Immigration
Listen: The Link Between Migration and Poverty
Approximately 38 million immigrants live in the United States—12.5 percent of the U.S. population. About one-third of all immigrants in the country—between 11 and 12 million people—are unauthorized.
Bread for the World sees global progress against poverty as a great exodus from hunger. We know that international migration is often part of this exodus—as people move across national borders to escape poverty and improve their livelihoods. While reducing poverty may not be the primary goal of most contemporary immigration policy reform efforts, it should certainly be one of its explicit objectives.
Bread for the World will likely have different priorities for immigration reform than some of our faith-based and secular partners. We believe that we can make the greatest contribution to the reform effort by focusing on hunger, poverty, and faith through the following principles:
- Legalization of unauthorized immigrants in the United States will reduce poverty. Immigration reform should include an earned path to citizenship for the 11 million people now in the United States without authorization. Through legal status, immigrants will have greater opportunities to overcome poverty.
- Immigration is an international issue. Effective policy should include better integration of U.S. immigration and development policies. Our government should acknowledge that poverty and lack of economic opportunity in neighboring countries accounts for most unauthorized immigration.
- Immigration reform should provide continued access to safety-net programs. Immigrants and their children should have access to programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly
food stamps); Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); and the Child Tax Credit
(CTC). - Future flow of immigrants to the United States should be managed through immigrant worker programs. These programs should be based on U.S. labor-market needs and should promote job creation and
economic development in immigrant-sending communities as well. - The well-being of U.S.-born low-wage workers must beconsidered in immigration reform. Investment in education and workforce training for U.S. workers should accompany
immigration reform as part of a strategy to increase opportunity.
- Learn more about Bread for the World's immigration principles: "Immigration, Hunger, and Opportunity: Bread for the World and Immigration Reform."
- En Español: "Inmigración, hambre y oportunidad: Pan para el Mundo y la reforma migratoria."
Andrew Wainer
Senior Immigration Policy Analyst
202-688-1074
Further Reading
Immigrants in the United States
Once in the United States, immigrants typically improve their economic situation. However, unauthorized immigrants are effectively barred from career mobility and educational opportunities.
Unauthorized Immigration
Latin America is the source of more than half of all immigrants to the United States and 81 percent of all unauthorized immigrants.
The Need for Reform
Without addressing the poverty that is the core cause of immigration from Latin America, U.S. immigration policy will be ineffective in stemming the flow of unauthorized immigrants.
Research Papers
Our research papers provide substantial information on everything from hunger and poverty among immigrant families to development and migration.
Join us June 8-11 in Washington, D.C., for the National Gathering 
