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The agricultural labor shortage continues to be a major issue impacting farmers and consumers across the country. The American Business Immigration Coalition held a press conference discussing immigration. Enrique Sanchez, intermountain state director for the ABIC, says this is a national security issue.

It is critical that we address this issue urgently to keep grocery store shelves stocked and lower food prices for Americans everywhere. We cannot underestimate the importance of this issue to our national security. As we have heard before, food security is national security. The USDA predicts that this year, our country will import more agricultural goods than we export. This should be a wake-up call for all of us.

Sanchez says reforming immigration policy took a big step forward in 2021, but proponents couldnt get it across the finish line.

In 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act for the second time with bipartisan support. However, the Senate failed to take up the legislation, and we lost an important opportunity to make much-needed reforms to address the labor shortage crisis. We need the Senate to do its job, negotiate improvements to the House legislation, and get solutions onto the floor that help our nations farmers continue to produce and help our nations families afford to put food on their tables.

CongressmanMike Simpson (R-ID) has long been working on immigration reform in Washington, D.C. He spoke during the ABIC conference and talked about where the discussion goes from here.

The Judiciary Committee is busy with a lot of things. We need to get them focused on immigration. And its hard to focus just on ag immigration when whats going on at the border is going on. And we need to let them know that this is different than whats going on at the border right now. And, in fact, passing this would probably help solve some of the problems with whats going on at the border. Republicans are worried about inflation. Studies have been showing that if you get a legal workforce for agriculture. It will help with inflation. It will help with food costs. What agriculture needs is a stable, reliable workforce.

Simpson and several other presenters all said its going to take a grassroots effort to get immigration reform passed in Washington.

But what we need is a concerted effort by agriculture throughout the country. And remember, we had 300 Ag groups that supported it, and not just Ag groups, but Chambers of Commerce, National Bankers Associations, all supported this bill that we had. We need all of them to be calling representatives on the Judiciary Committee, representatives of leadership in the House and in the Senate, to let them know how important this bill is, and what it means to our food supply, and, as we mentioned, to national security.

For more information on ABICs immigration reform efforts, go to abic.us.

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Congressman: Immigration Reform Will Take Grassroots Effort | - Southern Farm Network

FAIR Take | April2023

Before adjourning for recess, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, a bill designed to reform the employment-based visa programs to reflect Congress original intent in protecting American workers when foreign workers are recruited andhired.

The H-1B visa program is designed to allow American companies to bring in foreign workers in specialty occupations, while the L-1 visa allows for intra-company transfers into the United States. Though the programs were intended to fill a companys legitimate employment needs, both have instead been widely exploited to displace American workers, leading to depressed wages and adverse workingconditions.

Even with the U.S. economy facing difficulties and thousands of layoffs hitting the H-1B reliant tech industry, outsourcing firms continue to overlook Americans and recruit foreign labor. So far this year, layoffs have increased 396% when compared to last year, for a total of 270,416 total jobs cut. The tech industry, however, faces the worst of it, already losing 102,391 jobs this year. That represents an increase of 38,487% more tech jobs lost than in the same period last year. The tech sector is, in fact, on track to exceed the single-year record for the number of jobs lost set for that industry back in 2001, following the collapse of the dot-combubble.

The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act has several provisions aimed at protecting American workers and increasing transparency. For example, the bill would require employers to post H-1B positions on a public website. It would improve wage requirements and establish higher penalties for violators. It would require all employers to first recruit Americans and attest that they have not displaced a U.S. worker upon hiring a foreign worker. The bill would also put in place a rule to prevent companies that employ more than 50 people from having more than 50% of their total workforce as H-1B or L-1 employees. It would ensure too that L-1 visa applicants seeking to open a new U.S. office for a foreign company do so, making L-1 visas for such applicants valid only for 12 months and allowing just two visa extensions for employees of bona fide newoffices.

Perhaps most significantly, it would restructure the H-1B visa program into one that rewards those who have advanced degrees and have studied in the United States. This new approach is a marked improvement over the current random lottery and would favor the best and brightest for H-1B visas, providing nonimmigrants who received bachelors and advanced degrees while physically present in the United States, particularly in STEM fields, more opportunities to be selected. This would help ensure that highly intelligent foreign students coming to the United States to be educated at some of the worlds leading universities use their newly acquired skills to benefit American companies and the Americaneconomy.

