Dear Editor:
This letter is in response to Frecker's letter dated 12/18/02. The study released by the National Academy of Science in 1997 was actually very favorable to immigration. It is subtitled: "Overall US Economy Gains From Immigration, But It's Costly to Some States and Localities" A recent writer quoted out-of-context figures (cited for those states and/or localities where costs exceeded benefits at the time of the study) as applying to the country overall. The Urban Institute Study of May 1994 was another, favorable to immigration, well-written, lengthy monograph entitled: "Immigration and Immigrants--Setting the Record Straight" from which I will quote only its overall picture: "There is no strong evidence that immigration reduces overall availability of jobs or wages. Immigrants may reduce the employment opportunities of low skilled workers, however, especially in areas where the local economy is weak and immigrants are concentrated. Immigrants do not hurt the job prospects of African Americans as a whole, but it reduces their economic opportunities in areas of high immigration during recessionary periods. New immigrants appear to hurt the overall labor market of one population group--the immigrants who immediately preceeded them. Immigration may also be altering the movements of native workers into and out of high immigration areas. Immigrants contribute substantially to the US economy. They create more jobs than they themselves fill. They do so directly by starting new businesses and indirectly through their expenditures on U.S. goods and services." Once again, the writer took figures out of context from this study. I found the article by Donald Hubble in a publication by CCN (the Caring Capacity Network), which is anti-immigrant and advocates an immediate moratorium on immigration.

Richard E. Baer DVM

                        

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