As the House of Representatives gears up to debate immigration legislation, how can the U.S. maximize the economic benefits from reform? Economists and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office have illustrated the big economic boost that comes with immigration reform. But as Congress debates what the path from legal status to citizenship should look like for the 11.7 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country, this event will consider the economic ramifications of different policy proposals.
Please join the Center for American Progress for an event featuring a discussion of lessons from countries in Europe and North America that have put greater or fewer obstacles in front of immigrants who want to become citizens, and highlighting why a clear and relatively easy path to citizenship brings the biggest economic boost to the nation, and ensures that the greatest number of people naturalize.
Introductory Remarks:
Philip E. Wolgin, Senior Policy Analyst for Immigration, Center for American Progress
Featured Panelists:
Don J. DeVoretz, Professor of Economics, Simon Fraser University, and Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Ana Navarro, Republican Strategist and CNN Political Contributor
Manuel Pastor, Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity, and co-Director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, University of Southern California
Moderator:
Angela Maria Kelley, Vice President for Immigration Policy, Center for American Progress