Immigrants take jobs away from Americans. Consensus exists on the fact that immigrants do not increase unemployment for native-born Americans. In fact, one recent study showed that the ten states with the lowest annual unemployment rates had a greater proportion of immigrants in their total population than the ten states with the highest annual unemployment rates. While temporary displacements in given localities may occur, there is no trend toward Americans becoming unemployed due to immigrant labor. Immigration is a drain on the U.S. economy.
Immigrants expand total output and demand for labor.
As immigrant workers enter the labor force, they create jobs by spending their earnings on the output of other workers. That generates employment. Many jobs are also created by immigrant entrepreneurs. Immigrants are generally highly productive because they are willing to put in long hours of hard work to make a business succeed. Immigrants also promote capital formation because they save a greater proportion of their earnings than do native-born Americans.