According to Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist at Moody’s Analytics, Hillary Clinton’s pro-immigration positions, which include a pathway to citizenship for individuals already in the country and increasing legal immigration, are projected to significantly increase the gross domestic product (GDP) with an estimated $489 billion boost to the economy by the year 2026. According to extensive analytical calculations conducted by Moody’s, a well-respected firm which has been a leading voice in monitoring and analyzing the economy since 1900, Donald Trump’s plans to halt immigration and deport millions of people would, in fact, have a significantly negative effect on the U.S. economy. In fact, Moody’s estimates that Trump’s immigration policies would reduce the GDP by $880 billion, by 2026.
Importantly, several highly respected economic research groups, on the left, right and center, have come to similar conclusions as Moody’s. In particular, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget determined recently that Clinton’s immigration plans would boost economic output while Trump’s more restrictive policies would reduce GDP growth over the next decade. Even Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a right-leaning think tank admitted that the GDP would take a hit from a plan to limit foreign arrivals and that Trump’s plan to round up and deport an estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally would actually cost the U.S. between 100 to 300 billion dollars over a two-year period.
Immigration has historically shown that it results in a boon to the economy because the fruitfulness of a nation’s economic output depends on the number of workers and their productivity levels. In addition, it has been proven that immigrants in the U.S. start businesses at a higher rate than native-born Americans. It has also been shown that immigrants do not, in fact, steal jobs away from U.S. Citizens. Notably, in a recent report which was compiled by 14 leading economists, published in September by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, they concluded that immigration is “integral to the nation’s economic growth.
At the Shulman Law Group, LLC, we understand that immigration is a hot topic that is oft-times emotionally and politically charged, but we are keenly aware of the import of dispelling myths steeped in bias and promote an approach that reviews objective analyses by economic experts who have utilized tested and reliable algorithms to factually determine how immigration helps the economy.