The Migration Policy Institute has just released a report entitled: “Immigration and the Current Economic Crisis.”
Here is what ImmigrationProf blog has to say about it. (I’m linking their news story because I wanted you to see this blog by immigration law professors anyway).
With the United States in an economic crisis that may already be the worst since the Great Depression, a report (Download lmi_recessionjan091.pdf ) issued today by the Migration Policy Institute finds that the recession may produce differing results for legal and illegal immigration flows. The report, Immigrants and the Current Economic Crisis, cites a growing body of evidence suggesting there has been a measurable slowdown in the historic growth of immigration in the United States, largely because there has been no significant growth in the unauthorized immigrant population since 2006.
“Legal and illegal immigration flows respond differently in an economic crisis,” said Migration Policy Institute President Demetrios Papademetriou, an author of the report. “Legal permanent immigration flows are the least responsive to economic pressures, while illegal immigration flows are the most responsive.” “Still, substantial return migration of unauthorized immigrants is unlikely unless there’s a protracted and severe worsening of the U.S. economy,” Papademetriou added. The report examines the effects of the economic crisis and factors such as immigration enforcement on the immigrant population already in the United States; predicts how future immigration flows may be affected; discusses how immigrants fare in the U.S. labor market during recessions; and offers possible policy prescriptions.
For us, the gist of what is being said here is that refugees and other legal immigrants will keep coming even when there are no jobs. Guess that just means that Americans who are working will be paying for the legal refugees to live on welfare.
The illegal flow may slow or even reverse.