New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition
Winter, 2019-2020
News and Views
Pursuing Bipartisan and Evidence-Based Immigration Reform
Working together, we can create an immigration system for the 21st century!

We are pleased to share with you this first edition of the newsletter of the New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition (NJBIC). As a founding member of the Coalition, Einstein's Alley is helping to spearhead the development of the Coalition. Our newsletter will highlight important research findings and insightful commentary on the immigration challenges facing the nation. We hope that this information will point the way towards immigration solutions that work for all Americans. We also believe that bipartisanship must continue to be a distinguishing feature of the American approach to immigration. If you haven't already done so, we hope that you will join us in this effort. Please go to the " We want to hear from you! " section below to learn how you can be an active participant in the immigration reform effort.

Katherine Kish
NEWS YOU CAN USE
National Association of Manufacturers proposes bipartisan plan for immigration reform
New Jersey College Presidents write letter to members of the NJ congressional delegation about obstacles they are facing in attracting and retaining international students
Evidence of high innovation rates among immigrants
Ben Kesslen, NBC News
Immigration and American leadership in the field of artificial intelligence
Sigal Samuel, Future Perfect,
Keeping immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S.
Derek Lidow, Forbes
Will 90,000 spouses of H-1B visa holders lose their work authorization?
Silicon Valley Business Journal
A Dozen Facts About Immigration
The Hamilton Project of the Brookings Institution believes in putting forward “innovative proposals from leading economic thinkers – based on credible evidence and experience, not ideology or doctrine…” The report groups its “dozen facts” into three broad categories: first, how immigration has changed over time; second, who are today's immigrants; and finally, the effects of immigrants on the U.S. economy. Here are a few sample facts from the report:

  • Immigrants are much more likely than the U.S.-born to work in construction or service occupations.

  • The children of immigrants have a similar occupational distribution as the native-born population.
  • Economic output seems to be greater and faster in localities with more immigrants.
America's Demographic Challenge
This paper from the Bipartisan Policy Center emphasizes the importance of immigration in offsetting alarming demographic trends in the United States, i.e. declining birth rates and the aging of the population. The authors find that the 2013 bipartisan immigration reform bill would have reduced the federal deficit by $180 billion over 10 years and helped to slow the depletion of the Social Security Trust Fund. Liberalizing immigration, however, is not a panacea; other policy changes will be needed to reduce the federal deficit and stave off Social Security insolvency.
 
The Immigrant
"Brain Gain"
The Migration Policy Institute reports that recent immigrants in the United States are more educated today than in the past. Data from the American Community Survey and U.S. Census Bureau show that from 1986 to 1990, 27 percent of new arrivals had a college degree. Between 2011 and 2015, 48 percent of recent immigrants were college graduates. In 26 states, including New Jersey, recent immigrants were more likely to be college educated than those born in the U.S. The authors suggest this shift, along with an increase in English proficiency and bilingualism among new arrivals, may be due to increased immigration from Asia. Currently, half of the college-educated immigrants in the U.S. come from Asia. Educational attainment is rising among other immigrant groups as well; nearly one-quarter of recent immigrants from Latin America have college degrees.


GET INVOLVED: We want to hear from you!

  • Check out our policy platform here and if your company or organization agrees with our principles for immigration reform, sign up as a member of the coalition.

  • Share your thoughts on the immigration reform challenges facing the United States. How is your industry affected? What specific reform proposals are you championing? Write us at: [email protected]
The New Jersey Business Immigration Coalition,
c/o Einstein's Alley, P.O. Box 165, Plainsboro NJ 08536,
THE NEW JERSEY BUSINESS IMMIGRATION COALITION