Trump's anti-legal immigration plan, the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, appears to be dead on arrival, but everyone should know how bad it would be if congressional Republicans decide to advance it at a later date.
You may say the "Strong Employment Act" is ironically named because, according to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, it would cost 4.6 million jobs over the next 20 years. And that's not all.
In a report published Thursday, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School said the immigration plan, dubbed the RAISE Act, would result in 4.6 million lost jobs by the year 2040. It also found that the U.S. economy would be 2% smaller than it would be under the current immigration policy during that time. [...]
Economists say the U.S. economy depends on foreign workers to grow the labor force and maintain growth. Since 2000, Baby Boomers have been retiring at a much faster pace than the U.S. job market has been growing, according to data from the Atlanta Federal Reserve and Labor Department.
Our economy is effectively subsidized by the presence of 27 million foreign-born workers and those workers will only become more important over time as more old (white) Americans retire or otherwise exit the labor force.
The White House has dismissed this study by saying the economic benefits of legal immigration come "at the expense of American workers," but the truth is those "American workers" don't exist. This is not dependent on your own personal view or opinion of immigrants, it's mathematics. Just the same, the White House also says the study had "methodological faults" but apparently didn't explain what those faults are.
As you may know, the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School is the school that Donald Trump allegedly attended.