Bush Institute Monthly Immigration Update

Hello, Friends.

 

El Paso, Texas, migrant shelter Annunciation House is currently locked in a legal battle with the Texas Attorney General’s office over services the faith-based organization provides to asylum-seeking migrants.

Annunciation House has served migrants for nearly 50 years, across both Republican and Democrat administrations. It fills an important role – providing migrants a safe place to stay after they are released from U.S. government custody.

Anyone who has had the privilege of meeting Annunciation House’s Executive Director, Ruben Garcia, knows his fierce advocacy. The George W. Bush Institute honored Annunciation House and Ruben in 2021 for their commitment to serving vulnerable migrants.

Immigration policy is a constant debate, and reasonable people can disagree about which migrants the U.S. admits and which are allowed to stay. Human beings seeking freedom and opportunity should be treated with dignity, even if the law ultimately won’t allow them to stay in the U.S.

I often use this newsletter to remind us of President Bush’s belief that the U.S. can be a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time. Annunciation House, and the many other migrant-serving nonprofits along the border, serve on the frontlines of welcoming these migrants to America and providing critical humanitarian support. They deserve our gratitude.

 

Kind Regards,

Laura

Figure of the Month

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Data Dive

 

• Immigration policy is economic policy, even when our legal immigration system remains inadequate to meet today’s labor force needs. The Congressional Budget Office reported that increased immigration is driving growth in the U.S. workforce and shrinking the federal deficit. The CBO estimates that economic output over the next decade will be about $7 trillion greater and revenues will increase by $1 trillion.

• Economic contributions of refugees and asylees improve our fiscal outlook, a recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services found. The analysis estimated the net fiscal benefit to be $123.8 billion between 2005 and 2019.

• Backlogs continue to plague legal immigration. Approximately 3% of those who submitted green card applications will receive permanent status, according to a new paper released by the Cato Institute. Most are denied not because the applicants are unqualified, but because the caps have not been adjusted since 1990.

• The undocumented population in the United States grew from 10.3 million in 2021 to 10.9 million in 2022, estimates The Center for Migration Studies. The increase reverses more than a decade of gradual decline in the undocumented population.

• This New York Times piece shows the heartbreaking reality and true complexity of the challenges at the border. “The border wall was now compromised every few miles by rope ladders, small tunnels, gaps awaiting construction, and new pathways cut every few nights by smugglers. One of them was a 3-by-3-foot hole that led to a patch of saguaro cactuses and mesquite trees on the Chilton Ranch. Brian had watched cartel guides lead more than 170 people through that opening in the last few hours, including dozens of women and children who said they planned to seek asylum in the United States. They were fleeing civil war in Sudan, caste discrimination in India, starvation in rural Guinea and organized crime in Albania.”

• A report from the Wilson Center emphasizes that refugee protection, through resettlement or asylum, is in the foreign and national security interests of the United States. While the brief has specific recommendations for the executive branch and Congress, the overarching theme of the brief is continued American leadership on humanitarian migration issues rather than political posturing.

• The Niskanen Center’s Cecilia Esterline published a detailed paper on a proposed anti-immigration agenda for the next presidential administration. For those of us who believe America benefits from immigration, it’s a sobering reminder that we must continue to put forward positive solutions to fix immigration rather than tear it down to nothing.

• Read: What’s happening at the U.S.-Mexico border?

• Listen: A deep dive into the immigration crisis

• February 27, Baker Institute for Public Policy: Town Hall: Labor Shortages, Border Crisis, & Immigration Reform

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If someone at your organization would like to receive this update, please email LCollins@bushcenter.org