Passage of the federal DREAM Act would result in nearly 6,000 additional jobs in Connecticut over the next few decades, according to a new study, as well as 53,500 jobs in New York of 1.4 million nationwide.
The proposed Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act would allow 2.1 million youths living in the United States to apply for legal status. The bill was first introduced in the Senate in 2001 and has been re-introduced every year since, with U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Chris Murphy co-sponsoring the House version of the bill and Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Joseph Lieberman among the co-sponsors of the Senate version.
The 2010 version of the bill was passed by the House but fell victim to a filibuster in the Senate, as supporters were unable to muster enough votes to close discussion of the legislation.
The DREAM Act would spur $329 billion in direct and induced economic impact through 2030, according to an October report by the Center for American Progress.
With the economy dominating electoral rhetoric, President Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney have largely dodged immigration issues.
In the case of the DREAM Act, the report”™s authors contend the economy and immigration are closely intertwined.
“This study”™s findings are clear: Passage of the DREAM Act would improve the American economy and contribute to the economic recovery and our future economic stability,” wrote authors Juan Carlos Guzman and Raul Jara.
The Center for American Progress study concludes passage of the DREAM Act would result in an increase in workers”™ earnings of $148 billion by 2030, which would in turn trigger $181 billion in induced economic impact, the creation of 1.4 million new jobs and more than $11 billion in new state and federal household income tax and business tax revenues.
The report draws on data compiled from the U.S. Census Bureau”™s American Community Survey from 2006 to 2010.
Connecticut”™s economy would see the addition of 5,847 jobs and more than $1.6 billion in direct and induced economic impact through 2030 as a result of the bill”™s passage, the study estimates.
In New York state, the total economic impact would be $16 billion through 2030, including the creation of 53,489 new jobs.
Donald Gibson, dean of Fairfield University”™s Charles F. Dolan School of Business, said passage of the DREAM Act would significantly increase the number of skilled laborers entering the workforce, adding that workers with a college degree have fared far better in today”™s job market.
“What the DREAM Act allows is a person to engage in that, to start a four-year college degree as a path to citizenship,” Gibson said. “Now you”™re given someone a much stronger tool kit for entering our economy.”
The DREAM Act establishes a means for undocumented immigrants under the age of 32 who were brought to the U.S. at or before they turned 15 to seek citizenship.
In order to be eligible, an undocumented immigrant would have to have been admitted to a U.S. institute of higher education or to have earned a high school diploma or general education development certificate.
Under the proposed legislation, eligible residents would first be required to apply for conditional permanent resident status, and after a six-year probationary period, those who had earned a college degree, completed at least two years in a bachelor”™s or higher degree program or served in the military for at least two years could then have their conditional status removed.
