the Twelve Million Hard Working un-documented Immigrants!
"America is great because it is good, when it ceases to be good, it ceases to be great."
Alex De Tocqueville
This Great Nation of Immigrants was Built on Far Better Principles, and Values than to rip apart good Christian Families, and to Deport/Incarcerate Parents away from their legal Citizen Children/Families!
This is "The Wrong Road we are on America!"
To: Good, and Brotherhood.
DavidNichols posted at 12:07 pm on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
To see the "Vast Contributions" Immigrants give too "Boost" the Economy, one dosen't need to be an "Economist", or a "Brain Surgeon", one only needs to try and remember Arizona, and America in 2007?
Americans could pick and choose any job they wanted!
Our Homes were worth Double what they are now!
Now College Grads can wash dishes, work in fast food resteraunts, drive tractors, pick lettuce, clean Hotels, and do General Farm work, or General Hard Labor!
Remember Arizona before the "Anti-Immigrant Rant"?
Before Deportations, and Maricopa County having a Half Million Vacated Homes?
Remember Good, Brotherhood, and Prosperity?
Wake up America.
Look at Reality.
Jesus Christo de Nogales posted at 1:21 pm on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
I saw an interesting interview on a Phoenix TV news program shortly after SB1070 was passed and signed by Brewer. The TV reporter was in a Hispanic neighborhood to ask various people about the impact SB1070 will have on their lives. They interviewed a family of illegal Mexican occupiers who had been in the United States for 16 years. She was a stay at home mom and he worked in the landscape business. Together they had 7 children born in Arizona while neither of them had any form of health insurance coverage. They were packing their belongings and heading for Colorado. I still can't figure out how they paid the hospital bills for each of those 7 children born in the Phoenix area. Does anybody have any ideas? Surely they paid their own bills right????
samkat posted at 6:01 pm on Mon, Sep 10, 2012.
Jesus: It is simple. The used the ACHSS program and we picked up the tab. For themselves, they used the emergency rooms. Any other questions? :-)
Arizona Willie posted at 4:02 pm on Tue, Sep 11, 2012.
It is 100% TRUE that illegal aliens help the local economy ==== IF you are an employer of illegal aliens.
You get to put all that money in your pocket that you would have paid to a legal American worker plus you didn't pay them overtime or worry about safety regulations because the illegal worker doesn't dare complain about it or you can call I.C.E. and get him deported.
You can expect nothing else but " articles " like this from the local media that are all 100% behind illegal labor for employers.
Hmm .. I wonder if anyone ever checked the status of the employees of the local papers and tv and radio stations. hmm.
DavidNichols posted at 11:23 am on Wed, Sep 12, 2012.
I have worked with and know un-documented Immigrants for many many years.
All that I have known are the Hardest , most Devoted Wokers , and are Good Christians.
Their Hard Labor Contibutes to our Economy at least Six Times what they are paid !
If they need a little assistance it is not for their lack of Labor, but for their low pay!
However all in all they Work Harder than most, and definitly more than pay their own way!
I am an Arizona Native, and I can honestly say, I have never seen a single Hispanic Person "Panhandle"!
These are proud People who only want to work Hard For America in the hopes of someday being one of us.
We Americans are Far Better than this petty whining, about Immigrants.
America began Deportation/Attrition in January 2008 which Crashed our Economy!
Now some try to blame our Hardest Workers for the mess we caused by attacking them?
To: Reality.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:07 pm on Wed, Sep 12, 2012.
REALITY...REALITY...............LIB YOU WOULDN'T KNOW REALITY IF IT NIPPED YOU IN THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT.
ILLEGAL ALIENS DECIMATED ARIZONA'S EMERGENCY CARE ROOMS AT OUR LOCAL HOSPITALS.
EACH AND EVERY ...ILLEGAL ALIEN CHILD WHERE BORN IN MEXICO OR AN ANCHOR BABY COSTS THE ARIZONA TAX-PAYER ....$7,670.00 EVER SINGLE SCHOOL YEAR...........AND YOU WONDER WHY THERE ARE 30+ KIDS IN EVERY CLASSROOM AND NO SPARE MONEY IN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S KITTY.
AS FOR ....ILLEGAL ALIENS ..."PAN-HANDLING"....WHY SHOULD THEY GO TO THE BOTHER....THERE WAS ALWAYS A NICE BIG ROCK TO THROW THREW A CAR WINDOW OR HOUSE WINDOW TO BURGLARIZE THE ....."RICO GRINGO".
Jesus Christo de Nogales posted at 1:57 pm on Mon, Sep 17, 2012.
I saw an interesting interview on a Phoenix TV news program shortly after SB1070 was passed and signed by Brewer. The TV reporter was in a Hispanic neighborhood to ask various people about the impact SB1070 will have on their lives. They interviewed a family of illegal Mexican occupiers who had been in the United States for 16 years. She was a stay at home mom and he worked in the landscape business. Together they had 7 children born in Arizona while neither of them had any form of health insurance coverage. They were packing their belongings and heading for Colorado. I still can't figure out how they paid the hospital bills for each of those 7 children born in the Phoenix area. Does anybody have any ideas? Surely they paid their own bills right????