Recognizing the essential role immigrants play in the United States matters now more than ever as a radical plan for unprecedented and unsparing mass deportations takes shape on the campaign trail and in Washington.
The contributions of immigrants are vital to America’s economic strength and future prosperity.
Immigrants account for 17% of America’s workforce and make up large sections of key industries, like construction and hospitality.
- Foreign-born workers make up 17% of the U.S. labor force.
- According to a 2023 Washington Post analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, 30% of construction workers were born outside of the United States.
- The same analysis found that 24% of hospitality, accommodation and food services workers were born outside of the United States.
Immigrants are vital to American entrepreneurship.
- In 2022, all four of the most valuable private, venture-backed U.S. companies – SpaceX, Stripe, Instacart, and Databricks – had immigrant founders.
- According to the National Foundation for American Policy, 55% of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion or more had at least one immigrant founder.
- The same study found that 64% of America’s startups valued at $1 billion or more were founded or cofounded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.
Immigrants have contributed billions in tax revenue and added billions to America’s economy.
- In 2022, immigrants paid almost $100 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue.
- According to the CBO, an unexpected surge in immigration is propelling the U.S. economy to grow by $7 trillion, and federal revenues are set to increase by $1 trillion over the next ten years.
- A new study has found almost $124 billion positive fiscal impact from refugees and asylees.
- Immigrants in the U.S. have a combined household income of $2.1 trillion, contribute $382.9 billion to federal taxes, and $196.3 billion to state and local taxes.
American workers will suffer under right-wing immigration policies:
- According to Forbes, for every 1 million undocumented workers deported, 88,000 native-born workers would lose their jobs.
- If DACA ends, the U.S. would lose 18,600 workers per month.
As one Las Vegas Sun editorial put it – “This nation of immigrants now more than ever needs more immigrants”
- “Despite right-wing rhetoric about immigrants ‘stealing’ American jobs, data show that immigrants are filling the gap created by an American population that is aging out of the workforce and is more highly educated than previous generations.
- “With Gen X, millennials and Gen Z finding the higher-paying jobs that require a college degree to be more attractive than manual labor, it is unskilled labor that is increasingly filled by immigrants that keeps the economy running.
- “According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, even if every able-bodied working-age unemployed person in the country found a job immediately, there would still be nearly 2.4 million unfilled positions in the United States. That’s in part because 17% of the people who left the workforce since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic retired permanently and aren’t coming back. This is a simple and inevitable reality as baby boomers retire and younger generations lack the numbers to replace them.”
The individual stories behind the numbers highlight the dedication of America’s immigrants as they work to grow their businesses, strengthen the economy, and create opportunity for their families.
Inside a Brooklyn kitchen that trains migrants for restaurant jobs, lifting an industry:
- “‘Without immigration, the U.S. labor market would be in deep trouble, because native workers are not able to fill job openings,’ said Zeke Hernandez, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.”
Master’s graduate dedicates book to her parents, who are immigrant farm workers:
- “Afaro’s parents, Claudio Alfaro and Teresa Herrera, are two migrant farm workers originally from Oaxaca who worked from dawn to dusk in the agricultural fields to give their family a better life. Alfaro was the first in her family to attend college.”
- “In the United States, more than 800,000 young people have received DACA protection since it was introduced; currently, the number is about 600,000. In the past 12 years, almost half have completed university studies, and nine out of 10 are in the formal labor market. In 2018, the U.S. Census Bureau released figures on the workplaces that DACA recipients had joined: 77,000 worked in restaurants; 43,000 in the health or social care sector; 32,000 in supermarkets, pharmacies, and other businesses; 21,000 in small businesses and transportation of goods; 14,000 in the manufacturing sector; and 13,000 in cleaning and waste management. Two years later, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, these would be the sectors that were considered ‘essential.’”
Naturalization Ceremonies in Miami are powerful civic lessons:
- “Watching a naturalization ceremony is a powerful act of civic education, because it is a reminder that citizenship is a choice. People from all over the world dream of coming to America for the freedoms at the heart of our society. They choose to leave their homelands and learn a new set of customs so they can pursue their dreams.”
