Category: Immigration

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Including Immigrants in Pandemic Relief is Essential for America’s Public Health and Economic Recovery

  By Immigration, Maisum Murtaza, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts

by Maisum Murtaza and Marc Stier Originally published by KRC-PBPC here. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed numerous ways in which our political community is unfair to many people—and especially those with low incomes and people of color. But perhaps the most disturbing inequity is that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, have been left out of much of the relief efforts so far. Both documented and undocumented immigrants play a critical role in the economy of our state and nation. Immigrants to America are our neighbors, our friends, our employees, and, in some cases, our employers. There are 28.3 million foreign-born residents in the labor force, of which 7.5 million are undocumented immigrants. More than 866,000 immigrants aged 16 or older live in Pennsylvania, of which over 582,000—including 91,000 undocumented immigrants—are part of our workforce. Almost 9% of Pennsylvania’s workforce was born abroad, and 1.4% of the workforce is here without documentation. Immigrants… Continue reading

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Only Wealthy Immigrants Need Apply: The Chilling Effects of “Public Charge”

  By Immigration, Pennsylvania

By David Dyssegaard Kallick, Cyierra Roldan and Marc Stier Originally published at by the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center of the Keystone Research Center. The day the new public charge rule goes into effect, the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center and the New York Fiscal Policy Institute are releasing a report demonstrating the harm it will create for Pennsylvania families, the Pennsylvania economy and state revenues. The “public charge” inadmissability test has been part of federal immigration law for more than one hundred years. Federal law allows the government to deny permanent residence (a “green card”) to a person “likely at any time to become a public charge.” The Trump administration’s new regulations significantly stiffen this forward-looking test. The public charge rule will make it much more difficult for low- and moderate-income families to make their lives in the United States if they are considered likely to use public benefits… Continue reading

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Fact Check: Undocumented Immigrants Like the Dreamers Are Not a Drag on State and Local Government

  By Immigration

From Third and State, January 27, 2018 A political movement that is based on demonizing a group of people needs a demon. So the efforts of the Trump administration to generate anger and hatred toward immigrants, both documented and undocumented, has been combined with repeated claims by the administration and its supporters about the terrible burden immigration creates on the United States. Immigrants have been called rapists and murders and terrorists and have been said to be dragging down our economy and burdening citizens with higher taxes. That rhetoric has heated up as Congress struggles to pass legislation to restore the DACA program, which protects the Dreamers — undocumented immigrants brought to this country as children — from deportation. It has reached even higher levels as the Trump administration uses the debate over DACA as a bargaining chip to win Congressional support for a border wall with Mexico and radical changes… Continue reading

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On HB 1885, the Sanctuary Bill

  By Immigration, Memos, PA Budget and Policy Center

Legislation rushed to the finish line in an election year is notorious for being both badly crafted and motivated by less than pristine motives. And that certainly goes for HB 1885, the anti-sanctuary city bill passed by the House recently and currently under consideration in the Senate this week. There is a lot wrong with the bill, starting with the intention of its sponsors to appeal to the anti-immigrant voters whose ire has been inflamed by Donald Trump and continuing on to its likely consequence of leading to racial profiling that undermines police-community relationships, and thus effective policing, in (documented and undocumented) immigrant communities. But here I want to focus on the potential economic costs of the bill to the counties and cities of Pennsylvania—costs that have been barely considered in the fast-track legislative debate on it. The House Fiscal Note on the bill does not even try to identify,… Continue reading