Nearly 1,500 economists sent a letter to Donald Trump and congressional leaders, praising the economic contributions of the immigrants he’s busy attacking and urging a legislative fix to our outdated immigration system so that undocumented communities can finally become a part of this nation on paper:
"[I]mmigration is one of America's significant competitive advantages in the global economy," the letter said. "With the proper and necessary safeguards in place, immigration represents an opportunity rather than a threat to our economy and to American workers."
Among the economic benefits that immigration brings are entrepreneurs who start businesses, young workers who replace retiring Baby Boomers and people with diverse skill sets to keep American companies competitive and innovative in high-growth fields like STEM, the letter stated.
The letter follows a survey of nearly 300 economists by the National Association of Business Economics, which “found that a clear majority believed President Trump's restrictive stance on immigration is a mistake.” They’re right. In Trump’s home state, “undocumented immigrants contribute about $40 billion a year to New York state's gross domestic product.”
Overall, researchers have found that undocumented immigrants contribute nearly $12 billion annually in taxes. In 2013, CAP found that if members of Congress would just get their act together and pass comprehensive immigration reform, “then the 10-year cumulative increase in the gross domestic product, or GDP, of the United States would be $832 billion.”
But instead, Trump wants to waste taxpayer dollars on deporting millions of hardworking undocumented immigrants, which “would cost the federal government nearly $900 billion in lost revenue over 10 years.” CAP also estimates that “a policy of mass deportation would immediately reduce the nation’s GDP by 1.4 percent, and ultimately by 2.6 percent, and reduce cumulative GDP over 10 years by $4.7 trillion.”
Then there’s the stupid wall, which probably isn’t happening because Mexico won’t pay for it, but that Trump is still perfectly willing to spend our money on—to the tune of up to $50 billion.
Trump may want to listen to these experts. None of them managed to run Trump Steaks or Trump Vodka into the ground, after all.