Can Immigrants Spur Rust Belt Recovery?

Immigrants are needed, not only to work in the companies, but also to live and buy things in those towns.   - - Donna Poisl

By Curtis Tate 

As Rust Belt cities look for ways to dig themselves out of economic decline, it would appear immigrant workers are taking center stage in the conversation. Places like Detroit, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis are all grappling with ways to make immigrants a part of their labor forces, and expand their populations, where, in the case of Detroit, population has shrunk drastically over the last 40 years, down from 1.5 million in 1970 to around 678,000 as of 2012. For cities trying to escape recession, growing populations typically contribute to their doing so.

However, the population has decreased in Detroit and the others for a reason: economic opportunity is lacking. Businesses are not expanding here, and states are having a hard time attracting entrepreneurial talent to areas that grow more like ghost towns by the day. A comprehensive immigration plan, however, might allow for some help.
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