Study: The DREAM Act-style benefits are a great deal for taxpayers

Voices has long been a proponent of the DREAM Act, a bill that would prevent deportations of undocumented students who have kept clean records and were brought into the country when they were very young. It’s always been the right thing to do to help these students. But a new study suggests it’s also a good move financially.

The report, by the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, finds that if that state were to give the same tuition subsidies to these students as their American-born counterparts, society could eventually benefit to the tune of $66 million for each year’s class. These numbers come not only from factoring in higher wages for the students in their careers (which generate more revenue for the state), but also factors like property values and lower rates of incarceration.

In a few weeks, Maryland will decide whether to give these benefits to undocumented students when its own version of the DREAM Act appears on the ballot. By offering DREAMers the same tuition subsidies as American-born students, Maryland could give a great opportunity not only to many deserving students but also to its own tax base. How much more talent are we willing, as a society, to waste through short-sighted deportation policies?