If the U.S. Senate wants to truly help the economy rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, it should prioritize advancing the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. This bipartisan legislation would allow a small group of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to work, go to school and/or serve in the military while pursuing U.S. citizenship. Voters from both parties agree that these young people offer invaluable contributions to our country and should be allowed to stay. Former President Ronald Reagan said it best when he observed that “our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands.”
The DREAM Act would grant educational and work permits to young people brought to the U.S. as children, allowing them to participate in the formal economy and build lives here. Al Drago/Bloomberg, File
Major business organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Retail Federation all support the DREAM Act for its potential to boost the U.S. economy. Dreamers are economic multipliers, as they work, pay taxes, spend as consumers and even create jobs just as any other American. If the U.S. were to lose all its Dreamers tomorrow, it would also lose up to $460 billion in gross domestic product. The U.S. cannot afford such an enormous loss on top of the $3.2 trillion to $4.8 trillion the pandemic is projected to cost our economy in GDP over the next two years. By contrast, the DREAM Act would actually increase U.S. GDP by $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
Despite not being able to access all the government services funded by taxpayer dollars, Dreamers pay federal, state and local taxes. We need their contributions to our tax base, which has dwindled thanks to the economic strains of the pandemic. Dreamers pay about $5.6 billion in federal taxes and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes every year. If unable to tax Dreamers’ paychecks, the federal government would lose $90 billion in tax revenue over the next decade. Dreamers similarly pay into our Medicare and Social Security systems. Without Dreamers, Medicare and Social Security will experience a $24.6 billion shortfall over the next 10 years, right when the surge of baby boomer retirements is expected to squeeze those systems more than ever.
Coffee By Design, like the rest of the U.S. business community, values Dreamers as leaders and innovators. Dreamers are assets to U.S. companies large and small; more than 72 percent of the top 25 companies on the Fortune 500 list employ Dreamers, including household names like IBM, Walmart and Apple.
Dreamers also start small businesses and invest in their communities by creating new jobs. About 6 percent of recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a Department of Homeland Security program that offers select Dreamers renewable two-year permits to stay in the U.S., have already founded small businesses that employ U.S. citizens.
The DREAM Act would increase the purchasing power of Dreamers. Dreamers want to go to school and get good jobs that allow them to pursue the American Dream, which includes a car, a home and other major consumer purchases. The DREAM Act would grant them the educational and work permits necessary to participate in the formal economy, often in high-skilled jobs, and bring home more money to provide for their families. For many Dreamers, the United States is the only home they have ever known. Why not allow them the chance to make official what they have always felt: America is home?
As first in the nation for the highest proportion of residents over the age of 65, the state of Maine needs Dreamers, who are vital to growing our fragile economy. Any loss of contributing members to our community is a loss to us all. Given the opportunity to be full participants in the American Dream, Dreamers benefit, but so do we. The DREAM Act has the unique potential to help expedite Maine’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic as we struggle with our aging demographic. With our economic well-being at stake, U.S. Senate leaders need to work across the aisle to pass the DREAM Act as soon as possible.
I respectfully request that the Senate advance the DREAM Act so that the state of Maine and the nation can move forward with the hard work we have before us of economic recovery, allowing all who call America home to be equal participants in our democracy.
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