Diversity Presents Limitless Possibilities for Journalism
Big stories don’t always make the news.
A few months ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report, “The Fiscal Impact of Refugees and Asylees at the Federal, State, and Local Levels from 2005–2019.” It’s not the most exciting headline, so you can understand why it didn’t go viral. But the TLDR summary dispels a common myth about immigration and might make a few people shake their heads in disbelief.
The report proves that refugees and asylees are a tremendous asset to the economy of the United States. Over 15 years, these new Americans contributed $124 billion in positive fiscal impact.
Some more numbers:
✅ Net fiscal benefit to the federal government was $31.5 billion.
✅ Net fiscal benefit to state and local governments was $92.3 billion.
✅ Refugees and asylees contributed $581 billion in revenue to federal, state and local governments — $363 billion to the federal government through payroll, income, and excise taxes, and $218 billion to state and local governments, through income, sales, and property taxes.
✅ Refugees, asylees, and their immediate families contributed $739.4 billion in revenue to all levels of government.
