The Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform

Senator Charles Schumer, chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Refugees and Border Security Subcommittee, emphasized the importance of enacting immigration reform to ensure America's global competitiveness in the 21st century. He argued that the country's education and immigration systems are critical factors in determining its economic supremacy. Schumer stated that the world is becoming increasingly competitive, and the United States must enact an immigration policy that attracts the world's best minds, rather than discouraging them.

Key Takeaways:

• The United States has a broken immigration system that discourages the world's best and brightest minds from coming to America to create jobs.
• Every year, about 250,000 foreign students are enrolled in American universities to study science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects, but they are often told to return to their home countries to compete for temporary visas.
• The immigration proposal being worked on will allow the best and brightest students to stay in the United States after graduating, with a green card that will allow them to start new companies, change jobs, and have their spouses work in the country.
• Immigrants are critical to making America a more vibrant and economically successful country, as they are renewing many of the country's rust-belt communities.
• A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that the immigration population in the top 10 "resurgent cities" in the nation increased from 4.5% in 1980 to 15% today.
• Immigrant-owned businesses jumped from 13.4% of all new businesses in 1996 to 29.5% of all new businesses in 2010, according to a study by the Kauffman Foundation.

Statistics:

• 250,000 foreign students are enrolled in American universities to study STEM subjects each year.
• 4.5% of the immigration population in the top 10 "resurgent cities" in the nation increased to 15% in 1980.
• 13.4% of all new businesses in 1996 were immigrant-owned, compared to 29.5% in 2010.
• $250,000 is the amount offered to emigrate to other countries to deploy talents and skills for the good of their economies.

Sources:

• The Federal News Service, Inc. (www.fednews.com)
• Institute of International Education
• The Kauffman Foundation
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• Senator Charles Schumer
• Senator Cornyn
• Senator Grassley
• Robert Greifeld, CEO of the NASDAQ OMX Group
• David Skorton, President of Cornell University
• Brad Smith, General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Legal and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft Corporation
• Puneet Arora, Vice President of Immigration Voice
• Ronil Hira, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Laurent Gilbert, Mayor of Lewiston, Maine
• David Roefaro, Mayor of Utica, New York
• Paul Bridges, Mayor of Uvalda, Georgia