As Donald Trump prepares to give a policy speech on immigration that will likely offer a repackaging of the same impractical, unconscionable policies he’s been espousing throughout his campaign, the campaign’s Nevada State Director Charles Munoz has released a statement touting Trump’s immigration plans and denigrating undocumented immigrants in Nevada.
In his statement, Munoz claims that undocumented immigrants in Nevada have “had a damaging effect on the wages, prosperity and security of legal residents and American citizens.”
Contrary to Munoz’s hateful comments, immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are major contributors to Nevada’s economy. According to recent data compiled by the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE), immigrants are major contributors to the state economy, with Hispanic immigrants alone paying over $370 million annually in state and local taxes. PNAE also estimates that, if every eligible undocumented immigrant in Nevada were naturalized, this would create more than $368 million in additional earnings – money which would be reinvested in the state’s economy.
Similarly, a 2015 study from the Center for American Progress showed that President Obama’s executive actions on immigration, specifically DACA, DAPA, and expanded DACA, would create a cumulative increase in Nevada’s GDP of over $2.5 billion, a cumulative increase in earnings of all state residents of over $1.3 billion, and create hundreds of additional jobs per year in Nevada.
“It should come as no surprise that Donald Trump’s campaign, and his mouthpiece here in Nevada, are once again spouting ignorance and hate directed at immigrant communities,” said Viridiana Vidal, Nevada’s Voice State Director. “However they want to spin it, the fact remains that what Donald Trump and Republicans who support him are proposing is a plan to tear apart families and communities who contribute millions every year to Nevada’s economy.”
