Title: Immigrants and the Economy | American Civil Liberties Union
Headings: Immigrants and the Economy
Immigrants and the Economy
IN BRIEF

Content: According to an August 1993 Field Poll of Californians, 39 percent of respondents agreed that illegal immigrants are "taking jobs away from Californians." But these are all myths that must be refuted to create a more hospitable environment for immigrants' rights. IN BRIEF
Contrary to popular belief, immigrants do not take away jobs from American workers. Instead, they create new jobs by forming new businesses, spending their incomes on American goods and services, paying taxes and raising the productivity of U.S. businesses. Immigrants are good for the economy, not the other way around. A U.S. Department of Labor study prepared by the Bush Administration noted that the perception that immigrants take jobs away from American workers is "the most persistent fallacy about immigration in popular thought" because it is based on the mistaken assumption that there is only a fixed number of jobs in the economy. Experts note that immigrants are blamed for unemployment because Americans can see the jobs immigrants fill but not the jobs they create through productivity, capital formation and demand for goods and services. Immigrants pay more than $90 billion in taxes every year and receive only $5 billion in welfare. Without their contributions to the public treasury, the economy would suffer enormous losses. ACLU POLICY
The ACLU recognizes that the U.S., like every country, has the right to control who enters the country and to enforce the integrity of its internationally recognized borders.