This testimony summarizes in four propositions results from a review of recent estimates of the net federal, state, or local costs of immigration and is designed to explore why these cost estimates vary so widely and how to develop more credible cost estimates. First, the testimony proposes that various studies of the cost of immigration agree…

Recent debate about immigration policy has focused on whether or not immigrants' contributions to public revenues cover the costs of the public services they use, and if not, should the federal government reimburse state and local governments for those net costs. Findings of recent studies have varied widely, because of differences in data…

Both the current immigration debate and immigration itself have changed in recent years and require changes in thinking about immigration and the architecture of U.S. immigration laws. In California, which receives about a third of all immigrants, voters and state leaders have shifted from viewing immigration as a net benefit to focusing on the…

This study attempts to fill a gap in information about the effects of immigration in California and the policy trade-offs it engenders. The study provides an assessment of 30 years of immigration in California, home to one-third of the nation's immigrants, including a profile of the changing character of immigrants and their effect on the state's…