We know a key to our state’s economic future is ensuring that the children of Arkansas’s immigrants have opportunities to succeed, as Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families outlined in a report last year. Now, a new report released late last week by the Center for American Progress shows that comprehensive immigration reform would be a multi-billion-dollar win for Arkansas.

U.S. Senate Bill 744, the compromise federal legislation put forward by the bipartisan Senate “gang of eight,” calls for a pathway to legalization and citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in America. It’s not an easy or short path, and it must be earned. It would enable an estimated 55,000 undocumented immigrants in Arkansas to produce and earn significantly more than they do today, where many work in the shadows of our economy.

For some good background on exactly what kind of impact immigrants have on the Arkansas economy, be sure to check out the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation report, “A Profile of Immigrants in Arkansas: Economic and Fiscal Benefits and Costs.”  Immigrants in the state have a huge direct impact on spending, however, the report found there were many “indirect effects” as well, including “an estimated 36,100 spin-off jobs and $1.3 billion in additional labor income in 2010. Immigrant spending was also responsible for $237 million in additional state tax receipts and $294 million in federal taxes.”

As the Center for American Progress outlined in its report, legal status would increase productivity, with wage gains from these taxpayers and consumers rippling through the economy. A pathway to legalization and citizenship, if passed, would:

• Increase the gross state product by $4.2 billion.
• Increase earnings of state residents by $2.5 billion.
• Create an average of 600 additional jobs annually.
• Significantly increase the income and pay of currently undocumented Arkansans. Over a 10-year period, they’ll earn $2.1 billion more and pay an additional $257 million in state and local taxes on those increased earnings.

For more information on the Senate bill and its effect on families, check out this report from our partner organization, First Focus: Immigration Reform and the Implications for Children.