WASHINGTON, DC—Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) released the following statement regarding a new White House report describing the economic benefit of providing a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. According to economists’ estimates, providing earned citizenship for these workers would, over the next 10 years, boost U.S. GDP by $1.4 trillion, increase total income for all Americans by $791 billion, generate $184 billion in additional state and federal tax revenue from currently undocumented immigrants, and add about two million jobs to the U.S. economy.
“The facts are clear: not only will fixing our broken immigration system help secure our borders and keep families together, but it will also create jobs, help American businesses, and bring in new revenue. The additional tax dollars we will bring in by providing an earned pathway to citizenship for our nation’s undocumented immigrants can be used to repair our crumbling infrastructure, rebuild schools, and extend the solvency of Medicare. I am pleased that the overwhelming consensus among economists is in favor of immigration reform, and I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to take up the bipartisan plan passed by the Senate in June.”