Editorial: Studying immigrants’ impact

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006 | 7:04 a.m.

C ongress is to renew its discussion of immigration reform in 2007, and a Nevada assemblyman wants the state to study the impacts of undocumented workers in hopes of adding some factual information to the debate.

In a story by the Las Vegas Sun on Tuesday, Assemblyman Mo Denis, D-Las Vegas, said he is pressing for legislation that would require the state to launch such a study because those involved in the immigration reform debate have been basing their proposals on assumptions rather than hard data.

If his measure is approved by the 2007 Legislature, Nevada would become the second state to study the economic impact of undocumented immigrants. The Sun's Timothy Pratt reports that results of a recent study by the Texas comptroller's office shows that undocumented workers contributed $420 million more to that state than they cost in government services.

Those who seek to enact the strictest immigration measures - proposals that would tear apart families and make citizenship a hopelessly drawn-out process - would have Americans believe that undocumented immigrants create a perpetual drain on government resources.

However, the Texas study suggests that the opposite may be true. Critics of the Texas report and of Denis' proposal for a Nevada study say that no such research can be done without bias. But we think state entities are perfectly capable of objectively examining issues. And, in this case, we think that Nevada should.

Such a study would help take the immigration debate out of the realm of emotional rhetoric and baseless assumptions and force lawmakers to consider some actual facts and figures before proposing legislation. We would expect no less on any other issue. We shouldn't settle for less on immigration reform.