Guest Author
As the 2016 presidential election nears, all eyes will be on Florida with its 29 electoral votes. Floridians are a unique melting pot with a diverse population and a wide-range of political beliefs. Without a doubt, one key topic this cycle will be the need for comprehensive immigration reform and to address the 11.5 million undocumented currently living in the United States. With great opportunity brings great responsibility. This election cycle, Floridians will need to take this topic in particular seriously and make sure that each candidate puts forward a reasonable plan to fix our broken immigration system.
Poll after poll, we continue to see that there is a strong bipartisan consensus for immigration reform. FWD.us, a nonprofit advocacy organization, found that in a poll surveying Hispanic voters by ten GOP polling firms that Hispanics believe the current immigration system is broken and strongly in need of reform. Moreover, sixty-nine percent of Hispanics believe that our economy will be improved by immigration reform.
We have already seen the benefits here in Florida – in 2010, new immigrant business owners created $13.3 million in net business income. By creating a pathway to legalization for the undocumented, our state would experience huge economic growth. For example, in just over ten years, it would create $55.3 billion cumulative increase in Gross State Product and $37.8 billion cumulative increase in the earnings of all Floridians. Even more, $3 billion in state and local taxes would be paid by legalized immigrants, putting more money in everyone’s pockets. It’s a clear win-win for all parties involved. On the other hand, if our country pursued a path of mass deportation, our Gross Domestic Product could shrink by 6% and cost $400-600 billion in government spending.
But it isn’t all about the money and economic benefits, although those are many. We cannot forget about the human impact. We are a nation of immigrants and always will be. In fact, June is known as Immigrant Heritage Month to remind us about the vast diversity that built and unites this country. Without many immigrants’ courage and drive to pursue a better life in America, we might not have some of the leading technology companies that we do today. For example, Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin was born in Russia, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi is an Iranian-American and Apple co-founder Steve Job’s father came from Syria. Sometimes, it just takes one person’s dream to make a difference and impact the lives Americans across the country.
However, our current immigration system isn’t fostering talent and innovation. How can it when it hasn’t been seriously updated in almost three decades? With any ever growing and changing economy, it is imperative that we fix our broken immigration system to meet the demands of the 21st century economy. We can start by letting the best and the brightest who study in American colleges stay in the country and create jobs here rather than foreign countries. Florida is short of workers, but for every 100 foreign-born STEM graduates, 262 jobs are created for Americans. These policies lead to long-term advancements in addition to the short-term benefits.
Secondly, we can call on Congress to modernize and expand our H-1B visa system. By prioritizing job creation and punishing bad actors who take advantage of the system, we can unlock immigrant’s economic potential. Expanding the high-skilled visa program would create an estimated 18,100 new jobs in Florida by 2020, add around $9 billion to Gross State Product, and increase personal income by more than $8.7 million by 2045. It seems like an economic no brainer to me.
As the President of Florida’s State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, it is my job to look for opportunities to spur the economic advancement of Florida’s Hispanic business community. It is clear that reforming our immigration system would do just that not only in Florida, but across the country. In 2013, our country was close to passing immigration reform, but our national leaders weren’t able to find political consensus. Let’s not let that happen again. Now is the time to ask your Senators and Representatives what it will take for them to support comprehensive immigration reform next year. Floridians can lead the way in demanding for change now. The moral and economic benefits are far too great.
Julio Fuentes is President & CEO of the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Florida’s only statewide Economic Development organization dedicated to promoting the economic advancement of Florida’s Hispanic Business community, with a focus on economic and political empowerment.
5 comments
Don Honda
June 22, 2016 at 5:29 pm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/27/opposition-to-immigration-reform-is-a-winning-strategy-for-republicans/
“By any measure, fears of (Illegal) immigration are driving many white Americans to the Republican Party. And, indeed, the Republican strategy on immigration appears to have been successful. Republicans now control the House and the Senate, the governor’s office in 31 states, and two-thirds of the state legislatures. They are winning the political war.”
