Company Sponsored Green Cards
Currently on the table in Congress is the option to give companies the ability to sponsor their undocumented workers in getting a Green Card. This is part of the Pathway to Citizenship movement. Reducing the number of undocumented workers means more working people paying taxes. Not that undocumented workers don’t pay taxes – they do; just not as much as the rest of us. In the state of Connecticut alone, $30 million dollars in taxes went uncollected because immigration reform has not yet passed. The current U.S. deficit could potentially be reduced by $175 billion over the next ten years through adjustments to guest worker initiatives among other measures in the bill.
Student Visas
Another point on the Pathway to Citizenship is the option to allow foreign students with student visas to remain in the U.S. on Green Card status after graduation to become tax paying workers.
Public Housing
Under current Federal law, a low-income family qualifies for HUD housing benefits if at least one person living there is a U.S. citizen. This usually means a family where the parents are illegal immigrants but have a U.S. born child living with them. In a U.S. Cost Study done by FairUS.org, it is estimated that as much as three percent of all low income housing benefits are given to families with immigrant parents and at least one U.S. born child. HUD’s budget in 2010 was in the tens of billions of dollars; three percent is significant. The problem with this scenario is that Federal taxes pay for programs such as HUD but undocumented workers do not contribute to Federal taxes. If more illegal immigrants were allowed to become tax paying citizens, the cost to fund this program would be more equally shared among U.S. citizens. Further, as documented workers, some may be able to afford regular housing and not need HUD assistance in the first place.
Gainful Employment
Typically, undocumented workers are forced to take whatever work they can get. This often is very low paying work with no health benefits and certainly no child care or retirement benefits. Under the current Federal plan, illegal immigrants are eligible for Public Assistance Programs such as the Free and Reduced Meal Program, Temporary Assistance of Needy Families, Child Care and Development Fund and Housing Assistance Programs. The annual budget last year for these federal welfare benefits for illegal aliens was $4.6 billion dollars. Being able to live and work as a citizen of the U.S. would not only make them eligible for higher paying jobs, but also reduce their need for these federal welfare benefit programs altogether. It would not be instantaneous, but over time with gainful, legal employment, the estimated 11 million undocumented workers or immigrants-turned-citizens would be transformed into contributors, i.e., economic gains in growth, tax revenues, earnings, jobs and consumerism, rather than merely recipients of tax-payer funded government assistance.
So it all boils down to money? Well, to some, yes. But Immigration Reform along with the Pathway to Citizenship offers so much more than higher pay for immigrants. It means access to the other freedoms we all enjoy as citizens of the United States. A recent poll by CNN shows the majority of Americans are in support of allowing undocumented immigrants the ability to stay in the U.S. and apply for citizenship. If we can trust the statistics, 11 million undocumented immigrants-turned-citizens would be able to contribute the same as you and I in many ways, not just fiscally.
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