I wrote about Perry and immigration the other day, with the hook of this CIS report. Ray Sullivan of the Perry campaign writes in reply:
Rich –
America’s unsecured border is a huge problem and the states are left with the resulting challenges, especially big states like California, Texas and Florida. In light of the federal government’s failure to secure the border, Governor Perry has championed border security, authorizing $400 million from Texas to fight border crime, and called for penalties against employers who hire illegal immigrants and an end to sanctuary city policies.
However, the numbers contained in and the conclusion of the CIS report are really off base and wrong.
A central conclusion of this report is “40 percent of all the job growth in Texas since 2007 went to newly arrived illegal immigrants. Source: CIS report Page 1,
This finding is false. The numbers don’t add up.
Since Jan. 2007, Texas has created 384,700 net new jobs. Source: Texas Jobs Statistics from US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics/Total Nonfarm Seasonally Adjusted Change from Jan. 2007 – Aug. 2011 (Jan. 2007: 10,230,300 to Aug. 2011: 10,615,000)
40% of 384,700 jobs is 153,880 jobs.
The Department of Homeland Security data cited in the CIS report estimates that 60,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in Texas since 2007. Source: Department of Homeland Security report, Page 4.
So if Texas created 384,700 jobs since 2007 and 40% of that is 153,880… and the CIS says 60,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Texas since 2007, then their conclusion must be false and numerically impossible.
The author of the CIS report, Steve Camarota, addressed these very points in a blog post the other day.