Immigrants contributing to South Texas economy

SOUTH TEXAS – The Border Report says that a series of new reports find that immigrants on the South Texas border are helping to create jobs, paying taxes and driving the local economies. DHS increases amount of time asylum regulations at Southwest border in effect The four reports were released by the American Immigration Council in partnership with the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce and Texans for Economic Growth and studied immigrant contributions to the economies of McAllen, Laredo, Brownsville and the mid-Valley of the Rio Grande Valley from 2014 to 2019, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In McAllen, immigrants were credited with preserving or creating 10,500 local manufacturing jobs that would have otherwise vanished or moved to other locations in 2019, according to the “Immigrants in McAllen” report.

In Laredo, immigrants paid over $194 million in federal taxes and $142 million in local taxes in 2019, according to the “Immigrants in Laredo” report. In the mid-Rio Grande Valley, fewer immigrants received Medicare or Medicaid benefits in 2019, 33.8%, compared to 39.2% of U.S.-born residents, according to the “Immigrants in Middle Rio Grande Valley” report. In Brownsville, although immigrants made up less than a quarter of the overall population — 23.4% — they comprised over half, or 53.3% of entrepreneurs in the border city in 2019. They also were 160.4% more likely to be entrepreneurs than their U.S.-born counterparts, according to the “Immigrants in Brownsville” report. “It really goes to show that immigrants are having a great impact on the economy and are really contributing well to the region,” Juan Avilez, state policy associate for the nonprofit American Immigration Council, told Border Report on Monday. “If you look across the board at these reports, immigrants really are punching well above their way in terms of entrepreneurial spirit and how much of the entrepreneur workforce they make,” Avilez said. “And I think that speaks to just their ability to create jobs in those regions, and how greatly they’re able to contribute in those areas. So, I think really they’re driving innovation in a lot of these areas, creating jobs, not just for other immigrants, but for all the residents.” The data was taken from the Census Bureau’s American Community Surveys, which study economics, occupations, education attainment and home ownership within the country.