Illegal Immigration and US Economic Growth

Today, 10.2 million undocumented immigrants are living and working in communities across the United States.1 On average, they have lived in this country for 16 years and are parents, grandparents, and siblings to another 10.2 million family members.2 At the same time, it has been nearly 40 years since Congress has meaningfully reformed the U.S. immigration system, leaving a generation of individuals and their families vulnerable. 

Poll after poll has illustrated that the vast majority of Americans support putting undocumented immigrants on a pathway to citizenship. And as the nation emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic and looks toward the future, legalization is a key component of a just, equitable, and robust recovery.3

To download descriptions and the modeled impacts associated with four scenarios that would put undocumented immigrants on a pathway to legalization and citizenship, see the links below:

Scenario 1: All undocumented immigrants
Scenario 2: Undocumented immigrants working in essential roles
Scenario 3: Undocumented immigrants eligible for the American Dream and Promise Act
Scenario 4: Undocumented immigrants who are either essential workers or eligible for the American Dream and Promise Act

As the Biden administration and Congress craft their recovery legislation and consider how best to move the nation’s policies toward a more fair, humane, and workable immigration system, the Center for American Progress and the University of California, Davis’s Global Migration Center modeled the economic impacts of several proposals that are currently before Congress. 

Using an aggregate macro-growth simulation, the model illustrates the benefits to the whole nation from putting undocumented immigrants on a pathway to citizenship. Such legislation would increase productivity and wages—not just for those eligible for legalization, but for all American workers—create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and increase tax revenue.4

To help inform policymakers and advocates, this report looks at four potential scenarios where Congress grants a pathway to citizenship to: all undocumented immigrants; undocumented immigrants working in essential occupations; Dreamers and those eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS); and a combination of Dreamers, those eligible for TPS, and essential workers.5         READ MORE...

Third Term Begins with Problems

Shortly after President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he outlined his “Chinese Dream” for national rejuvenation. A decade later, he’s entering his most challenging period yet for turning that vision into reality.

The Chinese leader emerged from the Communist Party’s secretive summer retreat on the Yellow Sea this week facing mounting problems at home and abroad. Xi has just a few months to make sure they don’t overshadow his greatest achievement yet: securing a precedent-breaking third term as leader at a party congress later this year.

With economic growth forecasts being slashed, Covid cases rising to a three-month high and the US pushing back over Taiwan, each week seems to bring a new crisis. That’s left Xi focused on reining-in risks and trying to project stability, rather than promoting his achievements and marching toward a coronation.  READ MORE...