Chicago, IL— Today, U.S. Representatives Bill Foster (IL-11), Tammy Duckworth (IL-08), Brad Schneider (IL-10) and business leaders held a roundtable discussion with the Illinois Chamber of Commerce to discuss the economic benefits of comprehensive immigration reform. During their meeting, they also urged Illinois Republicans to join them in supporting commonsense reform.
“We are closer now than ever to passing immigration reform,” Foster said. “I urge my Republican colleagues in the House to put aside politics and listen closely to their constituents. Leaders from business, law enforcement and religious institutions have all shown strong support for passing immigration reform. House Republicans cannot continue to ignore the diverse range of voices calling for reform. The time is now to pass comprehensive immigration reform which secures our borders, improves out legal immigration system and provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country.”
“The businesses in my congressional district have told me that immigration reform will help them grow and create jobs,” said Duckworth. “Allowing more talented immigrants to become tax paying citizens will keep America competitive in a global economy. Republicans need to listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans and bring comprehensive immigration reform up for a vote.”
“The message from our local businesses is clear: they need sensible immigration reform,” Schneider said. “From meeting with local business leaders and through my personal background in business, I understand how important immigration reform is to helping our businesses grow. That’s why I support comprehensive immigration reform and urge my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to vote on addressing our broken immigration system.”
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, enacting S-744, the Senate immigration bill, will increase real GDP by 3.3 percent in 2023 and 5.4 percent in 2033 – an increase of roughly $700 billion in 2023 and $1.4 trillion in 2033 in today’s dollars. (source: http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44346)
More than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants. These American companies represent 7 of the 10 most valuable brands globally, and collectively employ more than 10 million people and generate annual revenue of $4.2 trillion. (source: http://www.renewoureconomy.org/sites/all/themes/pnae/img/new-american-fortune-500-june-2011.pdf)
Additionally, according to the 2012 State of Hispanic Homeownership Report, passing immigration reform could generate 3 million new Hispanic homebuyers over the next several years. (source: http://nahrep.org/state-of-hispanic-homeownership)
Alternatively, if all unauthorized immigrants were removed from Illinois, the state would lose $25.6 billion in economic activity, $11.4 billion in gross state product, and approximately 120,000 jobs. (source: http://www.illinoisbic.biz/Portals/0/Reports/New_Americans_in_Illinois-IPC.pdf)