Jan 5, 2006
Seth Browning
WNCT-TV 9

The impact of the hispanics population in the east, whether legal or illegal, is undeniable.
Hispanics fill one out of three new jobs in the state. In the last five years, they've contributed up to 57 percent of the growth in schools, an area where space is already tight.

That's just some of the information in a new report by the North Carolina Bankers Association.

It's an emotional debate do Hispanic immigrants pull their economic weight?

A new study is weighing in on that debate, Dr's John Casarda and James Johnson found Hispanics pay 756 million dollars a year in state taxes. The study shows that through state taxes the state spends 817 million dollars to support them. That breaks down into a 61 million dollar tax drain. But researchers say that drain is trumped by the spending power of Hispanics. With more than 9 billion dollars pumped into the economy a year. James Johnson says it's directly related to goods and services "When they walk into a store and buy goods and services, and then it in directly effects that, and adds to demand and services grow. It leads to new businesses and new jobs created."

However, critics disagree, " This study made by the banking industry, construction industry, promoted by the Mexican government is a clear attempt to convince North Carolinian's to allow close to half a million illegal immigrants currently in the state to stay."

William Gheene is the president for Americans for Legal Immigration. He believes the report is propaganda that helps construction worker's get cheap labor and drive business to bankers who loan Hispanics money, "The study clearly points out that they are encouraging other business to aid and abed illegal immigrants by doing business with them."

Johnson says "Statistics don't lie. People who compute them do. But in this instance if you look at the data very carefully the state of our economy in the late 1990's, the demand for labor is one driven by construction contractors."

The study shows 76 percent of Hispanics who migrated to North Carolina, came here illegally yet of the 600 thousand who live here now, it's estimated that 55 percent are here legally. Well how can that be? Part of the reason is that their children born here become US citizens automatically.

http://www.wnct.com/servlet/Satellite?p ... 8769128595

VIDEO AT LINK ABOVE