Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Immigration benefits the U.S.

Recent stories regarding turnaround schools, the arbitrator’s decision and teaching Hispanic students have drawn the attention of anti-immigrant commenters. Get a grip, folks. Immigration, legal and illegal, is a challenge but overall offers a net benefit for the United States.

First, a significant body of research and accompanying data suggest that, even in this economic slump, illegal immigrants are net contributors to the economy in taxes paid versus services consumed. Social Security alone has approximately $58 billion in payments collected from identified illegal immigrants.

Second, illegal immigrants fill economic niches that would otherwise go unfilled or be filled with higher-cost workers, thus driving up costs and making those niches uncompetitive. Some would then go overseas. We are capitalists, remember? Free markets, free minds and all that.

Third, illegals do pose a challenge in education, being generally unprepared for even the most basic levels. Many, however, catch up quickly and take full advantage of education. It certainly wouldn’t hurt the United States to have a positive image in some regards.

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