{"id":21639,"date":"2019-06-25T14:24:03","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T18:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=21639"},"modified":"2019-06-25T14:24:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T18:24:05","slug":"using-real-data-to-push-a-false-narrative-on-immigration-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2019\/06\/25\/using-real-data-to-push-a-false-narrative-on-immigration-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Real Data to Push a False Narrative on Immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How many times are we told that immigrants work harder<\/a> than Americans? Or that more immigration is needed to extend the lifespan<\/a> of Social Security? Mass immigration appears to be the solution to all of the United States\u2019 financial woes. At least, that seems to be the message frequently pushed by the cheap-labor lobby and parroted by the mainstream media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One organization that pushes this narrative is the New American Economy<\/a> (NAE), which claims to \u201cuse powerful research to\u2026 tell a story of immigration that is about entrepreneurship, out-innovating our global competitors, and building prosperity in communities large and small across the country.\u201d Essentially, the organization is very open about the fact that they want to portray immigrants as far more valuable than native-born American citizens. They primarily \u201cprove\u201d this by producing reports that tout the perceived benefits that immigrants provide to state and local economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of their most recent reports<\/a> focusing on the Portland, Maine, metro area, the NAE claimed, based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS), that foreign-born residents made up 5.1 percent of the local workforce, and contributed $1.2 billion to the local GDP in 2016. Furthermore, the report touts the $252 million that immigrants paid in federal and state taxes. On the surface, that sounds quite impressive, but the report fails to provide critical context. Below are some very important data points from both the ACS<\/a> and Bureau of Economic Analysis<\/a> that the NAE conveniently left out of their report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n