“An even bigger factor is that the ties of racial and ethnic minorities to the Democratic Party are tenuous. Research by Taeku Lee and myself shows that most Latinos and Asian Americans don’t feel like they fit into either party. In national surveys, those who refuse to answer a question about party identification, those who claim that they do not think in partisan terms, and independents make up the clear majority of both groups. All told, 56 percent of Latinos and 57 percent of Asian-American identify as nonpartisans.
Even among blacks, there are signs of ambivalence. Almost 30 percent of blacks feel
that the Democratic Party does not work hard for black interests.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20151016_As_Trump_fades__be_smart_about_immigration.html#disqus_thread
“Most Hispanics aren’t single-issue voters when it comes to immigration. A recent Gallup poll found that among registered Latino voters, 67 percent are at least willing to support a candidate who doesn’t share their views on immigration. And 18 percent don’t consider the issue important at all.
What’s more, many Hispanic citizens have little sympathy for immigrants who haven’t played by the rules. Especially among Latino voters born in the United States, resentment of immigrants who have entered the country illegally can run deep. Forty-two percent of American-born Hispanics disapprove of President Obama’s executive actions to prevent the deportation of illegal immigrants.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/12/no-joke-trump-can-win-plenty-of-latinos.html
Reuben Navarette: No Joke: Trump Can Win Plenty of Latinos
Gee, No wonder why I fall into the Proud Independent group.
Don Honda
June 22, 2016 at 5:30 pm
“No, Our Immigration System Is Not Broken”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/no-our-immigration-system-is-not-broken/article/2552534
Don Honda
June 22, 2016 at 5:31 pm
An Atlantic Monthly article that shows that most economists’ thinking that an increased influx of immigrants provides more jobs for Americans is FALSE and does harm jobs for US workers and the economy:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/does-immigration-harm-working-americans/384060/
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DEFDC1430F934A15750C0A9609C8B63
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/notes-on-immigration/
The Conscience Of A Liberal–Paul Krugman
“First, the benefits of immigration to the population already here are small.
” But as Mr. Hanson explains in his paper, reasonable calculations suggest that we’re talking about very small numbers, perhaps as little as 0.1 percent of GDP.
“My second negative point is that immigration reduces the wages of domestic workers who compete with immigrants. That’s just supply and demand…
“Finally, the fiscal burden of low-wage immigrants is also pretty clear. ”
Also, it is patently untrue that “immigrants” are the solution to low rate of start-ups:
http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/01/immigration-reform-declining-start-rate.html
Don Honda
June 22, 2016 at 5:31 pm
There is no STEM crisis. There is in fact a surplus of US workers for STEM:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/georgeleef/2014/06/06/true-or-false-america-desperately-needs-more-stem-workers/
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/the-administration/257041-obamas-latest-plan-to-rewrite-immigration-law
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/immigration/item/21801-sen-sessions-rep-brat-warn-colleagues-to-curb-immigration
Watch Dan Rather’s Doc: No Thanks For Everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeoBWzIRuic
http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth-an-ongoing-discussion
The STEM Crisis is a Myth: An Ongoing Discussion
Throughout the month of September, we’ll provide continuing coverage and debate
https://gspp.berkeley.edu/assets/uploads/research/pdf/h1b.pdf
The Effects of High-Skilled Immigration Policy on Firms: Evidence from H-1B Visa Lotteries
http://www.epi.org/blog/h-1b-visas-do-not-create-jobs-or-improve-conditions-for-u-s-workers/
H-1B Visas Do Not Create Jobs or Improve Conditions for U.S. Workers
The immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explain how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmers_Guild
On May 2, 2008 a civil court judge sided with the Programmers Guild in their complaint against a Pittsburgh computer consulting company and ordered it to pay $45,000 in penalties for discriminating against legal US residents by advertising only for developers on H-1B visas. The case was brought against iGate Mastech for placing an advertisement for thirty computer programmers in 2006 “that expressly favored H-1B visa holders to the exclusion of US citizens, lawful permanent citizens and other legal US workers” according to the US Department of Justice.[8]
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/did-you-know-obama-just-took-new-executive-action-on-immigration/article/2562053
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/28/obama-prepares-give-away-white-collar-jobs-citizenship-foreign-graduates/
Obama Prepares Give-Away of White-Collar Jobs And Citizenship To Foreign Graduates
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international/238574-trade-agreement-is-a-trojan-horse-for-obamas-immigration
Obama just expanded definitions of “specialized knowledge” and no rule to hire US workers first leads to even more abuse of the L1-B Visas
Here’s where Job Brokers abuse the H1B Visas, provide fake job histories and resumes, provide bogus training:
http://www.revealnews.org/article/job-brokers-steal-wages-entrap-indian-tech-workers-in-us/
http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Grassley-Statement-Concerning-Immigration-Reforms-296630751.html
Don Honda
June 22, 2016 at 5:32 pm
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/18/30-million-illegal-immigrants-in-us-says-mexicos-former-ambassador/
30 Million Illegal Immigrants in US, Says Mexico’s Former Ambassador on MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/backlash-grows-over-trump-s-immigration-plan-507691587765
“The former ambassador stated,” If you were to deport the 30 million undocumented immigrants in the United States that’s going to cost you about 130 billion dollars.”
