Mark Hetfield:
My reaction is that that’s an argument that the Trump administration made in 2017, and that they themselves proved was fallacious.
In 2017, in the Muslim and refugee ban, President Trump commissioned a study to demonstrate how much resettled refugees cost the American taxpayer. But they looked at both sides of the ledger when they did that study and they found that, over a 10-year period, resettled refugees contributed 63 billion, with a B, dollars more in federal, state and local taxes than they took in services and assistance.
So, fortunately, for us, while we welcome refugees because it’s the right thing to do, it just also happens to be to the benefit of the economy, to the benefit of the country. Refugees are a blessing. They’re not a burden.
