of a microeconomics level, but I have some comments about this study. Please do not call me a racist for my comments.
1. We currently have a structural unemployment problem with a pool of unskilled labor of U.S. birth or already naturalized citizens. Part of the reason that these potential employees do not take the jobs the undocumented workers currently fill is because of the wage exploitation available to employers that depress the wage (you can pay an undocumented worker less - they have fewer market options).
2. You naturalize this exploited labor pool. They are going to demand higher wages. Employers that employed them would now just get a new group of undocumented workers.
3. If you can prevent 2, why don't you do it now?
4. If you can't prevent 2., then will we just be having this discussion again in 20 or 30 years (ie just like in 1986 when that reform was supposed to fix the issue).
5. If the market conditions dictate that employers can no longer function under the conditions of paying market wages (ie you can prevent 2), then where do we go from there. Will that not lead to fewer jobs being available as importation of fruits and vegetables for example replace domestic production. This opens up a wider argument about trade policy.
6. We live in a country with expensive social services and a social safety net (not as strong as that in Europe but it does exist and will get stronger with the implementation of ACA). We need individuals making a high enough income to overcome the subsidization level associated with this safety net. Will increasing the pool of unskillled workers further strain our social services system? Social services include the $143K per child for K-12 education, subsidization of individuals making less than about $50K/yr with Social Security, subsidization of low income workers under ACA and Medicare, future claims for Social Security and SSI benefits for older family members of younger naturalized family members in this country, and possibly additional participation in the welfare portions of the social safety net (Medicaid, SNAP, TANIF). We also have a component of welfare built into the tax code with the EITC.
7. Even if no new naturalized immigrants take advantage of welfare portions of the social safety net, do they not supplant individuals in jobs that could be done by U.S. and currently naturalized U.S. citizens so that those individuals need to rely on the social safety net.
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