The Economic Benefits of Immigrant Authorization in California
By Manuel Pastor, Justin Scoggins, Jennifer Tran, and Rhonda Ortiz
The Economic Benefits of Immigrant Authorization in California estimated that California would eventually benefit from Latino immigrant legalization by $16 billion annually. This would work towards fixing our budget crisis and restoring our safety net programs.
CSII researchers used a conservative economic model that accounts for the wage “penalty” incurred by the undocumented, assumes a very slow increase in English skills and educational levels, and does not account for gains from future migration. Despite this conservative modeling, the report found that significant immediate and long-term benefits would accrue not only to affected workers, but to the state and nation overall.
