Is immigration reform the answer to a stronger economy? The Bush Institute says yes

Jim Avila, Richard Coolidge, and Jordyn Phelps, Yahoo News

July 17, 2013

Members of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives recently threatened to reject the Senate’s comprehensive immigration reform bill, but the George W. Bush Institute is making the case that reform is in line with Republican philosophy and good for the U.S. economy.

Jim Glassman, the executive director of the Bush Institute, tells Power Players that immigration reform will promote economic growth, saying, “The engine for growth for the U.S. has been immigrants.”

“President Bush himself, Jeb Bush, President Bush’s father, George H. W. Bush … they’ve been dedicated to having a sensible immigration policy for decades now,” Glassman says. “And as far as conservatives in general, you know, most conservatives want growth.”

President George W. Bush attempted to offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants with a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2006, but the effort failed because the House and Senate couldn’t consolidate their unique versions of the bill.

The Bush Institute, along with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, recently published a study making the case that immigration reform will accelerate economic growth.

…

Click here to read more.