A recent study found that immigration reform is capable of reviving the nation's struggling economy.
With a comprehensive reform model, the report shows that alternative immigration policies could "yield at least $1.5 trillion in added U.S. gross domestic product over 10 years."
By legalizing unauthorized workers and basing immigration limits on the U.S. labor demand, comprehensive reform would "raise the 'wage floor' for the entire U.S. economy - to the benefit of both immigrant and native-born workers," according to "Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits of Comprehensive Immigration Reform," conducted by UCLA professor Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda and released through the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center.
For more than 20 years, the U.S. has utilized an "enforcement-only" policy, which Hinojosa-Ojeda said isn't cost effective and does little to deter immigrants from crossing the border and finding work. Instead, the study said these policies have caused more deaths along the border, increased the market for immigrant smuggling, encouraged permanent settlement among unauthorized immigrants and lowered wages.
In the last two decades, the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has increased dramatically despite greatly increased federal funding for border enforcement. The study points out that since 1992, the U.S. Border Patrol's annual budget has increased by 714 percent. Further, the number of Border Patrol agents located along the U.S.-Mexico border has grown by 390 percent to more than 17,000 agents.
Despite these efforts, Hinojosa-Ojeda said the unauthorized immigrant population has nearly tripled over the last decade, from an estimated 3.5 million in 1990 to 11.9 million in 2008.
His research examined three different immigration-policy scenarios, which he said are the three basic choices for the federal government.
Comprehensive immigration reform would simplify the process of obtaining legal status in the U.S. for unauthorized immigrants and establish fluid immigration limits that react to the labor needs.
The second scenario involves a temporary-worker program for illegal immigrants, without permanent status or permanent immigration legislation.
Third is a mass-deportation policy, in which the U.S. banishes all unauthorized immigrants and permanently seals the border. Hinojosa-Ojeda admits this scenario is unrealistic but used it for comparison purposes.
The mass-deportation policy "amounts to a cumulative $2.6 trillion in lost gross domestic product over 10 years," which doesn't take into account the associated costs of the actual deportation process, according to the report.
The widespread job losses and wage fluctuations resulting from this deportation would create yet another expense for the national economy.
On the contrary, the economic benefits of the comprehensive reform model would come from the "virtuous cycle" of worker empowerment, said Hinojosa-Ojeda, "in which legal status and labor rights exert upward pressure on wages, for both native-born and newly legalized immigrant workers."
The comprehensive reform model would generate billions in tax revenue and consumer spending, as well as support hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to the report.
This reform is meant to counter the current policy, the "vicious cycle where enforcement-only policies perpetuate unauthorized migration and exert downward pressure on already-low wages," the report says.
With the revitalization of the U.S. economy at the forefront of the federal government's concerns, this study is a timely example of how an immigration strategy can turn profitable for the nation.
Vanessa Cárdenas, immigration expert from the Center for American Progress, said "immigration reform is essential, not only for the immigrant community but for the U.S. economy as well."
Cárdenas said the Obama administration has promised immigration reform to the Latino community and that polls show it to be a priority of the American people as well.
"This administration needs to deliver on promises they've made," Cárdenas said. "We need a comprehensive approach that includes legalization and a realistic program to support labor needs."
Cárdenas recognizes the issue and said a comprehensive change is necessary to address the 12 million people without papers in the country.
"Immigrants are settled in our communities," Cárdenas said. "They are part of our economy. We're not going to be able to deport 12 million people, and they're not going to leave."
Ultimately, the study says, if the reform provides the opportunity for unauthorized immigrants to invest in the U.S., the nation's economy and work force will see the profits of change.
