Looming budget fight could doom immigration reform
Thomas Basile and Basil Smikle Jr. on the chances Congress will pass a deal. How does immigration reform pass after a bloody fight over a government shutdown? The White House strategy for...
By: Orlando Sims
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Looming budget fight could doom immigration reform - Video
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Editor's note: Jason Furman is the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. The views expressed are his own.
(CNN) -- Immigration reform may be a complicated issue politically, but in economic terms, the case is clear -- it is one of the biggest levers the United States has to encourage economic growth and to raise wages.
It's not just the Obama administration that thinks so.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Monetary Fund recently found that President Barack Obama's growth strategy, which he presented at the recent G-20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia, would add more to our economy than the steps being pursued by any other G7 country. And the single biggest contributor to that strategy? Immigration reform.
True, we can only realize the full benefits of immigration reform with a comprehensive bill passed by Congress. But the administrative steps that the President has announced -- including measures to better attract and retain high-skilled workers from around the world and to hold accountable undocumented immigrants with strong ties to the United States while providing them with temporary relief from deportation -- represent a good start and a meaningful boost to the economy.
As the President is discussing Tuesday at Casa Azafrn community center in Nashville, the main economic benefits of these actions are to raise our productivity -- increasing the amount of output we can produce for a given amount of inputs.
How do the actions announced by the President make that happen? Allowing more foreign-born entrepreneurs to come to our country -- to create jobs and to innovate -- is one common sense step to help grow the American economy. Another is enhancing the ability of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) graduates from U.S. universities to further their on-the-job training for longer periods, something that will boost the overall skill level of the American workforce.
Less widely appreciated, but also economically important, is the contribution that offering over 4 million workers a path out of the shadows will make to our economy. And this comes as no surprise to this country's businesses. Indeed, one of the main economic arguments for this step is one that they have been making for years about their own investment -- the importance of certainty.
When faced with high levels of uncertainty, firms often hold off on making important investments for future growth. This is also true for the millions of undocumented immigrants living here in the United States. They participate in the workforce at higher rates than native-born Americans, and many are long-time members of their communities. Yet because of the uncertainty they face about their future, they are less likely to make important investments in themselves or in the communities in which they live, such as investing in their education, learning new job skills, purchasing homes or starting new businesses. And, as with firms, these decisions -- rooted in uncertainty -- can depress overall growth.
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Immigration: The truth about economic impact (Opinion ...
Written by: Sowmya Ramanan
Updated: Thursday, December 11, 2014, 11:36 [IST]
I am still waiting for a Green Card (GC)! Havent we all heard this statement over and over again? It summarises the situation for over half-a-million legal immigrants in the land of opportunities, the United States of America. Some are in a different stage in the legal immigration process, but most are in the state where the GC still feels like a very distant dream.
President raised hopes for the immigrants in USA
So when reports started trickling in about the president forcing executive action to fix the immigration system, the waiting game started on what could possibly be included in this for the high-skilled workers.
President Barack Obama turns around as he is interrupted by a woman on stage during his remarks at the Copernicus Community Center in Chicago to discuss immigration reform, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014. Obama visited his hometown to promote his executive action on immigration. PTI
These workers are those who came to this country as aspiring students leaving their families behind and stayed on to pursue the American dream or those workers and their families who landed here to pursue a fruitful career putting all at stake on the home front for a better life.
America is known to be a land that gives more than it takes and its all true for everything except immigration. My husband and I were part of this "waiting" community of legal immigrants who came to the US to pursue academic careers and stayed on.
Every immigrant in USA wants a stress-free life and hence waited eagerly for President Obama's announcement
Every immigrant here who had not yet been legalised through employment-based immigration was waiting to hear some positive news via executive action on immigration reform, which could make his or her life more stress free and predictable.
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US immigration reform: From red to amber?
Reactions on Obama #39;s Immigration Reform Speech 2014
Here is a quick reaction from the Houston community on Obama #39;s immigration reform speech on November 20, 2014.
By: 1394TUBE
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Reactions on Obama's Immigration Reform Speech 2014 - Video
Meet the Press Panel: Overwhelmingly White GOP House Districts Preventing Immigration Reform
CHUCK TODD: Rick Santelli, the Governor of Texas also told me that he #39;s actually filed a preliminary try to get a preliminary injunction as you would if you believe that there #39;s harm...
By: LSUDVM
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Meet the Press Panel: Overwhelmingly White GOP House Districts Preventing Immigration Reform - Video