The Immigration Blame Game

Hundreds of studies have been done in recent years to gauge the impact of immigration on the United States. Some focused on the phenomenon’s international scale. Others tried to determine its impact on individual states, counties and cities. But almost all of them tried to provide a statistical snapshot of a complicated situation that by its very nature--its very human nature--is constantly shifting and hard to quantify.

That background is worth keeping in mind during the latest debate over whether the many immigrants who have come to Los Angeles County in the last decade have helped or hurt the local economy. The most recent study was done by the county’s Internal Services Department at the request of County Supervisor Michael Antonovich. The findings are consistent with past studies: Recently arrived immigrants contribute $4.3 billion through their labor, investments and taxes, but also pose a significant burden, $946 million, on public services.

Antonovich concludes that the study proves immigrants are hurting the county, and he is demanding a crackdown on illegal immigration. Latino and Asian-American activists say the statistics prove immigrants are a net benefit to Los Angeles, and they accuse Antonovich of trying to scapegoat the newcomers, wrongly blaming them for larger economic troubles.

Antonovich’s rhetoric about immigration is overheated, but he’s certainly not the first ambitious politician to use the immigration issue. And the study he commissioned is not without value. It provides more evidence that Los Angeles and other cities heavily impacted by immigration should get a lot more help from the federal government, which is responsible for controlling the country’s borders. The county study estimates that only 3.2% of immigrants’ total tax contributions come back to Los Angeles.

Federal officials are not unaware of this. That’s why the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 set aside more than $4 billion to help local jurisdictions absorb immigrants; however, only a fraction of that has come to California. If Antonovich wants to handle immigration in a constructive manner, he should join Gov. Pete Wilson and other state officials in trying to get more immigration impact money from Washington.