From The Bookshelves: Immigration: Key to the Future — The Benefits of Resettlement to Upstate New York

Immigration: Key to the Future — The Benefits of Resettlement to Upstate New York is a publication of the New York State Bar Association, the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, and the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York. Here’s their pitch:

Do refugees contribute to a community’s vitality, or are they a drain on a community’s safety net resources? Until now there was no comprehensive effort by which to judge the impact of immigrants on Upstate New York, but now there is: Immigration: Key to the Future — The Benefits of Resettlement to Upstate New York examines how refugees contribute to and even rejuvenate their communities by offsetting demographic and economic decline through paying taxes, rebuilding housing stock, opening new businesses, and taking unfilled jobs….

30 authorities to explore the issue. Drawn from academia, the business community, and service organizations, and largely using demographic and statistical analysis, the contributors put forward strategies for successful resettlement of refugees.

Immigration: Key to the Future stands as a major statement on the contributions made by refugees to their adopted communities in the United States. It demolishes old myths and replaces them with an array of facts that are compelling, persuasive, and overwhelmingly positive.

One of the book’s contributors is New American Economy. NAE summarizes their chapter as follows:

• From peaking in the ’70s, many Upstate New York cities have shrunk to half the size. The loss of economic activity and people to other parts of the country meant fewer jobs and a smaller tax base.
• Between 2013-2018, Upstate New York shrunk by 0.9%, but its immigrant population grew by 4.4%. Without immigrants, Upstate New York would’ve shrunk by 1.3%.
• Since 2002, more than 48,000 refugees have been resettled in Upstate New York. These newcomers represent a significant part—10.7%—of the immigrant community.
• Together, in 2018 alone, immigrants and refugees in Upstate New York earned $15.2 billion and paid $3.0 billion in federal income tax and $1.9 billion in state and local taxes.

-KitJ