There’s a new academic report out on the state of immigration in the United States and some Republican presidential candidates, especially frontrunner Donald Trump, might want to give it a read before taking the debate stage again.
The study, conducted by the Integration of Immigrants Into American Society Committee, concluded that immigrants and their children who live in the U.S. are improving in terms of income and education levels, employment, and language abilities as they become more integrated into American society.
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For instance, the paper states that over a quarter of immigrants have a college education and their kids meet or exceed the schooling level of typical third-generation and greater native-born Americans. It adds that the likelihood of poverty usually decreases across subsequent generations of immigrants.
The study also seemingly debunks the GOP talking point that immigrants commit more crimes than people born inside the U.S., finding that foreign-born men between the ages of 18 and 39 are incarcerated at one-fourth the rate of native-born American men in that same age group.
The study also looked at health and divorce rates among immigrants, of which it estimates there 41 million immigrants and 37.1 million U.S.-born children of immigrants in the United States today. The report was funded, in part, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Immigration has been a marquee issue in the Republican primary, with Trump promising to send all illegal immigrants back to their home countries on “day one” in the Oval Office. Many in the crowded GOP field have followed his lead, agreeing that the U.S. should end birthright citizenship and build a wall along the U.S. southern border.
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Or, in the case of failed presidential candidate and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, build a wall to separate the United States and Canada.
The debate over immigration, at home and abroad, is likely to rage on after Pope Francis called on Americans to embrace immigrants from the south and those who are part of the exodus out of Syria.
“Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the Second World War,” the Pope said Thursday in a historic address to a joint meeting of Congress.
“We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation,” Francis added. “To respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal. We need to avoid a common temptation nowadays--to discard whatever proves troublesome.”
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His remarks left Republican lawmakers squirming in their seats, while Democrats rose to their feet with applause.
While the newly-minted report will likely be welcome by pro-immigration advocates, it points out that there still several challenges that impede progress for those already in the country, including the often unpredictable status of parents who were not born in the U.S.