According to Sen. Grassley, The H-1B and L-1 visa programs were established to fill in gaps in Americas high-skilled workforce, not supplant it. Unfortunately, some companies have exploited these programs to replace American workers with cheaper labor, which ultimately harms American workers and foreign labor alike. Our bill puts American workers first and ensures that the programs promote fairness for allworkers.

Sen. Durbin specifically noted the effect of these practices, saying, [f]or years, outsourcing companies have used legal loopholes to displace qualified American workers and replace them with foreign workers who are paid subpar wages and put in exploitative workingconditions.

The legislation is a longstanding priority for both Senators, who first introduced legislation to reform the programs in2007.

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Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Protect American Jobs - Federation for American Immigration Reform

A number of high-profile Democratic lawmakers in New York are pressuring Governor Hochul to extend health care coverage to immigrants in the country illegally, and they have a novel selling point: New Yorkers wont have to pay the tab, as taxpayers elsewhere in the country would be picking up the bill.

Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent a letter to Ms. Hochul this week asking her to develop a plan that would allow the federal government to cover undocumented workers in the state. We believe that healthcare is a human right, regardless of immigration status, the two members of Congress wrote.

The campaign to get these immigrants federally subsidized health care, the Coverage for All movement, says Ms. Hochul can request federal dollars from the Biden administration for the initiative. Washington state and Colorado received such waivers, which allow them to use Medicaid funds to insure immigrants, and the subsequent federal funds last year.

Before Mr. Nadler and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mayor Adams also called on Ms. Hochul to develop such a proposal. In a letter to the governor, Mr. Adams said coverage of these immigrants would help drive down costs because they would no longer have to use emergency services and drain hospital resources. Statewide, there are about 400,000 illegal immigrants who do not have health insurance, according to immigrants-rights groups.

In his letter, Mr. Adams blamed the lack of action on the proposal on structural barriers, rooted in racism and bias, that perpetuate disparate health outcomes in immigrant communities.

The deadline for Ms. Hochuls budget proposal was April 1, but she has yet to deliver. She has said that she would not include a proposal for a health care expansion for immigrants, though these politicians are hoping to slide it in at the last moment.

The campaign marks the latest steps in Democrats long march to the left in the hopes of appeasing immigration advocates.The party failed to get immigration reform near the top of President Obamas agenda in 2009 during his first term, and once the Tea Party was swept into office in 2010, there was little hope of revisiting the issue.

The remaining years of the Obama administration saw stalled negotiations with members of Congress, leading him to issue a 2012 executive order called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which established new protections for illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

Following President Trumps immigration and border policies, many Democrats moved even further toward establishing legal protections and benefits for illegal immigrants. In a 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate, when asked if they would decriminalize crossing the southern border, two-thirds of the candidates raised their hands in support of the idea.

During the first two years of the Biden administration, immigration advocates say little progress has been made. According to a study from the Migration Policy Institute, the courts and events in Latin and Central America have made it harder to control the flow of illegal immigrants.

Between 2021 and 2022, deportations increased to 72,100 from 59,000. That is still far lower than during both the Obama and Trump administrations, which saw average annual deportation levels at 344,000 and 233,000 respectively.

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New York Democrats Push for Federally Funded Health Care for ... - The New York Sun

Join Us for our upcoming webinar, Higher Ed Pathways to Immigration: Why it Matters.The Presidents Alliance is co-hosting a half-day event onApril 21, 2023, from 9 a.m. 12:00 p.m. ET and we invite you to register and join us for the virtual streaming!

This event will illuminate higher educations role in facilitating immigration pathways, developing talent and potential, and reducing barriers to integration and naturalization. As the Biden Administration seeks to build on the strength of immigrant contributions to our knowledge-based economy, colleges and universities serve as critically important pathways for immigration and for immigrant integration, mobility, and success. However, these pathways are not as straightforward as they need to be to maintain our global competitiveness, and our immigration laws and policies desperately need modernization in order to allow all immigrants to reach their limitless potential. A recording of the webinar will be posted to our website within one week of the event.

Register here to attend virtually.

Adam has twenty-five years of experience working in US politics, government, and foreign affairs. He is currently the CEO of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. Before joining the Institute, he spent six years as a Massachusetts State Senator where he Chaired the Committee on Revenue and led the Senates effort to rebuild the Commonwealth post-COVID. In 2021-2022 he was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

From 2005 to 2014 Adam worked for the United Nations in the Middle East. He was based in Baghdad, Iraq where he was a team leader of a UN-led negotiation between the Kurdistan Region and the Government of Iraq over disputed territory. He was a regional advisor to the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process in Jerusalem. He worked for former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to establish a ceasefire in Syria in 2012 and then was part of a team to eliminate Syrias chemical weapons program.

