How do you measure the contributions of human beings? Most of the discussions about immigration

focus on economics, but this reflects the materialistic bias of American culture. While a society must

sustain itself, most people agree that the meaning of life involves factors like family, close relationships,

fulfillment of life values, and spiritual orientation. While we will summarize the economic contributions of

immigrants to the American society, we raise the deeper question of how immigrants make our society a

more meaningful place to live our lives.

While most acknowledge that the United States is a "nation of immigrants", we normally do not consider

how immigration has made the U.S. a dominant global economy. In an industrial economy, "economic

growth" is based on continually increasing production and consumption. Without more workers and

consumers, the economy would collapse. Immigration has always supported economic development in

the U.S.

The 2005 Economic Report of the President which was submitted to Congress highlights the critical

importance of immigration to the U.S. economy. In particular, immigrants play a critical role in the

national labor force. Despite the common myth that immigrants take American jobs, studies show that:

Studies also show that these people do not increase unemployment among native workers. Competition

with American workers is minimal and localized in unskilled labor traditionally filled by those with low

education, such as jobs in construction, manufacturing, building and hospitality services, restaurants,

landscaping, and agriculture. As the educational level of native Americans increases and older U.S.

workers retire, these jobs are becoming more vacant.

Part of the myth is an assumption that there is a fixed number of jobs. However, economic growth

involves an increase in jobs. The Department of Labor indicates that jobs in America have increased by

15 million over the past decade, and is likely to increase by more than 33 million new jobs in the coming

decade. A lower national fertility rate and the increasing retirement of the huge "baby boom" generation

both leaves jobs unfilled and creates new jobs providing services for an older population whose health

and retirement need to be supported. Immigrants have always been a major source of new workers, and

the longer they are in the country the more they become established in labor market. If immigrant

workers did not come to fill necessary jobs, they would either be outsourced overseas or essential

sections of the economy would be eliminated, particularly in agricultural production and such services as

building maintenance and hospitality services.

Some studies show that immigrant workers have limited impact on depressed wages and benefits, but

primarily in the unskilled labor market where undocumented immigrants who are exploited to increase

investors' profits. To keep this in context, we must realize that this effect is because labor laws are not

being enforced, because the collective bargaining process has been undermined, because the minimum

wage has not kept up with the costs of living, and because trade and immigration policies increase the

flow of exploitable undocumented workers without labor rights.

Government reports and academic studies show that even undocumented immigrants contribute over $27

billion annually to local economies. Contrary to popular myths, these people pay over $150 billion in

direct taxes to federal, state, and local governments. The main exceptions are where people are paid in

cash or as "independent contractors", because the employer is cheating them and doesn't want any

records. In addition, all undocumented immigrants pay billions in sales and property taxes. Despite

popular myths, immigrants pay $80,000 per capita more in taxes than they use in government services

such as education and healthcare. Undocumented immigrants contribute over $10 billion per year to our

economy, even without considering sales and property taxes or the contributions of their healthy and

educated children to the economy. Furthermore, undocumented immigrants are ineligible for the vast

majority of state and federal benefits. The main public services these people receive are those essential

to public wellbeing which benefits everyone, and even here undocumented immigrants account for only a

small proportion of those served. This also must be kept in context. For example, undocumented people

often work in dangerous jobs without health benefits or legal safety protections, as well as their being

forced to live in unsanitary and unsafe housing, increases their need of medical services. Effective

enforcement of labor and civil rights for all workers would significantly reduce even their limited use of

essential services.

The Social Security and Medicare systems reap the biggest windfall from the current $475 billion in

unclaimed benefits. Immigrants pay over $3 billion annually into these systems, and will pay $400 billion

over the next half century, even though many cannot claim any of the benefits. Those who do benefit

from this discrepancy are the aging nativeborn population. This will only increase as all immigrants, who

are younger and tend to have more children in the first generation, slows the ratio of workers per retirees.

A major factor often not considered in the economic contributions of immigrants is their purchasing power.

The job of every American worker is only 12 steps away from an immigrant. Some 35 million people or

about 15% of the U.S. population are foreignborn, including 1215 million undocumented workers (over

5% of the workforce). These people pay for the same daily items and common services as others in their

communities, such as food, clothing, housing, furniture, utilities, cars and local transportation, gasoline,

home videos. Even by a conservative estimate, undocumented immigrants alone spend $100 billion a

year in ways that supports millions of jobs in their local economies. Many industries, ranging from banks

and groceries to car dealers and shopping malls, have heavily invested in multicultural marketing, such as

advertisements in the native languages of prospective customers, including specialty ethnic items in their

businesses. In addition, immigrants have always had high rates of entrepreneurship, which has lead to

job creation for a wide range of workers.

The President's report, the National Research Council, the National Academy of Sciences, and many

economists agree that immigrants make significant economic contributions which touch the daily lives of

policies fail to respond to this reality. Policies of international trade and immigration increase the flow of

exploitable undocumented workers without labor rights. They also limit immigrants' ability to make even

greater contributions to our society, as well as lower the standards for all workers. Studies indicate that

the attainment of legal status by undocumented immigrants would improve the wages and working

conditions for all American workers.

