Serrano Criticizes Report, Praises Immigrants’ Contributions to American Economy

Bronx, NY
, August 26, 2004—Today, Congressman José E. Serrano launched a criticism of the Center for Immigration Studies’ (CIS) new report that seeks to attack undocumented immigrants by claiming that they are a drain on society.

“With this report, the Center for Immigration Studies has done immigrants and the American public a great disservice by manipulating economic data to pick on undocumented immigrants,” said Serrano.  “The fact of the matter is that, no matter how you slice it, undocumented immigrants play a critical role in our nation’s economy, taking the jobs most Americans won’t take, working hard, and paying taxes, all while living in constant fear of arrest and deportation.”

The report claims to be objective.  But the National Immigration Forum is quick to point out CIS’s connection to FAIR, the hard-core anti-immigration group, and analyzing the report it has found that “the report asks narrow questions of the data, uses a methodology that is skewed to produce findings, and then concludes with policy recommendations that were the bases for asking the narrow questions.  To be blunt, CIS is simply churning out high-sounding, low-credibility grist for the high-pitch, low-road anti-immigration forces.” (http://www.immigrationforum.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=653) 

“CIS bashes undocumented immigrants for paying less in taxes than other Americans,” continued Serrano.  “That’s because undocumented immigrants don’t make much money, and don’t have as much money to buy things.  Evidently the Center thinks it has discovered something big by coming up with the idea that poor people pay less in taxes than rich people.  The fact of the matter is that undocumented immigrants’ families cost the federal government half of what other American families cost, and much of the costs these families incur relate to the schooling of their American-born children.

“Americans deserve a well-informed debate on immigration.  By manipulating data and turning to crude immigrant-bashing masquerading as economic data, CIS has failed to advance our national debate.”