Early in his career, Adam worked for former Congressman John Olver and was part of John Kerrys campaign for President where he worked for Susan Rice, the head of his foreign policy team who later became the US National Security Advisor.Adam attended Wesleyan University and received a Masters degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Adam is married to Dr. Alicia Mireles Christoff, Associate Professor of English at Amherst College, and they have two young children.

Miriam Feldblum is co-founder and executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, an alliance of over 500 college and university leaders of public and private colleges and universities, enrolling over five million students in 43 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. A national expert on the intersection of immigration and higher education, Miriam has written extensively and delivered presentations on undocumented, international, and refugee students, immigration policy and higher education, and highly skilled labor in the United States.

She is a non-resident fellow at the Migration Policy Instituteand author of Reconstructing Citizenship: The Politics of Nationality Reform and Immigration in Contemporary France.

Miriam previously served as vice president for student affairs, dean of students, and professor of politics at Pomona College, as special assistant to the president, faculty research associate, and senior director at the California Institute of Technology, and as an assistant professor at the University of San Francisco. She received a BA in political science from Barnard College, and MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees in political science from Yale.

Adam Hunter is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Immigration Policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and was appointed on Jan. 20, 2021. Mr. Hunter has more than fifteen years experience on migration, national security, and international affairs issues. Before assuming his role at DHS, he was the Executive Director of Refugee Council USA (RCUSA), an organization working to protect and welcome refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced populations. Prior roles included Director of a Pew Charitable Trusts research project exploring immigration through the lens of federalism, and Consultant to several foundations and non-profit organizations. During a previous tenure in government, Mr. Hunter served as Acting Chief of Staff at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a component of DHS, and held other agency leadership and program management roles. Earlier in his career, he worked with policymakers in Europe and at Washington think tanks, including the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Mr. Hunter holds a BA from Vanderbilt University, MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School, and D&I certificate from Cornell University.

Marcelo Surez-Orozco is Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Prior to his return to the Commonwealth, he served as the inaugural UCLA Wasserman Dean and Distinguished Professor of Education. Dr. Surez-Orozcos research focuses on conceptual and empirical problems in the areas of cultural psychology and psychological anthropology with a focus on the study of mass migration, globalization and education. He is the author of numerous scholarly essays, award-winning books and edited volumes published by Harvard University Press, Stanford University Press, University of California Press, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University Press and others. His scholarly papers are published in a range of disciplines and languages in international journals. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, W. T. Grant, Spencer, Rockefeller, Hewlett, Ford and Carnegie, and multiple others. He has also served as the Victor S. Thomas Professor of Education and as Member of the Inaugural Executive Committee of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University. At NYU, he served as the inaugural Courtney Sale Ross University Professor.

Dr. Surez-Orozco earned his A.B. in psychology, M.A. in anthropology, and Ph.D. in anthropology at UC Berkeley. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, the eminent psychologist of immigration, Carola Surez-Orozco. Carola and Marcelos hobbies include taking Lilly their Papillon, for long walks in Boston Harbor and, whenever possible, biking in the woods of Western Massachusetts

Esther Benjamin is a tri-sector global leader, currently serving as CEO of World Education Services. She is a Visiting Fellow with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Sad Business School, University of Oxford. Previously, Esther was CEO for Africa Operations with Laureate Education. In President Obamas Administration, Esther led Global Operations for the Peace Corps. Esther was an executive with the International Youth Foundation and the International Partnership for Microbicides. In 1999, President Clinton appointed Esther a White House Fellow. She began her career with the United Nations, the World Bank, and Grant Thornton. Esther serves on the Board of Directors of Echoing Green, B Lab Global, and Candid. In 2021, Dickinson College awarded Esther an honorary doctorate in International Education. New York Times best-selling author and Maryland Governor Wes Moore profiled Esther as The Globalist in his book The Work: Searching for a Life that Matters.

Pam Eddinger is president of Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC), the largest of 15 community colleges in Massachusetts. Dr. Eddinger began her tenure at BHCC in 2013 and previously served as president of Moorpark College in Southern California from 2008.

