Immigration is one of the most visible policy issues today.  It is also an issue that is fraught with misunderstanding.

There is a popular understanding that immigration comes at significant cost to society. These costs are in the form of jobs for citizens, impacts on federal, state, and local budgets, and crime.

Behind most of these notions is a kernel of truth, but the reality is that immigration is much more benign than is commonly thought and poses no significant drain on government resource.

Quite the contrary, immigration may well be a part of the solution to pressing policy issues.

Jon Haveman, Ph.D is Executive Director of the National Economic Education Delegation (NEED), a San Rafael nonprofit. He is also CEO of EconSpeak.org. He is a man on a mission to make economic policy literacy relevant and real.