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The current global refugee crisis has heightened the need for refugee assistance. As a result, Americans agree that welcoming more refugees is a good idea. This article outlines some of the positive effects of refugees on American society. It also explores the reasons why a greater number of refugees should be welcomed in the United States.
Background: In the United States, refugees make the country better off in many ways. They contribute to the economy and to the labor force. Many of them are entrepreneurs. Many have created some of the biggest businesses in the world. Examples include Google (Sergey Brin), WhatsApp (Jan Koum), and PayPal (Max Levchin). Some of them even help make America more prosperous. Historically the United States has been a top refugee country, welcoming hundreds of thousands of Europeans during World War II and welcoming those fleeing communist regimes in Eastern Europe and Asia during the Cold War.
It has also helped define the legal protections provided for refugees under international humanitarian law. After the 1980s, the United States government made the transition from an ad hoc approach to a more formal system for identifying and resettling refugees. Moreover, refugees fill critical gaps in the labor force. Refugees fill jobs in industries that are struggling to recruit workers. They also contribute to local economies. The United States only takes in less than half of the world's refugees, but it is still an important part of the world economy.
Cutting Refugee Admissions Harms Americans:
A new study shows that cutting refugee admissions to the United States harms the economy and public finances by as much as $8 billion a year. Cutting refugee admissions would also hurt the United States’ historic tradition of welcoming refugees. This is especially true in a world in which more people are fleeing violence and conflict in their home countries. As the world is becoming more diverse, cutting-refugee admissions is inhumane and undermines our economy. The Trump administration’s new policy cuts refugee admissions by as much as 33%. The administration has given various justifications for the cuts, including national security and job protection. This is in contrast to the previous administration’s policy of targeting African and Middle Eastern refugees as the worst threat to national security.
Americans have called on the administration to restore America’s tradition of welcome. But instead, the administration is dividing families and leaving thousands of refugees in limbo. Refugee admissions represent an investment in our nation’s values. Those who come to our shores to seek freedom and asylum, and we should support their right to do so. Refugees represent the best of American values, including equality, tolerance, non-discrimination, and human dignity. Yet, the Trump administration’s policy has made refugee resettlement more difficult, creating chaos and whiplash across our society. Furthermore, the White House has fueled unwarranted fears about security and economic resentment. And it consistently misrepresents facts about refugees and refugee resettlement.
What Did Clemens Find?
As a young man, Samuel Clemens joined the Missouri Courier as an apprentice typesetter. After a year, he joined his brother Orion’s newspaper business in Hannibal, Missouri. He then traveled to the East, working as a printer in Philadelphia, New York, and St. Louis. He often wrote humorous articles to fill copy space. Despite the hardships of his life, he eventually decided to return to Missouri. He traveled extensively and eventually landed a job as a riverboat pilot. He eventually wrote Life on the Mississippi for publication in 1883. While he was in Greece, Samuel Clemens picked up a fragment of marble from the Parthenon.
The fragment was probably a head from the Parthenon. It is believed that Clemens retrieved the marble from the Parthenon on 14 August 1867, while other Quaker City passengers remained on board the ship due to quarantine. The marble head served as a family paperweight and was later added to the Mark Twain Papers. It may be the only piece of the Parthenon from Greece that is in the United States. It was recently examined by an archeologist at the de Young Museum and by an expert in archaeological artifacts. Samuel Clemens began writing his autobiography as an experiment. In 1859, he was licensed as a steamboat pilot. He wrote the first draft of the book under the pen name Mark Twain. This was a pen name Clemens chose to contrast with his own personality. In contrast to his real identity, he questioned conventional conventions and mocked societal norms in his work.
The Positive Impacts of Refugees
The positive impact of refugees on America’s economy can be measured in a number of ways. Firstly, refugees help to stimulate the economy by starting new businesses. One estimate suggests that every 1,000 refugees can generate $100 million in new income each year. This in turn helps the host country’s economy. Thirdly, refugees contribute to the American economy by boosting wages, creating jobs, and supplementing the local job market.
