Activists see benefits in citizenship
President Obama will talk immigration today as activists call for citizenship for undocumented workers. Supporters say legalizing the 12 million or so workers could mean billions in economic benefits. Jeff Tyler reports.
Immigrants are sworn in as new U.S. citizens at a ceremony in Mount Vernon, Va. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
More on Immigration
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Today, President Obama convenes a meeting of bipartisan lawmakers to talk immigration. There are activists calling for citizenship for the 12 million or so undocumented workers in this country. The president has distanced himself from that call. Marketplace's Jeff Tyler looks at the economic pros and cons.
Jeff Tyler: Those opposed to giving undocumented workers a "pathway to citizenship" say foreign workers would steal jobs during a recession. Not so, says Demetri Papademetriou with the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute:
Demetri Papademetriou: The vast, vast majority of these people are already employed. So this isn't an issue of some sort of an open job where a native person and a foreign-born person competing for this job.
Supporters of citizenship see an economic upside.
Clarissa Martinez is with the National Council of La Raza:
Clarissa Martinez: The Congressional Budget Office estimate that doing a legalization could contribute $66 billion in revenue over 10 years.
That money -- from fines and extra taxes -- would benefit Uncle Sam. But the federal government would also spend more as newly-minted citizens would start to collect public benefits, like Social Security and Medicaid.
I'm Jeff Tyler for Marketplace.
Comments
Comment | Refresh
From Boise, ID, 06/25/2009
I also wonder why NPR refuses to call them what they are "illegal"--people who are breaking US law?
Undocumented is such a tidy little term that offends no one.
Reminds me of the terms used in Israel for "settlers" (that always means Jewish) and "villagers" (that means new Palestinian settlers, of which there are plenty).
From Boise, ID, 06/25/2009
What did Demetri miss about these people being illegal? They hold jobs, yes, because our government is not interested in cracking down on employers of illegals.
These non-citizens are indeed taking jobs away from Americans already.
Post a Comment: Please be civil, brief and relevant.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. All comments are moderated. Marketplace reserves the right to edit any comments on this site and to read them on the air if they are extra-interesting. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting.
You must be 13 or over to submit information to American Public Media. The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party. For more information see Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.