AKRON, Ohio – Immigrants make up 3.2 percent of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan’s district, according to a new report.
Those immigrants paid $126 million in taxes and had a spending power of $342 million in 2014, the latest year for which figures are available, says the research, conducted by the International Institute of Akron in partnership with the New American Economy.
Immigrants in the 13th Congressional District, 2014
Household income: $468 million
Spending power: $343 million
Taxes paid: $126 million
Entrepreneurs: 568
Workforce age: Nearly 60 percent
With immigration threatened by President Donald Trump, the institute on Tuesday presented the research to Ryan, a Democrat from the Niles area, and stressed the importance of immigration to Northeast Ohio.
“The idea that immigrants and refuges aren’t contributing is put to rest by the actual research,” said Elaine Woloshyn, the institute’s executive director.
The International Institute provides services that help about 8,500 foreign-born people resettle in the Akron area and integrate into American society each year.
Locally, the benefits of welcoming foreign-born residents is obvious on Main Street in North Hill, which hosts a burgeoning Bhutanese population, Woloshyn said. Many Bhutanese have bought homes in a once declining neighborhood, schools in the North Hill cluster are full and new shops and grocery stores have opened.
Previous coverage: Akron’s North High School now half Asian, owing in part to Bhutan refugees
This kind of influx can add new life throughout Great Lakes states with declining populations, said Woloshyn.
Rep. Tim Ryan and Elaine Woloshyn, International Institute executive director, listen as Naresh Subba describes coming to the U.S. from Bhutan to attend Kent State university, and then opening Family Grocery on Main Street in North Hill with his brothers. Jennifer Conn, cleveland.com
The panel enabled Ryan to hear real-world experiences of local immigrant business owners, including Naresh Subba, who graduated from Kent State University and now owns the busy Family Grocery in North Hill with his brothers.
“We need to do a better job of getting these stories out because they are so compelling,” Ryan said.
Ryan said his office has experienced an increase in calls from citizens who are either fear Trump’s policies or want to take some kind of action.
“People are waking up to what kind of country we want this to be,” Ryan said. “We’re in the process of creating a new kind of America that we want to be proud of and that’s inclusive and optimistic and hopefully with a growing economy that everybody can participate in.”
The institute also has seen an increase in residents seeking to help refugee families, particularly Syrian families, and volunteer their time, said Woloshyn.
The institute’s Director of Immigration Services, Madhu Sharma, a human rights attorney, explained the effects of Trump’s immigration stance. Much will be decided by courts, and much is unknown, she said.
One effect could be economies at risk, such as local agriculture, which is the top industry worked by immigrants. A 2014 American Farm Bureau Federation study indicated there would be a drop in agricultural output, causing prices to soar, if the U.S. has only enforcement policies for immigration, she said.
Trump wants to reduce the U.S. refugee resettlement program for 2017 from 110,00 to 50,000 refugees. And enforcement is up for undocumented immigrants.
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