Lastly, refugees contribute to the economy of many key states. In fact, it is estimated that refugees hold over $17 billion in spending power in states like Texas, Michigan, and Minnesota. This is a significant amount of spending power. These funds are crucial for the state’s economy. The resettlement of refugees in America has also contributed to revitalizing struggling cities and towns.
These new residents bring a new energy, culture, and economic life. For example, the resettlement of 7,000 Vietnamese families in Oklahoma City helped to revitalize the neighborhood. In Utica, New York, a quarter of the population is made up of refugees. And a study in Cleveland found that the population of refugees from different countries added almost $48 million to the local economy in five years. The refugee population in the city also increased its rate of entrepreneurship and homeownership.
The Fiscal, Economic and Security Arguments:
Michael Clemens analyzed the fiscal, economic, and security arguments for welcoming refugees. While there are many people who do not support welcoming refugees, others believe that accepting refugees is a good idea and that we will benefit from their contributions. In fact, it is a good investment for the country.
Fiscal:
The Fiscal Arguments for Refugees Making the United States Better Off are twofold. The first argument makes the case that refugees make America better off in the long run by increasing our productivity, increasing our GDP, and increasing our tax base. The second argument points to the social benefits of immigration – lower wages and lower costs of social services for lower-skilled Americans. These benefits outweigh the costs of immigration. Refugees arrive in the United States with little to no money, and they are more likely to use government assistance than native citizens.
But as they gain more experience in the U.S., their use of public benefits decreases and their incomes increase to parity with those of U.S. citizens. Also, they are more likely than native-born men and women to work. Aside from the economic benefits of welcoming refugees, refugee resettlement can also have a foreign policy benefit. Resettlement is a useful tool for soft power, and America’s willingness to welcome newcomers undercuts the propaganda of our adversaries. For example, in FY 2010, nearly 30 percent of refugees came from Asia. Another 23 percent came from Europe, while only 4 percent were from Latin America/the Caribbean. Moreover, a recent study found that more than half of all newly-arrived refugees were Christians. Refugees are often categorized as “displaced persons,” and the country’s immigration system is designed to accept refugees in need of assistance.
The current annual admissions ceiling for refugees is only 62,500. The President’s Office has pledged to increase it to 125,000 in fiscal years 2021 and 2022. Increasing the number of refugees accepted will provide hope to the most vulnerable people in the world, repair the country’s international reputation, and encourage other nations to take refugees.
Economic:
Many of the refugees who come to the United States contribute to the American economy in many ways. For example, they help reverse depopulation trends in cities and small towns. Additionally, they contribute to the economic dynamism of their host communities. They also bring cultural diversity to American communities. The economic impact of refugees is often underestimated. They are often portrayed as burdens, but this is not the case. Refugees contribute to the economy by investing in their education and skills. These skills, in turn, translate into higher wages for all Americans. In 2015, refugees brought $56.3 billion in disposable income, which they can spend in local businesses. Although they initially come to the United States with low incomes, refugees quickly improve their living conditions.
Their median annual income in their first five years in the country is about $22,000, and after fifteen years, it rises to $37,000. After 25 years, they surpass U.S. median household incomes. Refugees have the potential to make the United States better off in many ways. Not only do they bring skills and entrepreneurial energy to the economy, but they pay more taxes than they spend on services. According to a study by the New American Economy, refugees in 2017 contributed over $86 billion in income and paid $23 billion in taxes. And as a result, they created jobs in a wide range of sectors and have a significant impact on the U.S. economy.
