We interrupt the GOP debate for a few facts about immigration

Immigration Impact - The National Research Council—  [is a] research institution chartered by Congress in 1863 to “meet the government’s urgent need for an independent adviser on scientific matters” and to “investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science.”

[Its] just-released report examines the Integration of Immigrants into U.S. Society. Authored by several highly-regarded academics  .. the report begins:

“Overall, the panel found that current immigrants and their descendants are integrating into U.S. society. .. Across all measurable outcomes, integration increases over time, with immigrants becoming more like the native-born with more time in the country, and with the second and third generations becoming more like other native born Americans than their parents were.”

On English-language attainment, the report finds that today’s immigrants attain English faster than ever:

“There is evidence that integration is happening as rapidly or faster now than it did for the earlier waves of mainly European immigrants in the 20th century. Today, many immigrants arrive already speaking English as a first or second language. Currently, about 50 percent of the foreign-born in surveys report they speak English ‘very well’ or ‘well,’ while less than 10 percent say they speak English ‘not at all.’”

Immigrants are actually healthier than the native-born:

“Foreign-born immigrants have better infant, child, and adult health outcomes than the U.S.-born population in general and better outcomes than U.S.-born members of their ethnic group. In comparison with native-born Americans, the foreign-born are less likely to die from cardiovascular disease and all cancers combined; they experience fewer chronic health conditions, lower infant mortality rates, lower rates of obesity, and fewer functional limitations.
Immigrants also have a lower prevalence of depression, and of alcohol abuse. Foreign-born immigrants live longer, too. They have a life expectancy of 80.0 years, 3.4 years more than the native-born population, and this immigrant advantage holds across all the major ethnoracial categories.”

The report finds high levels of immigration equate with lower crime rates and that immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated:

 “Increased prevalence of immigrants is associated with lower crime rates—the opposite of what many Americans fear. Among men age 18-39, the foreign-born are incarcerated at a rate that is one-fourth the rate for the native-born. Cities and neighborhoods with greater concentrations of immigrants have much lower rates of crime and violence than comparable nonimmigrant neighborhoods.”