John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, says that the US economy would be greatly helped by the advent of immigration reform, despite the House’s refusal to take action over the issue. Boehner made the comments while delivering a speech at the American Enterprise Institute about the plan to reset the economic foundation of the United States.
“I think immigration reform would help our economy, but you’ve got to secure the borders first,” Boehner declared. “We’ve got a mess, and I think everybody knows we have a mess. Our legal system is broken. Our borders aren’t secure. And then we’ve got the problem of those that are here without documents. It needs to be fixed. We’re a nation of immigrants. The sooner we do it, the better off the country would be.”
President Obama also suggested in his speech on June 30th that the United States would be economically better off if immigration reform was enacted. In the same speech Obama attacked the Republican party for refusing to follow the will of the American people and take the appropriate action, saving particular criticism for those who he says know better but are too afraid to stand up to the conservative Tea Party faction.
The Congressional Budget Office says that the GDP would increase by 3.3% by 2023 if immigration reform was enacted, and by 5.4% by 2033.