Security:
Security arguments for refugees are often rooted in fears about potential terrorists. But those arguments are ineffective. The reality is that there have been no major terrorist attacks perpetrated by refugees since the 2001 attacks. Refugees might try to do so, but they won’t kill many Americans. Insufficiently sophisticated arguments based on terrorist risk don’t deter terrorists, and senior administration officials acknowledge this fact. Refugee resettlement policies should be based on humanitarianism rather than security. Many studies have shown that liberal, progressive refugee policies don’t create security challenges for states. These studies have looked at refugee populations in North America and Europe in the period between 2014 and 2017. They have also found no evidence of violent crime or internal security threats. In the United States, there have been fewer terrorist attacks by Syrians than by immigrants. In addition, the United States has accepted almost three million refugees from these countries over the past four decades. While some conservative voices have invoked the security concerns of refugees, no Syrian refugee has yet committed an act of terrorism in the U.S. If anything, turning away refugees would actually make America less safe.
How Refugees Are Helping USA Millions of people around the world have fled their homelands because of violence, persecution, and instability. Each one has a story to tell, dreams for the future, and something to offer. As Americans, we can take part in the stories of the people who have come to our country to make a new life.
Accepting, protecting, and empowering refugees is a win-win formula: Accepting, protecting, and empowering refugees has many benefits for the USA and the countries they live in. It not only benefits the host countries and the refugees themselves but also improves the quality of life in those countries. It also allows refugees to start productive lives in their new countries and helps them integrate into the labor force more quickly. This, in turn, benefits all countries.
Refugees can foster international trade and investment: Refugees can foster international trade and investment by using their ties to their countries of origin. Many of these individuals maintain close connections with friends and family in their home countries and often have extensive knowledge of their home markets, languages, and customs. This knowledge of the local market can help new businesses make contacts and make FDI happen. Refugees have high rates of entrepreneurship, outpacing U.S. citizens and other immigrants. As of 2015, the United States was home to over 180,000 refugees and their businesses generated $4.6 billion in revenue.
They bring a different set of skills than natives: Refugees bring a variety of skills to the United States, and many of them are already working in industries where the native population isn’t very well-versed. One example is Haroon Mokhtarzada, an Afghan refugee who founded a website design company with his brothers. He recently sold his company to Vistaprint for $117.5 million. Refugees are also contributing to other vital sectors such as health care and education.
They can help America overcome demographic challenges brought on by an aging population: As the world’s population ages, the United States faces demographic challenges as a result. As the population grows older, there will be fewer working-age people to maintain the Social Security Trust Fund. In contrast, an increasing refugee population will add more working-age individuals to the country’s workforce. This in turn will increase the number of people paying federal taxes and not drawing benefits from Social Security. Moreover, immigrants contribute more to Medicare than they receive in benefits.
They help to right the violent wrongs of obscene inequality: Refugees, in many ways, have the potential to do much good. Many have fled violence and are in need of humanitarian aid. In Lebanon, humanitarian aid workers from the non-governmental organization Caritas help Syrian refugees who are suffering from the effects of war and persecution. Sexual abuse of women is a particular problem. Not only does it violate the rights of women and violate their trust, it also can result in unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, or even death.
Final Thoughts
Refugees are contributing to the United States economy in several ways. Many work in the healthcare and manufacturing sectors and the remainder are in general services. They pay taxes to the federal government, and this helps the economy by increasing the amount of workers who are not drawing Social Security benefits. In addition, these immigrants are contributing more to Medicare than they receive in benefits. The current administration has restricted refugee admissions to a historically low level. This limit will likely result in a significant reduction in the number of refugees coming to the United States. The Trump administration’s cap on refugee admissions will reduce the positive humanitarian impact of resettlement efforts. It will also reduce the economic benefits that refugees provide.
Therefore, restricting refugee admissions will not improve America’s economic situation. The government’s report of refugees’ economic contributions may understate the positive impact on the economy. In fact, the report may underestimate the positive effect of refugees because it fails to account for the indirect effects of hiring migrants. This means that hiring migrant workers increases a firm’s future capital income. The HHS report also fails to account for the positive economic impact of refugees by only accounting for the taxes that they pay directly. Because of these shortcomings, nearly all studies of refugees are likely to understate the positive economic impact of refugees.