CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A coalition of ethnic, civic and business groups
says that if Michigan's leaders really want to spur population and job growth,
they need to look to the state's immigration policies and programs.
The importance of creating an immigrant-friendly environment was on the menu
when business and community leaders from across southeastern Michigan sat down
recently for the first-ever Breakfast of Nations at Macomb Community College
Center Campus.
Christine Sauve, communities coordinator for Welcoming Michigan (NASW Member), says it just
makes economic sense for a state that is struggling to reinvent itself to open
its arms to immigrants.
"Not only are we helping bring up our population,” she says, "but also
foreign-born residents have been shown to start businesses and then those
businesses hire U.S.-born residents."
Michigan was the only state to lose population in the last census.
Sauve says the goal of the Breakfast of Nations, which the group hopes to
replicate in other Michigan communities, was to share stories and research that
illustrate that contrary to what some may believe, when immigrants come to this
country they make jobs, they don't take jobs.
"The statistic across the country nationally is that foreign-born
residents are two times more likely to start a business,” she points out. "In
Michigan, that number is actually three times more likely. "
A recent study by the
group Global Detroit finds that Michigan's foreign-born residents outrank the
native-born population in several categories, including college degrees, home
ownership, income and employment.
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