Experts on the Issue: ICE Home Raids and the Economics of Undocumented Immigrant Labor

The Immigration Justice Clinic at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law released a report today on home raids by federal immigration agents. Supported by analysis of more than 700 arrest reports from New York and New Jersey, the study uncovers outrageous constitutional violations by ICE and outlines a series of policy recommendations for the agency. Instances of misconduct include failure to present search warrant and to obtain consent, operational patterns suggestive of racial profiling, and seizure of residents without legal basis.

From an economic perspective, Professor Gerald Jaynes of Yale Economic and African-American Studies writes, in an easy-to-read narrative format, that immigrants pay more taxes than they cost their states in welfare spending. He dispels the common misperception that undocumented immigrants drive down wages of African-American workers. This is something that Camp Vigilance, the California-based Minutemen activist group, should keep in mind before pushing for constitutionally absurd initiatives to end state benefits for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.