Border & Immigration

Legalizing A Population Of 11 Million

By Jill Replogle / Fronteras Reporter

Published January 12, 2013 at 11:38 AM PST

This story was published more than 12 years ago.

The most contentious component of President Obama’s proposed immigration overhaul is providing a path to citizenship, or at least legal status, for an estimated 11 million people.

The most contentious component of President Barack Obama’s proposed immigration overhaul is providing a path to citizenship, or at least legal status, for an estimated 11 million people. Yes, amnesty -- the “A” word. It’s the source of heated political rhetoric. But what would it really mean for the country’s workforce, and our fiscal health?

Economists have made some educated guesses, many of them based on what happened after the country’s last, and only, big amnesty program in 1986. Inside one immigrant-heavy industry, people seem to already know the answer.

Full article to be published Jan. 23, 2013

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Border & Immigration Immigration

Jill Replogle

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Jill Replogle is a Fronteras reporter in San Diego. She has been a journalist for more than 10 years, reporting from Central America, Mexico, and California. She has produced radio and video features for PRI's The World, KALW (San Francisco), Current TV, and the Video Journalism Movement. Her print stories have been published in The Miami Herald, Time.com, The Christian Science Monitor and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as in Guatemalan newspapers SigloXXI, ElPeriodico and Inforpress Centroamericana. Jill has a bachelor's degree in geography from the University of Colorado Boulder and a master's degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She's covered everything from local and international politics, to crime and drug violence, to environmental and public health issues. When she's not on the job, you might find her biking, scrambling up a rock somewhere, or otherwise exploring the outdoors.

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