Campaign Action
Passing a clean, bipartisan DREAM so that undocumented youth can finally be eligible for a path to citizenship is not only morally right, it makes economic sense. According to new research from the Center for American Progress, the DREAM Act would add nearly $30 billion annually to the gross domestic product (GDP), and “because the gains from legalization grow each year, the cumulative increase in GDP over 10 years would be $281 billion.” With certain conditions, those economic gains will even reach up to $1 trillion over a decade:
Extrapolating from the immediately eligible and employed population to the entire population who may one day be eligible for the Dream Act—either when they age into eligibility or complete the educational requirements—the economic gains could be roughly 42 percent higher. Over a decade, this means the GDP gains from the Dream Act could be as high as a cumulative $400 billion. With the education bump, the gains could be as high as a cumulative $1 trillion.
“On a per capita basis,” notes the research, “passing the Dream Act would ultimately raise the average incomes of all Americans by between approximately $82 and $273, annually … while small, these are important, positive increases in the economic well-being of the population.” And it would fly in the face of Donald Trump and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III’s claims that immigrants hurt native-born Americans economically. It’s clear we need a clean vote on a bipartisan DREAM Act, and we need it now.