Dr. Eddingers service in the Community College movement spans more than 25 years, with senior posts in academics and student affairs, communications and policy, and executive leadership. Dr. Eddinger serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), GBH Boston, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Boston Foundation (TBF), the Massachusetts Workforce Development Board, the Boston Private Industry Council, Achieving the Dream (ATD), the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU). Dr. Eddinger was honored in 2016 by the Obama White House as a Champion of Change. She earned a bachelors degree in English from Barnard College and her masters and doctorate in Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

Javier Reyes currently serves as interim chancellor at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Chicagos largest and only public Carnegie Research 1 university. Dr. Reyes oversees the universitys $3.8B budget, 16 colleges including the first and only public law school in Chicago, and seven health science colleges with the College of Medicine among nations leading educators of Black and Latino medical professionals.

Before being appointed Interim Chancellor, Dr. Reyes became UICs Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in August of 2021. During his time as Provost, he initiated an overhaul of UICs budget model while also restructuring the universitys teaching innovation environments to position UIC for success amidst a new era of innovative and accessible education.

Dr. Reyes came to UIC from the Milan Puskar Dean of the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University (WVU). Before joining WVU, he served at the University of Arkansas, where he earned tenure and the title of full professor of economics in the Sam M. Walton College of Business where he also served as Vice Provost for Distance and Online Education.

Most recently, Dr. Reyes was appointed Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he will begin July 1, 2023.

Dr. Reyes received his bachelors degree in economics from the Instituto Tecnolgico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and his doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University.

Carola Surez-Orozco is a Professor in Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Director of the Immigration Initiative at Harvard.

Using mixed-methodological strategies, her work focuses on elucidating the child, adolescent, and young adult experience of immigrationhow is their development shaped by immigration and how are they changed by the process? She has studied a wide variety of processes including academic engagement and achievement, identity formation, family separations, civic engagement, and the unauthorized experience. A focus on school settings has been an essential and enduring theme in her basic research agenda as schools are a first contact point between the immigrant children, their families, and the new society.

Her books include: Children of Immigration, Learning a New Land, Transitions: The Development of the Children of Immigrants, Education: Our Global Compact in a Time of Crisis, as well as Immigrant-Origin Students in Community College: Navigating Risk and Reward in Higher Education among others.

She has been awarded an American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Citation for her contributions to the understanding of cultural psychology of immigration, has served as Chair of the APA Presidential Task Force on Immigration, and is a member of the National Academy of Education.

Eva A. Millona is currently serving as the chief of the inaugural Office of Citizenship, Partnership and Engagement in the External Affairs Directorate at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to this role, she had served as the DHS assistant secretary for partnership and engagement since May 2021. In that role, she served as the secretarys primary advisor on the impact of the Departments policies, regulations, processes, and actions on state, local, tribal, territorial (SLTT) governments, SLTT elected officials, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and the academic community, ensuring a unified approach to external engagement.

Before joining DHS, Millona was president and chief executive officer for over 13 years at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), the largest organization in New England promoting and enhancing integration for new Americans. In 2010, she cofounded of National Partnership for New Americans, a national organization focused on immigrant integration at the local, state, and federal levels that she cochaired for 11 years. She also chaired the 2020 U.S. Census Statewide Complete Count Committee in Massachusetts.

A native of Albania, Millona practiced civil and criminal law before becoming the youngest district judge ever appointed to Tiranas District Court, where she served from 1989 to 1992. After immigrating to the United States, she directed the refugee resettlement program in central Massachusetts. She served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Massachusetts Governors Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants under four governors, the Attorney Generals Council for New Americans, and the Advisory Board for the Boston Mayors Office for Immigrant Advancement. Millona taught global policy as an adjunct professor of practice at Boston College School of Social Work.

Millona has received numerous awards for her leadership and impact, including the prestigious USCIS Outstanding American by Choice Award in 2009 and the 2010 Wainwright Bank Social Justice Award.

Millona is a graduate of Clark University where she obtained a Master of Arts in political science. She also holds a law degree from the University of Tirana.

Nancy Palencia Ramrez is an Ed.M. candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she focuses on using product management and iterative design to provide quality civic education to early primary school children. She was a Chevening Scholar and holds an MA ininternational political economy from Kings College London.

