Cal focus

New study claims legalizing the illegal residents now in the country would produce a $1.5 trillion benefit to the economy over 10 years. - - Donna Poisl

Pro-immigrant studies won't end debate

By Thomas D. Elias

Professors at UCLA and USC released studies early this year that concluded allowing illegal immigrants to stay in America would provide a huge boost to the economy. But if anyone thought their findings might end one of this country's longest-running policy and moral debates, they were sadly mistaken.

That's because the battle over illegal immigrants, and the question of whether they should be permitted some path to eventual citizenship, actually heated up after those reports appeared. On one side, the studies' authors and others insist that legalizing the currently undocumented would produce wage increases, increase tax receipts at all levels of government, up the consumption of consumer goods and create jobs.
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