7349 Bunche Hall Los Angeles, California 90095, Phone 310.849.4092
For Immediate Release: September 21st, 2010
Contact Information: Dr. Raul Hinojosa 310.415.8236
Dr. Paule Cruz Takash 310.849.4092
NO DREAMers LEFT BEHIND:
THE ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF DREAM ACT BENEFICIARIES
Dream Act Passage in the National Interest of a Needed Educated Workforce and Return on Taxpayer’s Investment in Unauthorized Immigrant Youth According to New Research
Los Angeles, CA – The UCLA North American Integration and Development (NAID) Center will release this week preliminary findings of a study that brings to the fore the potential economic stimulus that passage of the U.S. SenateDevelopment, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act or DREAM ACT will afford the country as a whole. Entitled, “No DREAMers Left Behind: The Economic Impacts of Dream Act Beneficiaries,” the study calculates the income of beneficiaries over a forty-year time period representative of the work-life of 25-65 year old employed individuals.
The DREAM Act has gained wide support from legislators as part of their efforts to provide workable national immigration reform. First introduced in 2001 by U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Richard Durbin (D-IL), the DREAM Act is a bipartisan bill that would allow undocumented youth, who came to the United States before the age of sixteen, a path towards legalization under the condition that they attain an associate level college degree or serve in the US military for a minimum of two years while maintaining good moral character.
Our research builds on a study by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) that estimates slightly more than 2.1 million individuals may qualify for conditional legalization if DREAM is enacted. The NAID study examines two scenarios: (1) income generated over 40 years by only 825,000 youth that MPI predicts are most likely to obtain legalization through the DREAM Act; and (2) No DREAMers Left Behind, or income generated over the work-life of the estimated 2.1 million youth who may qualify.
The NAID research finds that in the first scenario (1) the 825,000 youth legalized through the DREAM ACT will potentially generate $1.38 trillion dollars over their work-life. In the second (2), “No DREAMers Left Behind” scenario, the 2.1 million beneficiaries will potentially generate $3.6 trillion dollars over their work-life.
This bill has underlying economic stimulus potential, a significant attribute largely unnoticed by legislators and the public. If implemented, the DREAM Act will generate thousands or perhaps millions of higher income earners and provide a substantial return to taxpayers who have already invested in the K-12 education of undocumented students.
On this basis, the findings strongly suggest that the legalization and integration of these young adults through the DREAM Act provides a significant if partial solution to the immigration issues currently being deliberated while also providing considerable economic benefits for the nation as a whole.