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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Report: Immigrant Workers Critical to Colorado Economy

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015   

DENVER - Immigrants in Colorado are a crucial - and growing - part of the state's economy, according to a new report.

The number of foreign-born Coloradans grew by 35 percent from 2000 to 2013, adding $21 billion to the Gross State Product and generating more than $43 billion in goods and services. Report author Thamanna Vasan, an economic-policy analyst for the Colorado Fiscal Institute, said the benefits of immigration outweigh any costs.

"Immigrants are not just users of resources that the state provides," she said. "Both undocumented and legal immigrants pay billions in taxes every year to the state, and so they're actually very critical to our local economy."

Of the $3.5 billion in Colorado taxes paid by immigrants in 2010, according to the report, undocumented immigrants paid more than $1 billion of it. Vasan said they're also more likely to have jobs. Only one in 10 Coloradans is foreign-born, but that group makes up more than 13 percent of the state's workforce.

Even though the largest share of immigrants are white-collar workers, Vasan said, they're more likely to take blue-collar and service jobs than their U.S.-born counterparts, and a growing number are entrepreneurs.

"We found that in the last 13 years, the number of foreign-born Coloradans that are creating businesses - small businesses and large - in Colorado, has increased," she said. "This means that they're taking larger risks and not only creating small businesses in our communities, but also in creating jobs for all Coloradans."

The report concluded that legalization, not deportation, is best for Colorado's economy. Expanding visa programs would result in 5,600 new jobs and add $2.7 billion to the Gross State Product, it said, and providing a legal path to citizenship would generate some 9,800 jobs and more than $840 million for the state by 2020.

The report is online at coloradofiscal.org.


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