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By: Andrea Sears<\/p>\n

PHILADELPHIA – Pennsylvania’s population growth rate is one of the slowest in the country, but a bill now in Congress could help many immigrants come out of the shadows.<\/p>\n

In May, Congress is expected to vote on H.R. 6, the “American Dream and Promise Act<\/a>.” That bill could help hundreds of thousands of Dreamers and other immigrants participate fully in the workforce by removing the threat of deportation.<\/p>\n

Daisy Cruz, mid-Atlantic Director for Service Employees International Union Local 32-BJ, pointed out that immigrants contribute billions of dollars to the nations economy.<\/p>\n

“They own homes, they pay taxes, some of them have businesses,” Cruz said. “They’re contributing at least, just in the studies that we’ve done, over $7 billion over a decade in Social Security and Medicare.”<\/p>\n

She added Pennsylvania has been losing congressional seats to states in the South and West where the population is growing faster.<\/p>\n

Cruz noted while immigrants in the workforce pay into federal programs like Social Security and Medicare, as non-citizens they can’t receive benefits. So, contrary to anti-immigrant rhetoric, they are not draining national resources.<\/p>\n

“It’s a big myth,” she said. “They are actually paying and giving into our economy and not getting anything back from it.”<\/p>\n

As Pennsylvania’s largest city, Philadelphia has a large immigrant population. Cruz said many work as building and airport cleaners, wheelchair assistants and baggage handlers, and they’re a growing part of the membership of 32-BJ.<\/p>\n

“These are the people that are in the shadows, so people don’t see them,” Cruz said. “A lot of them do the work that a lot of Americans don’t want to do themselves.”<\/p>\n

Nine of Pennsylvania’s 18 representatives in Congress have signed on as cosponsors of H.R. 6.<\/p>\n

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