The Jamestown Sun: Study: Immigrants make up growing part of workforce, tax base of ND, Minnesota

A new analysis is shedding some light on the growing economic impact of immigrants who live and work in North Dakota and Minnesota as questions of immigration policy, especially for refugees, continue to split opinions locally and nationally.

Newly compiled data released Tuesday, Feb. 21, morning by national organization New American Economy crunched the number of foreign-born residents in each of the country’s 435 congressional districts and added up their purchasing power, paid taxes and more.

In North Dakota, more than 27,000 immigrants paid $124.6 million in taxes in 2014, while Minnesota’s 437,000 immigrants paid $3.3 billion in taxes.

“The data puts the economic power of America’s immigrants in stark relief,” said Chairman John Feinblatt in a written statement. “Across the map, and in every industry, immigrants strengthen the economies of big cities and small towns alike.”

While Rachel Hoffman said it’s important to humanize the immigrants and refugees who live and work here, the chairwoman of Fargo’s Human Relations Commission said statistics like these can also help locals understand just how important foreign-born people have become.

“Right now, we’re hearing that refugees are a burden on the community cost-wise,” she said. “We’re not hearing about the benefits, and I think seeing these numbers and the contributions they’re making is important.”

Read the full article from The Jamestown Sun: “Study: Immigrants make up growing part of workforce, tax base of ND, Minnesota”
Visit MapTheImpact.org