FACT SHEET

FACT: Immigrants Help Our Economy

Immigrants Contribute to the U.S.

• "I have always thought that under the conditions such as what we now confront, we should be carefully focused on the contribution which skilled people from abroad, unskilled people from abroad, what they can contribute to this country as they have for generation after generation."

--- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, July 18, 1999.

Immigrants Contribute to the Economy

• The National Academy of Sciences found that immigrants add $10 billion a year to the economy
• Immigrants add between $20,000 and $80,000 to the economy per person

Immigrants Pay Taxes

• Immigrants pay $133 billion in personal income taxes
• Businesses owned by immigrants pay an additional $29 billion in taxes
• Immigrants pay more in taxes than they get in benefits

Immigrants Keep Inflation Down

• Federal Reserve Board Chairman Greenspan testified before Congress that "if we can open up our immigration rolls significantly, that will clearly make [inflationary pressure] less and less of a potential problem."

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