Immigration: A Catholic
Response
Part I:
The Current Debate
What’s The Fuss?
– Economy thrives: Investment, production and
trade increase with immigration.
– Remittances to Mexico are nearly $20 billion a
year.
– Hispanic immigrants share same Christian
faith and values of most Americans.
Myth #1: Immigrants take jobs
from natives & depress wages
• False: Number of jobs is not limited, but always
expanding.
• No significant evidence to prove loss of jobs or
depressed wages.
• More immigrants create more jobs, e.g., bigger
cleaning, landscaping companies, home health
care workers, nannies, etc.
• They buy and consume.
• Jobs they take are visible while jobs they create
are invisible.
• Mexican immigrants hardly compete for jobs
because of high illiteracy and little English.
Myth #1: Immigrants take jobs
from natives & depress wages
• As US immigrant population has increased,
educational levels have improved; immigrants
make US poor more qualified, e.g., TSA, health
care, IT, managers.
• As population ages, more low cost workers
needed e.g. in nursing homes
• Immigrants bring creativity: Google: idea came
from a Russian immigrant who gave to an
American who got an Indian to give initial
financing. Noon in England invented Indian
prepared food.
• 1990-2004 in California, immigrants boosted the
economy & induced a 4% real wage increase for
average native worker.
Myth #2: Immigrants Are Lazy
• No evidence exists. 90% of immigrants
find jobs within 90 days of arrival.
• Why sacrifice so much to be lazy in U.S.?
• Tend to be younger, fitter, more enterprising, self-selected minority of risk
takers.
• Immigrants are happy to do menial jobs.
Myth #3: Immigrants hurt
economy
• 1990-1997: 710,000 Russian Jews emigrated to
Israel, increasing working population by 15%,
while natives’ wages increased and
unemployment dropped.
• Studies show increase in immigration leads to
increase in wages and reduction of
unemployment e.g. California study.
• Greenspan: Sharp rise in immigration was
principal reason for sustained economic boom in
1990s without wages spiraling upward.
• Immigrants and their businesses contribute $162
billion to U.S., state and local taxes.
Myth #4: Skilled immigrants
take jobs
• Bring superior skills and qualities
– Their energy leads to increased productivity.
– Knowledge of homeland and culture foster new trading links
to their countries of origin
• Boost innovations:
– Correlation exists between more foreign students in
engineering and higher number of U.S. patent applications.
• Problem solving improves from synergy of diversity.
– By 2000, Chinese & Indian engineers were running 29% of
Silicon Valley’s businesses, generating more than $19.5
billion in sales & nearly 73,000 jobs in Silicon Valley.
– 25% of MicroSoft’s employees are foreign born.
Myth #5: Immigrants live off dole
• No evidence on welfare in significant way.
• Immigrants unlikely to be on public welfare
given sacrifices they have made. Certain
states, however, bare brunt.
• Do not come here to live off the dole.
• They have little right to benefits, only their
children.
Myth #5: Immigrants live off dole
• Ratio between their use of public benefits and
taxes paid is consistently favorable to U.S.
– Earn about $240 billion a year.
– Pay more than $90 billion a year in taxes.
– Use about $5 billion a year in public benefits
(school, lunches, emergency rooms, etc.)
• 70% of immigrants arrive in prime working age and
U.S. has not spent a penny on their education.
• Money spent to educate immigrants’ children is not
spending on undeserving but investment in our
future.
Myth #6: Immigrants don’t pay
their own way
• Immigrants pay income, property, sales, state and
local taxes: $90-$140 billion/year
• Social Security “Suspense File” is huge, (unmatched
workers’ names & numbers) grew by $20 billion in
recent 3 years.
• 1990-1998: Undocumented workers estimated to
have contributed $20 million to social security and
will never receive it.
Myth #6: Immigrants don’t pay
their own way
• Hard to prove and depends:
• If arrive young & educated,
they make a net contribution in long run.
• If arrive old, they are net beneficiaries.
• Same as for natives: while in school, are net
beneficiaries, while working, are net contributors.
Their descendents are definitely net contributors.
Just as US population, more young people who are net
contributors are brought in to attend to them and
help pay for aging natives. Europe needs immigrants
to help pay for increase of elderly.
Myth #7: Immigrants don’t
assimilate
• Within 10 years of arrival, more than 75%
speak English well.
• All children learn and even prefer English
within 2 years in school.
• Demand for adult English classes far
exceed supply.
• 33% of immigrants are naturalized citizens
Myth #8: Diversity weakens
economy
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False: Diversity spurs economy
Cities with high ratio of foreign born are
more cosmopolitan, thus desirable.
Correlation between greater diversity and
economic success and technological
advances.
Diversity increases productivity and thus
wages of even native workers.
Myth #9: If break a law, must pay.
• Jesus broke laws he considered unjust, e.g.,
spoke to Samaritan woman, healed on Sabbath,
etc. but not called an “illegal.”
• For Jesus, compassion trumps law.
• No one is an “illegal” person.
• Employers of undocumented workers are not
called “illegals,” though they break the law.
• Naming people “illegals” criminalizes them &
helps us avoid asking why they broke law and
what is wrong with our system of immigration.
Myth #9: If break a law, must pay.
• Catholic tradition allows for breaking law,
e.g., starving widow can take bread
without paying baker.
• US grants amnesty to others who break
laws, why not to people who are desperate
and work for us for little?