There has been much discussion and controversy about the issue of immigration in our country.
Although I agree that we do need comprehensive immigration reform, somehow, our government has been unable to pass any such legislation.
That being said, a statewide group from the League of Women Voters of Washington has done a study on immigrants in our state. It is posted at www.lwvwa.org/immigration and I thought I would share some statistics.
Just more than 15 percent of Washingtonians are immigrants, half of whom are naturalized, and half are in 30 different categories of immigrants. Only 3.4 percent are undocumented.
One in five workers in Washington are immigrants, and they are concentrated in both high- and low-income jobs.
Seventy-seven percent of all agricultural workers are immigrants, 51.3 percent of all software developers are immigrants, 48.9 percent of all maids or housekeepers are immigrants, and 36.4 percent of all health aids are immigrants.
Sixty-three percent of immigrants have been in the U.S. since before 2010.
Immigrant households earned about $73 billion in Washington in 2022 and paid about $5.5 billion in state and local taxes.
So the question is, do we really want to deport immigrants? Who will work in our fields and in our nursing homes and in our hospitality industry?
You? Your children?
Or should we welcome immigrants and be grateful for their contributions to our communities?
Stephanie Sherman
Port Angeles