Patricia Sobalvarro was born in Guatemala and migrated to the United States at age eleven to be reunited with her mother. She graduated from Boston University in 1996 with a dual bachelors degree in Economics and in International Relations. In 2004, she received a masters degree in Non-Profit Management from Cambridge College. She is the co-founder and Executive

Director of Agencia ALPHA, a grassroots nonprofit and social ministry of Congregation Lion of Judah. For the past 20 years, under her leadership, Agencia ALPHA has been empowering over 1,200 immigrants annually through their accredited legalization and citizenship and leadership programs. As a response to the COVID19 pandemic, Ms. Sobalvarro along other two partners, co-founded the Massachusetts Immigrant Collaborative, a statewide collaborative of 15 immigrant supporting organizations working together to serve under-resourced and at-risk immigrant communities. Under Ms. Sobalvarros leadership, Agencia ALPHA has been a strategic member of the MIRA Coalition, leading on local/national initiatives including the Safe Community Act and advocating for a just and fair immigration reform.

She has served on the advisory board for the City of Boston Mayors Office for Immigrant Advancement and on the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Advisory Council on New Americans. Currently she is a member of Governor Maura Healeys Latino Empowerment Council.

In her free time, Ms. Sobalvarro loves spending time with family and friends, skiing, going to the beach and taking long walks with Duke, her chocolate Labrador Retriever.

Mary C. Waters is the John Loeb Professor of Sociology and the PVK Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. A sociologist and demographer, her work has focused on the integration of immigrants and their children, the social determinants of health, immigration policy, disasters and their aftermath, and the measurement and meaning of racial and ethnic identity. Her current projects include a study of older Latino immigrants and the American welfare state, and a longitudinal study of mobility and recovery among survivors of Hurricane Katrina, as well as work on climate change and migration. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the National Academy of Sciences and she chaired the NAS Panel on The Integration of Immigrants into American Society (2015).

Rajika Bhandari, Ph.D., serves as a Senior Advisor for the Presidents Alliance and is a scholar-practitioner in international higher education with a focus on international student trends and issues. She is the Principal of Rajika Bhandari Advisors, offering strategic guidance to nonprofits, multilateral organizations, and higher education institutions around the world. Dr. Bhandari previously led the IC3 Institute as its President and CEO, and spent over a decade at the Institute of International Education where she led IIEs research, evaluation and thought leadership portfolio, including the Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. Quoted frequently in the global press, she is also a widely published author and keynote speaker on issues of international education, the global competition for talent, skilled immigrants, and educational and cultural diplomacy. Dr. Bhandari is a former international student and first-generation Indian American and her recent award-winning memoir, America Calling:A Foreign Student in a Country of Possibility has been described as a must-read for leaders, administrators and students on U.S. campuses. She also hosts the World Wise podcast, a take on the intersections of education, culture, and migration. Learn more about her work at: http://www.rajikabhandari.com

Dr.LydiahKemuntoBosireis the Founder and CEO of 8B Education Investments, first VC-backed education loans platform for African students attending university outside the continent. 8B provides tools to enable African students to identify best-fit global universities and level up their applications, access affordable financing and connect with career support for job placement, thereby providing colleges and employers access to theworlds fastest-growing talent pool. The mission of 8B is enabling African brilliance to have aglobalimpact.

8B was recently featured onCNN Internationalannouncing new Board member Tariq Black ThoughtTrotterfrom the Roots, andhas an agreement for $30m in lending capital from Nelnet Bank, the first time for a US bank to support African students, announcedin September at theClinton Global Initiative.

Prior to leading 8B, Lydiahs career spanned nearly two decades as a diplomat including serving at the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General at the UN Secretariat, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of WorldQuant University.

Previously, she served as an advisor to the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program at Schmidt Futures, a mentor of the Oxford Women in Business network, on the founding Board of Directors of Keep a Child Alive, on the Council of the Global Citizen Impact Funds, as a Senior Advisor at Macro Advisory Partners, and on the UWC Atlantic College Advisory Council. Earlier in her impact career, she co-founded Oxford Transitional Justice Research, and pioneered the YouthForce HIV/AIDS advocacy platform.

She is an expert speaker on a wide range of topics, including innovative finance, higher education, the future of work, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, impact investing, sustainable development, international politics and human rights.

Lydiah holds a doctorate (D.Phil) in Politics from the University of Oxford (New College). She also holds an MSc in African Studies from Oxford (St. Cross College), where she attended as a Clarendon Scholar. She received an undergraduate degree with honors in Government and a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University.

Sasha Ramani is the Head of Corporate Strategy at MPOWER Financing, a mission-driven firm that provides scholarships and no-cosigner loans to international students. Originally from Toronto, Sasha was both an international student himself at Harvard University, and is the son of international students from India who studied in Canada. He is passionate about democratizing access to education and driving social impact through the private sector.

