, Columnist
The Immigration Number That Ignores Citizens' Interests
The $5 trillion estimate on the value of illegal labor omits a crucial economic indicator.
A five-trillion-dollar question.
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It’s an eye-opening finding: If the U.S. no longer had any illegal immigrants, its GDP would be $5 trillion smaller over 10 years. That’s the conclusion of a recent study. But while the number is big, it’s not clear it tells us much about what to do about illegal immigration.
Normally, the expectation that a policy would shrink our economy by that much would be a very powerful argument against it. But that’s because normally, we would expect this shrinkage to take the form of lost jobs and lower living standards for Americans.