The social contributions of immigrants are the most difficult to identify and assess. Most studies focus on

the economic benefits of immigration, but the social contributions may be the most significant, even

though these are poorly understood. The statement that the United States is a "nation of immigrants"

stirs feelings along these lines, and often infers the meaning of life.

Immigration is embedded in the social fabric of our country, where a quarter of the population is either

foreignborn or the child of someone who is foreignborn. What immigrants have brought to our society

have cast the character of what it is to be "American". Surveys indicate that Americans generally see our

society as defined by ideas and philosophies such as "freedom", "equality" and "justice", human dignity,

and individual determination. One trait, for example, is a strong work ethic among immigrants, which has

been the backbone of American economic productivity. These are the life views of people who have left

their familiar ways of life for a strange land seeking new opportunities. Some have argued that

immigrants are often those with the most initiative and an optimistic vision of a more progressive nation.

New immigrants identify with these basic values, and in one survey nearly 70% of foreignborn Hispanics

say they identify more with the United States than with their country of origin. In recent demonstrations

for immigrant rights, signs and speeches have emphasized basic American values upon which our

country was founded, such as "We Are Hard Working People!", "We Are Human Beings", "The Land of

the Free", "America the Land of Opportunity," "One Nation Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty and

Justice for All", "We Want to Be a Part of the Dream", "All Religions Believe in Justice," "Give Us a

Chance to Integrate", and "We Are All Americans".

Immigrants consistently demonstrate commitment, pride, and patriotism for their new society, despite

being treated as unwanted intruders. Immigrants express the desire to learn about American culture and

language, and one poll reports that more immigrants than natives believe that hard work and

determination are the keys to success in America. Marine Lance Cpl. José Gutiérrez, who came to the

U.S. as an undocumented orphaned teenager to help support his family back in wartorn

Guatemala, was the first U.S. serviceman killed in combat in Iraq. President Bush recognized the contributions of immigrants in the U.S. Armed Forces by signing an executive order that provided for “expedited naturalization” of 15,000 noncitizen men and women serving on active duty

since September 11 2001. It is worth remembering that God Bless America was written by Irving Berlin, an immigrant Russian Jew.

Another trait not generally recognized is a strong commitment to family. In fact, we can see that the work

ethic of most immigrants is generally due to their sense of responsibility to their families. Americans often

lament about a growing lack of "family values", which is a consequence of individualism and a mobile

population based on a specialized workforce. The lesson for many of us is how to build family identity

and commitment. For example, in contrast to Anglo families which praise or condemn a child's behavior

as a reflection of their individual character, one Hispanic family was overheard telling a child that a

behavior was being "a good Dominguez". Many immigrants emphasize hard work and education for their

children as a way of realizing opportunities in life, though older children sometimes sacrifice their own

futures by leaving school to work to support the futures of their younger brothers and sisters.

Like the Pilgrims, most immigrants today reflect a deep faith, and often refer to their religious teachings

and symbolism in their daily conversations at home and work, in raising their children, and in social

activities. Many congregations of all faiths are sustained by the support of immigrants. All major religions

emphasize moral behavior, understanding and proper conduct with others, and proper living, and these

teachings provide guidance and support when facing hardships in their new settings. For example, in

discussing the attempt to make criminals of undocumented immigrants, one individual referred to the

suffering of Christ and that Jesus was also branded a criminal.

The moral values of America are based in the faith and convictions of immigrants. The myth that

immigration produces more crime contradicts the fact that most immigrants are victims. It is true,

however, that immigrant policies create an underclass by subjecting undocumented people to economic

exploitation and discrimination, which creates other social problems.

One of the great strengths of America is its diversity. People have come from all over the world, bringing

new perspectives, skills, social relationships, and solutions to life issues. As in ecological and genetic

diversity, the more differences that exist the more options people have for meeting life challenges. based

in their philosophies of life, languages, social relations, subsistence technologies, and creativity. Surveys

show that the vast majority of Americans believes immigration improves America with new ideas from

different cultures. In contrast, there is also an understandable tendency to expect everyone to become

alike, but this actually reduces adaptive diversity. History has emphasized an Anglo and northern

European heritage, which has become a basis of the "melting pot". The Civil Rights Movement

addressed this conflict by emphasizing "integration", where people could be an equal part of the larger

social system, maintaining specific ethnic identities within a larger American identity.

At one rally, Baldemar Velásquez, President of FLOC, called migrant children up front. He noted how

one child had the potential to be a doctor and discover a cure for cancer, how another child could be a

teacher and develop a love of learning in children, and so on. As one sign in a recent march for

immigrant rights stated, "We Are Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem". A core American principle

is "liberty and justice for all", expressed in both the Civil Rights and Immigrant Rights movements...

when humans are able to fulfill their own potentials, these potentials are available to contribute to the wellbeing of us all.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

The Economics of Necessity: Economic Report of the President Underscores the Importance of

Immigration. Walter A. Ewing, Ph.D

Embracing Illegals: Companies are getting hooked on the buying power of 11 million undocumented

immigrants. BusinessWeek.

Chicago’s Undocumented Immigrants: An analysis of wages, working conditions, and economic

contributions. University of Illinois at Chicago.