A Middle Class Primer on Immigration Reform

http://drummajorinstitute.org/library/report.php?ID=21 

Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class A Primer for Policymakers and Advocates by Amy M. Traub The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy offers “Principles for an Immigration Policy to Strengthen and Expand the American Middle Class: A Primer for Policymakers and Advocates” in response to inadequacies in the current conversation about immigration. Executive Summary The debate over the future of immigration policy in this country is expected to become one of the most pressing policy conversations in the year ahead. That debate can be a positive one that helps us to define our future as a nation or a negative one that draws upon fears and inaccuracies for the purpose of dividing people who should be united in the common cause of preserving access to the American Dream. We argue that immigration policy must be connected to the larger conversation about America’s squeezed middle class and those striving to attain a middle-class standard of living. Accordingly, the Drum Major Institute offers a lens through which to evaluate immigration policy that operates from the basic principle that immigration policy is sound only if it also helps to strengthen and expand America’s middle class. Our litmus test for evaluating immigration policy or advocacy agendas by its impact on the middle class is two-fold: