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HOUSE IMMIGRATION SUBCOMMITTEE DEBATES ECONOMIC IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION
Witnesses before the House Immigration Subcommittee at a hearing on March 11 disputed the economic impact of immigration on the U.S. According to George Borjas, a professor at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, the slight economic benefit created by immigration comes at the expense of unskilled native born workers. According to his estimates, the yearly arrival of 300,000 immigrants with less than a high school education drives down the wages of native workers with the same education levels by almost $ 2,000 a year.
Upon hearing this, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman of the Subcommittee, called current U.S. immigration policy a "recipe for disaster" for American-born blue collar workers, and called for changes that would protect them. Vernon Briggs, a professor of business at Cornell University said the U.S. should stop giving immigration preference to relatives of U.S. citizens and begin favoring immigrants with higher education and more job skills. 
Not all of the witnesses agreed with this assessment of immigration’s economic impact. Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute argued that immigration to the U.S. over the past 30 years has made possible one of the greatest economic booms in the country’s history. Furthermore, any costs associated with the immigration of unskilled workers, need to be weighed against the benefits of keeping families together. Immigration advocates point that most unskilled immigrants entering the US come to be reunited with immediate relatives who are US citizens and permanent residents.