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/latino/edgard-portela/2016/02/25/fiesta-new-wave-mexican-immigrants-univision
Fiesta for New ‘Wave’ of Mexican Immigrants on Univision
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/fiesta-new-wave-mexican-immigrants-univision
“Despite official statistics showing immigration from Mexico is down in recent years, Univision has found an apparent exception in the case of immigrants from the Mexican state of Puebla.
ORLANDO SEGURA, UNIVISION: During the last 30 years three migrant waves of Pueblans to New York have existed. The first was in the 80’s, benefitting from the amnesty of Ronald Reagan. The second, during the economic boom of the presidency of Bill Clinton. The third, we are living through right now.”
According to a recent DHS report the number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) coming across the border has doubled and the number of family units has tripled in fiscal year 2016 compared to the same time frame in fiscal year 2015.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-patrol-migrants-20160424-story.html
Border Patrol sees increase in number of migrants being detained at Mexico border
“The number of family members caught crossing illegally has nearly tripled compared with this time last year, and the number of unaccompanied children has almost doubled, the figures show.”
http://www.cbp.gov/site-page/southwest-border-unaccompanied-alien-children-statistics-fy-2016
“The number of unaccompanied alien children (0-17 years old) that were apprehend between October 1- January 31 has doubled from 10,105 in 2015 to 20,455 in 2016. The number of family units apprehended in the same time period has almost tripled from 9,090 in 2015 to 24,616 in 2016.”
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20151125/thousands-of-unaccompanied-children-crossed-us-mexico-border-in-october
Thousands of unaccompanied children crossed US-Mexico border in October
http://www.latintimes.com/us-border-arrests-immigrant-children-and-families-increased-52-percent-august-342201
US Border Arrests Of Immigrant Children And Families Increased 52 Percent in August
“According to statistics released by the U.S. Border Patrol nearly 10,000 unaccompanied minors and families were arrested in the month of August, a 52 percent jump from last year.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/immigration-reform-2015-immigrant-families-surging-again-us-border-homeland-security-2043891
Immigration Reform 2015: Immigrant Families Surging Again At US Border, Homeland Security Says
“Federal border officials might have spoken too soon when they predicted earlier this year that the level of illegal immigration to the U.S. among mothers and children would decrease. There was actually a surge of immigrant families crossing U.S. borders last month [July 2015], a top Department of Homeland Security official told a federal court Thursday.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/21/surge-illegal-children-families-accelerates/?page=1
Surge of illegal children, families accelerates 10,000 caught at border in September
“The surge of children and families crossing the southwest border illegally accelerated again in September, leaving fiscal year 2015 the second-worst on record, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Border Patrol.”
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/ongoing-migration-from-central-america-an-examination-of-fy2015-apprehensions
Ongoing Migration from Central America: An Examination of FY2015 Apprehensions
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/9/20-pct-illegals-caught-border-have-criminal-record/
Agents say just 40 percent of U.S.-Mexico border under control
20 percent of illegals caught at border have criminal records
“Less than half of the U.S.-Mexico border is under “operational control,” and one out of every five illegal immigrants caught there has a criminal record, the chief of Border Patrol agents’ labor union told Congress Wednesday when detailing violence that increasingly spills over the international boundary.”
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