by Leslie Wollack

Last week, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), made another attempt to revive the national debate on comprehensive immigration reform with testimony from three mayors and other witnesses highlighting the value of immigration to the American economy. The Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Immigration hearing entitled, "the Economic Imperative for Enacting Immigration Reform," featured testimony from mayors who have embraced immigrants in their community and from business leaders. 

Noting that the United States' "economic supremacy arose because our schools successfully developed America's best minds and our immigration successfully attracted the world's best minds," Sen. Schumer warned, "if we do not enact an immigration policy that continues to attract the world's best minds, we will cease to be the world's economic leader."

Schumer noted two recent studies pointing to the impact of immigrants on the economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston recently released a report, which said that the top 10 "resurgent cities" in the nation, defined as rust-belt cities, have made substantial progress in improving living standards for their residents. The immigration population in those cities increased from 4.5 percent in 1980 to more than 15 percent today. In addition, a recent study from the Kauffman Foundation showed that immigrant-owned businesses jumped from 13.4 percent of all new businesses in 1996 to 29.5 percent of all new businesses in 2010.

The committee heard from three mayors with different stories to tell about the impact of immigration and concerns over regressive policies that have a detrimental effect on their economies and the fabrics of their communities.

Mayor Paul Bridges of Uvalda, Ga., warned that a new immigration law enacted in Georgia is already having a devastating impact on the local economy and will decrease public safety because local police will enforce immigration law rather than addressing crime in the community. 

"The reality of this law won't solve the immigration problem in the state, it will only devastate local economies," said Mayor Bridges. "These workers who do those jobs are a critical part of Georgia's economy. Their work helps agriculture to inject $6.85 billion dollars into Georgia's economy. These workers also contribute to local economies as consumers."

In addition to the economic problems this law creates, it also puts immigrant workers - as well as anyone associated with those workers - directly into the crosshairs. Now that migrant farm workers are fleeing Georgia, healthy crops have been rotting in the fields. The Georgia Business Council has indicated farms have lost over $300 million due to the lack of workers. This economic toll could reach $1 billion, the mayor said.

Mayor David Roefaro of Utica, N.Y., described the valuable contributions of Bosnian refugees to the city economy. "Our economic growth is tied directly to how we as a nation utilize the talent of immigrants," Roefaro testified. 

"Nationwide, cities with growing immigrant populations have the fastest economic growth. Immigrants, by making our economy more productive, contribute over $37 billion to the wages and output of native-born Americans," added Roefaro. "These new Americans paid over $ 162 billion in federal, state, and local taxes, proving their worth to our communities."

Lewiston, Maine Mayor Laurent Gilbert noted the initial negative perception of Somalian refugees but said, "collaboration and education are the keys to success" in integrating the newest population. 

Despite some of the problems the city has faced in integrating these new residents, "there are signs that our immigrant population is having a positive impact on the social fabric of our community and our local economy," testified Mayor Gilbert. 

Gilbert spoke of the energy of immigrant entrepreneurs - bringing new life to downtown Lewiston. More than a dozen immigrant-owned businesses occupy formerly vacant storefronts over a two-block area. 

Four of the witnesses at the hearing were members of a national, bipartisan coalition of mayors and business leaders promoting intelligent immigration reform as key to the American economy and the creation of jobs. The Partnership for a New American Economy, founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, prominent local officials and business leaders, has grown to more than 300 members in just a year and has been making the economic case for immigration reform to invigorate the U.S. economy. 

At the hearing, witnesses highlighted the value of a smarter immigration policy to their businesses and local economy. 

Robert Greifeld, CEO, NASDAQ, emphasized the central role of talented immigrants in driving the innovations and building the companies that put Americans to work. 

"Congress should see immigration reform as a pressing jobs issue. The current legal immigration regime with its inadequacies and costs is robbing America of the next generation of great companies," said Greifeld. "I believe that Google, Yahoo and eBay - many of the job drivers of the last 20 years - would likely not be founded in America today."

NLC supports efforts to fix the nation's broken immigration system and calls on Congress and the Administration to leave the divisive rhetoric behind and work together to enact comprehensive immigration reform. NLC issued a statement welcoming last week's hearing to highlight the economic benefits of a functioning immigration system to the country. 

NLC also welcomes President Obama's ongoing efforts inside and outside of Washington to create a broader base of public support for comprehensive immigration reform by highlighting the invaluable contributions immigrants and the children of immigrants have made and are making to the country. 

In a recent speech, the President shared the poignant story of NLC's Second Vice President, Marie Lopez Rogers, mayor of Avondale, Ariz., who was born the daughter of hard-working migrant farm workers. She was the first to attend college in her family and now works at the very site in Avondale where she and her parents used to pick cotton, except now city hall sits there and Rogers is the town's mayor.