Press Release: Statement from Partnership for a New American Economy Co-Chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Framework Calls For Immigration System that Reflects Economic Needs, Secures Our Borders, Provides a Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants, Reduces Visa Backlogs, and Ensures that Employers Hire Only Legal Workers

Following today’s announcement of a “Bipartisan Framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform” by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), John McCain (R-AZ), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ), the Partnership for a New American Economy released the following statement of Co-Chair Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City:

“More than 500 CEOs and mayors from the Partnership for a New American Economy have spent three years making the case that modernizing our immigration system is not only good economics, but also good politics. Four leading Republican Senators and four leading Democratic Senators came together today to break the partisan logjam and bring our antiquated immigration system into a digital economic age.”

The Partnership was founded in 2010 to make the economic case that immigration reform will help grow the economy and create new American jobs. In the past two years, the Partnership has produced series of reports with research demonstrating the value of STEM immigration reform to the US economy. The Partnership’s research shows that:

• Immigrants are driving new business growth in the US: 28 percent of all companies founded in the United States in 2011 had immigrant founders. (Partnership for a New American Economy, ”Open for Business,” August 2012)

• Immigrants have created many of America’s greatest companies: 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or a child of an immigrant. (Partnership for a New American Economy, “The ‘New American’ Fortune 500,” June 2011 Report)

• The US is facing a shortage of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (“STEM”) workers: By 2018, there will be more than 230,000 advanced degrees STEM jobs that will not be filled even if every single American STEM grad finds a job. (Partnership for a New American Economy and Partnership for New York City, “Not Coming to America,” May 2012)

• Foreign STEM graduates create American jobs: Every foreign graduate with an advanced degree from a US university who stays and works in a STEM field creates on average 2.62 jobs for American workers. (American Enterprise Institute and the Partnership for a New American Economy, “Immigration and American Jobs,” December 2011)

• Foreign STEM grads drive US innovation: 76% of patents from the top 10 patent-producing US universities (MIT, Caltech, Stanford, etc.) in 2011 had a foreign born inventor. Over 165 university presidents and chancellors – coming from all 50 states – have written Washington’s leaders supporting immigration reform that would grant green cards to foreign graduates with advanced degrees at U.S. universities. (Partnership for a New American Economy, “Patent Pending,” June 2012 and University President Letter, September 2012)

• Immigrants fill gaps in our workforce and help keep our workforce dynamic: Immigrants are far more likely to be low skilled, but also more likely to be high skilled. For example, in the healthcare industry, immigrants are more than twice as likely to be physicians and surgeons at the high skilled end, but also nearly twice as likely to be low-skilled nursing assistants and home health aides. We need workers from both of these areas. (Brookings Institution and the Partnership for a New American Economy, “Immigrant Workers in the US Labor Force,” March 2012 Report)

• Passing the DREAM Act will create jobs and boost economic activity: Incentivizing DREAMers to pursue college and allowing them to work here legally will add 1.4 million jobs and generate $329 billion in economic activity over the next 20 years. (Center for American Progress and Partnership for a New American Economy, “The Economic Benefits of Passing the DREAM Act,” October 2012 Report)

About the Partnership:
The Partnership for a New American Economy brings together more than 500 Republican, Democratic, and Independent mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms that will help create jobs for Americans today. The Partnership’s members include mayors of more than 35 million people nationwide and business leaders of companies that generate more than $1.5 trillion and employ more than 4 million people across all sectors of the economy, from Agriculture to Aerospace, Hospitality to High Tech, and Media to Manufacturing. Partnership members understand that immigration is essential to maintaining the productive, diverse, and flexible workforce that America needs to ensure prosperity over the coming generations. Learn more at: renewoureconomy.org.

Contact: Mayor Bloomberg’s Office (212) 788-2958