I read an article in Time magazine today about Americans complaining that illegal immigrants are taking their jobs.  This has been the prevailing argument against any sort of amnesty or path to legal status for illegals.  The problem is that this argument is completely contrary to basic economic and financial theory.  In fact, the opposite is true...the more people working in this country, the more jobs that are created.  The basic premise is that a person working...any person working (legal or illegal) produces something.  They produce something that is more valuable to the business than the wage they earn.  This surplus is economic growth.  The more surplus there is, the more jobs that are created...for Americans. 

The other benefit of illegal immigrants working is that they consume American products.  If we deport them all, there are 12 million fewer people eating at McDonalds, renting apartments, buying clothes, paying medical insurance, and going to the movies.   That is a lot of consumption that we need in this country.  And think about the additional tax revenue if they were all legalized.