Michael R. Strain, Columnist

'Dreamer' Migrants Make U.S. Economy Stronger

A Senate bill would help America keep its promise to these educated, productive residents.

September 13, 2017 at 1:00 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

Promises to keep.
Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Economics can be used to identify tradeoffs in public policy by enumerating costs and benefits. President Donald Trump’s decision not to allow the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to continue will create economic costs, if Congress does not act. The U.S. stands to lose hundreds of thousands of productive workers, the value those workers generate, and the taxes those workers pay.

The economic benefits of deporting 690,000 people whose families brought them here illegally when they were children? There are none.