All posts by Cheng, Cho, & Yee, Immigration Lawyers

How Immigrants Made Chicago Great

Despite the administration’s arguments to the contrary, immigrants have contributed a great deal to the economy and to the success of Chicago itself. In Illinois, one out of every seven people are immigrants, and one out of every eight have at least one parent who was an immigrant. In the metropolitan area of Chicago, 20 percent of all of the businesses are owned by immigrants. Immigrants in Chicago pay taxes, own businesses, employ other people and play important parts in the social and cultural fabric of the city. The state and the city would both suffer significant economic harm if the administration’s hard-line immigration approach is implemented into law.

Immigrants Have Made Positive Contributions in Illinois

Legal immigration is beneficial to everyone who lives and works in Illinois. There are 1.8 million immigrants currently living in the state. Between 2010 and 2014, about 9,694 people immigrated to Illinois. In 2014, businesses that were owned by immigrants in Illinois generated $2.6 billion in income, and 113,939 immigrants are self-employed. These immigrant-owned businesses provide jobs for 281,090 people in Illinois. Among Fortune 500 companies in Illinois, 56 percent were founded by immigrants or by the children of immigrants.

Households headed by immigrants earned $55 billion in 2014, and immigrants in Illinois contributed almost $7 billion to Medicare and Social Security. They also paid $5.2 billion in state taxes and $9.8 billion in federal taxes. About 45.5 percent of native-born Illinoisans worked in 2014, compared with 61.3 percent of immigrants who worked. In 2010, immigrants were responsible for creating or saving 81,000 jobs in manufacturing.

Immigrants make up 17.7 percent of the state’s population but make up 37.7 percent of the people who work as software developers. In the packaging and packing industry, immigrants make up 51 percent of the workers. In 2014, there were far more STEM jobs available in Illinois than there were workers to fill them. Approximately 144,608 jobs in STEM fields were advertised and only 11,165 STEM workers were unemployed. In the Illinois STEM field in 2014, 23.2 percent of all workers were immigrants.

Trump’s Immigration Reform: Assault on America’s Future

The economy in Illinois and in the rest of the U.S. is likely to take a major hit if Trump’s immigration plans are put into effect. Economists on both the left and the right agree that robust immigration offers a net benefit to the nation. Despite this, the Trump administration has taken a hardline stance towards immigration. This could result in a reduction in the available labor force and a slowing economy. As the Trump administration moves to limit immigration and to deport more people, businesses may become less competitive and be unable to find enough workers to fill their available positions.

Impacts of Trump’s Plans

Immigration helps to drive the growth of the labor force and is a source of that growth. If Trump proceeds with deporting the Dreamers, the Cato Institute reports that it will cost the U.S. $60 billion. Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen states that immigration restrictions will lead to a further slowing in the growth of the labor force. She indicates that slow labor-force growth results in an economy that also grows more slowly. The Center for American Progress reports that implementing Trump’s policy of mass deportation would result in an immediate reduction in the gross domestic product of 1.4 percent. CAP also reports that the U.S. would lose an estimated $4.7 trillion in the GDP that it would have otherwise enjoyed in the absence of mass deportation.

Deporting immigrants en masse would also mean that there are fewer businesses in the nation. Immigrants are far likelier to start their own businesses than U.S. citizens. A study that was completed in 2012 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found that 49.3 percent of the new startups in Silicon Valley were started by immigrants. Across the nation, immigrants are responsible for 24.3 percent of all new startup companies.

Harming Constituents

Trump’s immigration policies are likeliest to harm communities that are located in economically depressed areas. The farming and manufacturing sectors stand to take big hits if the hardline immigration policies are implemented. Other sectors that stand to lose include the service and retail sectors. The technology industry relies on immigrants to fill positions. Congress should take the economic impacts under advisement and act accordingly to protect immigration and the economy.

How States, Specific Industries Will Benefit from the Dream Act

If passed, the Dream Act would provide a way for 800,000 Dreamers to remain in the U.S. while also offering economic benefits to the state of Illinois. The Trump Administration announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on Sept. 5, 2017. Under DACA, 800,000 people who were brought to the U.S. as children were allowed to work and to remain in the U.S. as long as they graduated from high school, served in the military, attended college and did not have criminal convictions. In addition to solving a moral issue, the Dream Act would also offer substantial economic benefits to states and individual industries.

