On Monday, we mentioned a report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) finding that so far the Biden administration has imported 6.6 million foreigners, legal and illegal. Together with those foreign-born already here, they make up a nation-within-a-nation of 51.6 million.
The report finds that, of those 6.6 million newcomers, only a minority are working; 54 percent are mere consumers. The report concludes:
Much of the news coverage on immigration has focused on the workers it provides employers. But the data shows that, of immigrants who said they arrived in 2022 or later, only 46 percent were actually employed. This is similar to the employment rate of new arrivals during prior economic expansions. Immigrants are not simply workers, they are human beings, and, as such, a large share of newcomers are children, elderly, disabled, caregivers, or others who cannot or who do not wish to work. Immigration clearly adds workers to the country but also adds non-workers who need to be supported by the labor of others. This is a reminder that policy-makers need to think about immigration’s broad impact on American society, not merely its usefulness to employers.
For more, see CIS.org.