New Deficit Reduction Plan: Immigration Reform
Last week, we discussed how immigration reform including a roadmap to earned citizenship for the 11 MILLION undocumented immigrants already here would be an $832 BILLION cumulative boost to the economy over the next ten years. Today, there’s even more evidence that immigration reform is just what the economy needs.
Official government estimates show that reforming our immigration system to increase legal immigration will be a huge boost to deficit reduction efforts. A chart highlighted today by ThinkProgress and Quartz shows why immigration reform might be one of the smartest and most effective deficit reduction plans out there:
The OMB estimates (pdf, p. 56) that increasing immigration by 300,000 people a year, to 1.3 million, would be the equivalent of 0.6% of GDP in deficit reduction, or about $100 billion, each year between 2014 and 2088. Sounds like plan to tackle the debt to me.
In addition to underscoring the benefits of immigration reform, this also shows that deficit reduction does not have to come exclusively from the kind of painful austerity spending cuts championed by the GOP. Smart policy changes in areas like immigration can also help reduce our deficit and grow the economy.
BOTTOM LINE: Immigration reform will boost the economy, reduce the deficit, and help create new opportunities for all Americans, no matter where they were born.
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