Report says loss of undocumented workers to cost trillions
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Article Launched: 05/21/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


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AUSTIN -- The U.S economy could lose nearly $1.8 trillion a year if undocumented workers left the country, according to a report released this week by a group of immigration reform proponents.
The report, conducted by the Waco-based Perryman Group for Americans for Immigration Reform and released Monday and Tuesday in Houston and Dallas, concludes that undocumented workers are vital to the U.S. economy and that an enforcement-only immigration strategy is unworkable.

"We're looking for sensible reforms that are manageable solutions," said Beto Cardenas, executive counsel for AIR, a group of businesses and individuals pushing for immigration reform.

Undocumented workers contribute more to the economy than they use in public services, according to the 70-page report. That's a finding anti-immigration proponents challenge, arguing the government must stop millions from coming into the country illegally and draining taxpayers.

One of eight people in the U.S. is an immigrant, according to the Perryman report, and about one-third of those are undocumented. The nation has about 8.1 million undocumented workers.

The report projected significant economic consequences if enforcement-only immigration strategies -- such as constructing the border fence, aggressively arresting and deporting immigrants and imposing fines on businesses that hire undocumented workers -- are implemented without a plan to provide legal workers.

Eliminating undocumented workers would cause a $1.76

trillion loss in spending, a $651.51 million drop in output, and would cost the economy about 8.1 million jobs.
"In fact, millions of jobs are at stake, and the spillover effects would ripple through every sector of the economy and every region of the country," the report states.

Texas, which has the second-largest undocumented immigrant population, about 1.4 million, could lose more than $220 million from its economy each year, along with about 1.1 million jobs, according to the report.

"An enforcement-only approach is not a solution that will address the economic needs of this country," Cardenas said.

Undocumented immigrants also pay federal, state and local taxes but use few public services, the report states.

Rich Cane, president of the El Paso Hotel-Motel Association and owner or partner in several area hotels, disagreed with the report's findings.

Hoteliers in El Paso, he said, could get by without undocumented workers, though they support a program to bring workers in the nation legally.

"Illegal immigrants cost us a lot more than they put in, and we can manage without it," Cane said.

He said undocumented immigrants contribute to increasing property taxes that are hurting his business and others.

A 2006 report by the Texas comptroller showed that while undocumented immigrants contributed more than $17 billion to the state economy, local governments paid $1.44 billion in uncompensated health-care and law enforcement costs.

Irasema Coronado, associate professor of political science at the University of Texas at El Paso, said the immigration problem in the U.S. is a Catch-22 situation.

Most people want to stop illegal immigration, she said, but doing so would inevitably affect the economy because so many companies rely on the inexpensive labor of undocumented workers.

"We all want cheap stuff, and we want good stuff," Coronado said, "but we don't really want to pay for the worker."


Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.





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