Path to citizenship is key to keeping best immigrants, boosting N.J. economy: Opinion
An woman takes the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony at the at district office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Jan. 28, 2013, in Newark. Some 38,000 immigrants became U.S. citizens at the Newark office alone in 2012. and Peter P. Mercer
On behalf of almost two dozen New Jersey colleges and universities, who are educating the next generation of entrepreneurs, scientists and global pioneers, we are calling on the New Jersey congressional delegation to address a critical threat to America’s pre-eminence as the center of innovation and prosperity: our inability under current United States immigration policy to retain and capitalize on the talented individuals we are training in our universities.
Fixing our immigration system will be critical to scientific — and therefore economic — growth in New Jersey. In 2009, 51 percent of the students earning master’s or Ph.D.s in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) from New Jersey’s research-intensive universities were temporary residents, a group with no clear path to stay in America after graduation. Seventy percent of our students earning engineering Ph.D.s in recent years were also noncitizens.
Foreign-born students create jobs for New Jersey and often provide the technological innovations that drive economic growth in the state. A recent study by the Partnership for a New American Economy and the American Enterprise Institute found that for every 100 foreign-born graduates of a U.S. master’s or Ph.D. program who stay in America working in a STEM field, another 262 jobs are created for American workers.
Our students often go on to start companies, which support communities and create jobs. Immigrants are more than twice as likely to start a business, and immigrant-owned businesses in New Jersey generate about $6.2 billion in income for workers in the state each year.
New Jersey is already making significant investments in our higher educational institutions, and ultimately our future workforce, through the $750 million Building Our Future bonds approved by the voters last November, plus almost $567 million made available from other capital facilities bond programs.
This total of more than $1.3 billion is the first significant investment in higher education facilities in New Jersey in 25 years. These capital investments will help attract the best students to New Jersey from around the world for training in engineering, sciences and technology. But our outdated immigration policy prevents them from staying here after graduation. In effect, we are forcing our newly trained innovators and entrepreneurs to invest, build businesses and create jobs outside of the United States.
We are forcing our newly trained innovators and entrepreneurs to invest, build businesses and create jobs outside of the United States.
Many of our future bright students came to this country as children and have been unable to take advantage of an American education and contribute to our economy because of their status. A recent study found that incentivizing these children to pursue college education by passing the DREAM Act would add 1.4 million jobs and generate $329 billion in economic activity over the next 20 years. In fact, creating a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants will have a positive effect for New Jersey’s economy. According to a study by Regional Economic Models, for every person who enrolls, an estimated $3,117 will be added to our gross state product by 2020. In the housing sector, immigrants increased home values in New Jersey between 2000 and 2010 — in Bergen County, median home values increased by $3,715 — through their own purchasing power and by drawing interest to growing areas or to neighborhoods that had fallen out of favor.
Our current immigration system creates real obstacles to growth. Low limits on high-skilled visas leave immigrants with no way to stay after earning a diploma or they face untenable delays for a permanent visa. Low limits on low-skilled visas leave farmers struggling to find the workers they need to produce and grow.
For example, according to the nonpartisan advocacy group Change the Equation, from 2009 to 2011, 1.4 STEM jobs were posted online in New Jersey for every one unemployed STEM worker in the state.
We ask that our congressional delegation work together to develop a comprehensive, bipartisan solution because all parts of our economy — from education to agriculture to housing to business — need it. Recent polls show 87 percent believe it is important we fix our immigration system this year.
Now is the time for Washington leaders to act and ensure that the United States can continue to compete on the global stage.
Ali Houshmand is president of Rowan University. Peter P. Mercer is president of Ramapo College of New Jersey.
This article also reflects the opinions of the following college presidents, referred to in the first paragraph:
Aaron Kotler
Beth Medrash Govoha
Susan A. Cole
Montclair State University
Dario A. Cortes
Berkeley College
Sue Henderson
New Jersey City University
Richard A. Levao
Bloomfield College
Joel S. Bloom
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Nancy H. Blattner
Caldwell College
R. Barbara Gitenstein
The College of New Jersey
Herman Saatkamp
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
Helen J. Streubert
College of Saint Elizabeth
Mordechai Rozanski
Rider University
Vivian A. Bull (interim)
Drew University
Gale Gibson
Essex County College
Robert L. Barchi
Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey
Sheldon Drucker
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Eugene J. Cornacchia
Saint Peter's University
Anne M. Prisco
Felician College
Gabriel G. Esteban
Seton Hall University
Rosemary E. Jeffries
Georgian Court University
Kathleen Waldron
William Paterson University
Dawood Farahi
Kean University
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