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Higher Ed Pathways to Immigration: Why it Matters - Presidents ... - The Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration

Despite claims from immigration hardliners, "Dreamers" immigrants who are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Act havent been taking away jobs from Americans, a new study from the University of Delaware found.

DACA, which was put into place by President Obama in 2012, shields undocumented individuals who were brought into the country as children from deportation and allows them to obtain work authorization.

The Trump administration rescinded DACA in 2017, and at the time then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions claimed that DACA "denied jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans by allowing those same jobs to go to illegal aliens."

Diana Calderon, a student who has benefited from the DACA immigration program, introduces President Obama at the White House, October 15, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

President Biden reinstated DACA upon taking office, though the policy is facing challenges in court and its fate remains unclear.

More than a decade after it was passed, the report from The University of Delaware states: DACA did not harm the labor market outcomes of native born workers. There is suggestive evidence that the policy had a positive impact on the fraction of natives working.

Thats because when a new worker enters the economy, they end up creating other jobs for other workers elsewhere, David Bier, immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute, told Yahoo Finance. I think the nativist version of events is really divorced from economic reality. They treat an immigrant worker coming into the economy completely differently than they treat a U.S. worker entering the economy, when an economist looking at the situation would say the economic effect is the same and it doesnt matter whether theyre born here or born somewhere else. The end result is going to be the same, which is ultimately a benefit overall to our well-being and living standard.

According to data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), there are currently 589,660 DACA recipients as of Sept. 30, 2022. While they are spread out across the U.S., a large number reside in California and Texas.

Story continues

Most DACA holders are under the age of 30 and are originally from Mexico, followed by El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru.

DACA is a very interesting policy to think about economically, Emily Battaglia, author of the report and assistant professor of economics at the University of Delaware, told Yahoo Finance. By construction of the policy, the cohort of DACA-eligible immigrants are not new immigrants. Theyve been in the country for many years and have already been participating in the U.S. economy.

Data from FWD.us, a bipartisan organization that advocates for immigration reform, found that DACA recipients contribute roughly $11.7 billion to the U.S. economy each year. This includes roughly $566.9 million in mortgage payments, $2.3 billion in rental payments, and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes on an annual basis, according to the Center for American Progress.

We rely on Dreamers and their service to our nation as doctors, teachers, or members of our military," Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said in a statement to Yahoo Finance. "They support our country in these roles while also paying billions in federal taxes annually, which supports programs like Medicare or Social Security. ... We are better off for the contributions of Dreamers, and a path forward to lawful permanent residence is long overdue.

FWD.us data also shows that 77% of DACA holders are actively working and 91% finished high school.

Bier explained that DACA's employment authorization allows these individuals to do more productive work instead of taking on lower-paying positions.

Thats a benefit to the economy and to U.S. job growth because their productivity means higher wages, and that translates to more consumer spending thats creating jobs at other businesses in other industries, Bier said. Obviously theyre filling certain positions in the economy, but the fact is that they also create demand for other jobs elsewhere. They produce things of value for a company. The company pays them money, then they buy housing and consumer goods and services elsewhere. That creates jobs for U.S. workers in other positions.

As a result, the presence of Dreamers may actually be a boon to the U.S. workforce.

DACA holders are as productive as many U.S. citizens, if not more so, according to FWD.us data. For those ages 24-31, the age range that a majority of Dreamers fall into, 85% of DACA recipients participate in the U.S. labor force versus 82% of U.S. citizens. Within that age range, the median annual income for DACA recipients is $23,000 versus $20,000 for U.S. citizens.

"There is suggestive evidence that the [DACA] policy had a positive impact on the fraction of natives working," the University of Delaware study stated. "The largest estimates suggest increasing a local area's DACA-eligible population by three individuals is associated with an increase of one native working. This increase in the fraction of natives working stems from drawing individuals out of unemployment and from individuals entering the labor force."

Bier explained that employers creating more jobs to accommodate the larger population has increased productivity, which in turn "creates demand for more workers, so theres no downside to having a larger immigration flow where more people are authorized to work.

So theres no net effect because if a worker comes and they produce something of value... thats creating jobs across the country," he said. "It might not be at the same company or might not be the same exact job, but they are still creating those positions. And thats why despite the fact that the labor force has doubled in size since World War II, we dont have mass unemployment and were not all poorer as a consequence.

This post was updated with a statement from the office of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL).

Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at adriana@yahoofinance.com.

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Immigration: Dreamers didnt take jobs from Americans, study finds - Yahoo Finance