How the Dream Act Would Have an Economic Impact

According to the Center for American Progress, passing the Dream Act would result in an increase in the Gross Domestic Product of $22.7 billion annually. Over 10 years, the GDP increase would be $281 billion. Since the Dream Act would require recipients to serve in the military, work or to attend college, it could also result in an even higher cumulative increase in the GDP. The think tank reports that if 50 percent of the recipients chose the educational option in order to pursue lawful permanent residence, the GDP could be boosted by $728.4 billion over 10 years. Passing the Dream Act would also result in an increase in the wages of all Americans between $82 and $273 each year.

Benefits to Specific Industries

If the Dream Act was passed, individual industries would also greatly benefit. The industries that would stand to benefit the most include the retail trade, health services, educational services, construction and manufacturing industries.

Benefits to Illinois

In Illinois, there are an estimated 96,000 eligible young people who would qualify under the Dream Act. Over the long run, the passage of the act would result in an annual GDP increase in Illinois of more than $1.2 billion. With the education bump figured in, the annual GDP would be increased in Illinois by more than $4 billion annually.

Despite these potential economic benefits, it is unclear whether the bipartisan bill will be passed. The Trump Administration recently signaled its opposition to a bipartisan agreement. Dreamers may want to explore alternative ways that they might use to remain in the U.S.

STEM OPT Under Fire

The Trump administration has been trying to dismantle legal immigration programs for highly skilled workers, including science, technology, engineering and math students with F-1 visas who need to get extensions following their graduations. Sources have reported that Trump’s administration is considering ending the STEM OPT program, which allows international students to stay in the U.S. and to work for a period of time after they graduate in their respective fields. An immigration lawyer may help students to understand their options so that they might obtain the work authorizations that they need.

The STEM OPT Program

Created in 2008 by the Bush Administration, the STEM OPT program is designed to help international students in the STEM fields to remain in the U.S. after they graduate for up to two years with authorization to work. The program was initiated to help the U.S. to retain highly skilled students who are otherwise unable to obtain H-1B visas. In 2016, the Obama Administration signed a rule that extended the period by an additional two years. Trump is now considering rescinding this rule.

Will the Rule be Rescinded?

Since the rule was already finalized, the Trump administration will only be able to rescind it if it can show that it is harming the U.S. economically or that it is unlawful. However, the rule has already been found to be lawful by a court that ruled that the Department of Homeland Security has the power to extend the STEM OPT program.

The Trump administration is unlikely to find reputable economists who will make the argument that the STEM OPT program harms the U.S. economically. The National Science Foundation reports that international students make up more than half of the students who are enrolled in engineering programs and more than 81 percent of the students who are currently enrolled in electrical engineering degree programs.

Companies rely on the program to get the workers they need. There are many more technical jobs available each year than there are U.S. citizens who can fill them. If the Trump administration successfully rescinds the rule that extended the STEM OPT program, the economy is likely to be weakened as companies will be left without the ability to fill their open jobs. An immigration lawyer may help students and employers to identify other types of visas for which they might be eligible if the STEM OPT program is eliminated.

Submitting I-693 Medical Exams for Employment-Based I-485 Filings

Illinois immigrants who plan to file employment-based I-485 filings must also submit I-693 medical exams, but since a number of factors affect recommended filing times, it may be in their best interest not to file them right away. The I-485 adjudication process is already taking more than a year and is likely to increase with the added requirement of in-person interviews. Since the I-693 medical exams are only good for one year, applicants might want to wait and submit them later in the process.

The I-693 and I-485 Process

People who are applying for employment-based adjustments of status must submit the required I-693 medical exams before their I-485 forms are adjudicated. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services does not require that the I-693 forms are submitted at the same time as the initial I-485 petitions, however. According to the USCIS, the forms may be submitted either concurrently with the I-485 petitions or at any time prior to when the petitions are adjudicated. If the forms are not submitted concurrently, applicants might wait until the USCIS requests the additional information before submitting the I-693 medical exams.

Why Waiting Might be Smart

The adjudication process for I-485 adjustment of status petitions was already taking at least one year. Since the interview requirement was added for certain I-485 cases, the adjudication process is likely to take even longer. The I-693 forms are only valid for one year. If people submit them at the same time as their initial I-485 filings, it is likely that they will have to redo the I-693 medical exams and re-submit them later. Therefore it may be advisable to submit the initial I-485 adjustment of status forms without the I-693 medical exams. If filers wait, they should be ready to submit the forms when they are asked to do so.

There are some situations that might make it beneficial to submit the I-693 forms early, however. If applicants do not have some of the required vaccinations, submitting the I-693 exams concurrently with the I-485 petitions may speed up the medical vetting process. In rare cases when an employment-based application will be adjudicated faster, submitting both forms at the same time might also make sense.