ImmigrationDREAM Act could generate billions for U.S. economy

A study by the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE), estimates $329 billion would be generated nationally through the year 2030 if the DREAM Act passes.

The amounts to about $18 billion a year, which may not be much in the larger scheme of things, but CAP says that it is better than none.

“These are big numbers, but they are big numbers in a universe of really big budgets,” Marshall Fitz, director of Immigration Reform at the Center for American Progress told Mysanantonio.com

“Regardless, the question is: are we helping grow the economy or are we continuing to keep potentially important economic actors on the sidelines? That’s the lens it has to be looked at through,” Fitz said. “Is this going to solve the nation’s budget deficit problems? No. Is it going to radically help the state budget problems? No. Is it going to help? Yes.”

Mysanantonio notes that the DREAM Act would allow immigrants between the ages of sixteen and thirty to stay in the country for two years and give them the ability to get driver’s licenses, apply for financial aid for college, professional licenses, and other benefits.

The estimated economic effect is significant to the state of Texas:  the study says the act would generate more than $66 billion by 2030 through increased spending, wages, taxes, and access to better education for the estimated 325,000 people in the state eligible for the act.

Texas is second behind California, which is estimated to enjoy a $97 billion benefit.

It is unknown whether the $66 billion estimate would be a net gain, as the cost of implementing the DREAM Act is still unknown. Pia Orrenius, assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said the costs will stem from the “cumbersome paperwork process that’s going to employ plenty of bureaucrats” in order to verify the eligibility of individual immigrants.

According to Fitz, the program would generate money as applicants would have to pay a fee to apply for lawful status. In 2010, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the costs for the act and agreed that “because (DHS) costs for implementing the bill would be covered by those fees, CBO estimates that implementation by DHS would have no significant impact on spending.”

A CAP study released earlier this year stated that if 15 percent of Texas’s illegal immigrants were to be deported, the state would lose $11.7 billion in earnings, consumption, and demand.

“In general, immigrants have a positive economic impact, especially when immigration is employment based,” Orrenius told Mysanantonio.com “Deportations are definitely hurtful in the sense that you’re losing people who are not only contributing to the economy, but that are also consuming housing services, driving cars, holding bank loans, credit cards and consuming other retail goods.”

The study also estimates that immigrants who receive legal status and pursue a higher education will see their income increase by 19 percent by 2030, which they would invest back into the economy in consuming goods and services.

“They’re pouring money into the economy, then that economic activity is going to create 1.4 million new jobs,” Fitz told Mysanantonio.com “This is how our economy grows. This is what it’s built on.”

Benita Veliz, a 27-year-old St. Mary’s graduate, had her deportation case administratively closed last year. As a result she cannot get an employment permit; in order to make ends meet she works as a photographer and gives piano lessons.

Veliz spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and said the DREAM Act would be significant for San Antonio and people like her. “We (DREAMers) speak English very well and with San Antonio having a diverse culture, there’s a need for educated, bilingual workers,” Veliz told the audience. “DREAMers know the needs of the community, and there’s a big difference between having someone (who grew up in) that place and someone who literally just arrived.”