According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP.org), the tax payments of undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants in 2022 amounted to $96.7 billion. Yet, until they complete the documentation process, they get very few benefits in return.
Immigrants grow our economy by increasing both the supply of labor AND the demand for labor, because they are typically younger and create young families with lots of demand for goods and services, which produces more work and more jobs for everyone.
Immigrants typically grow the economic pie. On average they end up adding more jobs than they take. Politicians who claim “They are taking our jobs.” need to go back and review how supply and demand work as more resources become available. People are our most valuable and most important resource. The spillover effects of living in a community where we share the burden of work with other people are enormous. Our community acts as a team in producing, distributing and sharing our products and services.
A bigger economy with more workers improves the enormous benefits from living in an economy with greater and more specialized labor. A small isolated economy means each person having to do many things with little or no help. Fewer workers means waiting longer and paying more to repair your car, fix your leaking toilet, climb up on your roof to repair the storm damage, and go out in the hot summer sun to pick your vegetables.
The roof gutters and downspouts on my house had rusted badly. I contracted with a local roofing company to replace them. Three men showed up. Only the supervisor spoke English. The two men on the roof noticed that my house aluminum siding was loose, so the supervisor told me that the two men offered to fix it for free. Of course, I said yes and was grateful for their generosity.
Homo sapiens left six or seven other human species behind by benefitting from the division and specialization of labor, which required being able to trust one another. As long as most people have a sense of moral obligation, we can have an auto repair mechanic take care of our car and a heart surgeon take care of our heart. A larger, specialized labor force benefits each of us as individuals, while growing the economic pie larger for all of us.
The fundamental problem boils down to two issues: (1) our limited mental energy causes us to create simple categories for large groups of people when in reality people are typically more diverse within these racial and ethnic groups than across groups; (2) our need to feel good about ourselves sometimes causes us to program our minds toward greed rather than generosity. Before going to sleep each night, do we ask ourselves how much we got from others or how much we gave to others.
We need to discard the “Us against Them” mindset and finally realize the the world is just one big family, where we are all in this world together. At Friday prayers, on Saturday Sabbath, and on Sunday morning we are told to help the dear neighbor. On Monday morning we need to welcome honest and hardworking immigrants (our dear neighbors) — not randomly arresting them without warrants.
Ironically, undocumented (“illegal”) immigrants often apply for legal status while working hard without the full benefits that come with citizenship. Research from many sources including the American Immigration Council and the conservative Cato Institute have found a lower crime rate for undocumented immigrants that for native born Americans.
ICE needs to remove their masks and get a warrant from the presiding district judge before discreetly arresting only those immigrants who have committed serious crimes.