Open the Door and Let 'Em In TTie opponents of immigration reform are hamperingthe economy—and hurting all of us

摘要

Mfrom An Economic Standpoint, The battle over immigration reform has always been utterly baffling to me. Immigrants, or the children of immigrants, founded 40% of this country's Fortune 500 firms and untold millions of smaller businesses. They are the key reason that the U.S.'s population growth, and thus its economic growth, is predicted to be higher than that of most of the rest of the rich world over the next couple of decades. Immigrants are the difference between an economy growing at a healthy 3% rate and a sluggish 2%. Why wouldn't we want as many of them as we can get? Sadly, many House Republicans, who have been debating the issue in recent days, don't agree. That means the immigration-reform bill that passed the Senate with bipartisan support a few weeks ago is likely to be scuppered. Conservatives continue to insist that creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants would unleash a torrent of new low-skilled workers from Mexico that would drive down U.S. wages.