Por Marianela Toledo | Florida Watchdog

MIAMI — A shift in policy by President Barack Obama on June 15 preventing the deportation of immigrants who entered the country illegally as children — as well as allowing them to apply for work permits — has raised voices of protest among taxpayer groups, who think the measure will further affect the economy and unemployment rate.

Economista Tulio Rodriguez believes that less deportations and more working immigrants may help the economy in the long run

Writing in U.S. World News and Report, Roy Beck, founder and president of Numbers USA, a nonprofit organization self-described as an “immigration reduction” group, said the president’s deportation plan would let “parents world-round know they can continue to break into our country and steal jobs for long periods.” His comments echo a common talking point for groups opposed to greater immigration in the American job force.

Tulio Rodriguez, economist and president of Kores Corp, a real estate agency in Weston, told Florida Watchdog the economic impact of the president’s move is subjective at best.

“Analyzing the direct economic benefit is difficult because, for example, 396,000 people who were meant to be deported this year won’t be. Does it mean that those people are now going to be work, while they did not before? Not necessarily,” said Rodriguez.

“Many of these people were already working and contributing. Were they paying taxes? Maybe yes, maybe no.”

The economist said some young students may already be using a special number to pay taxes, known as an Individual Tax Indentification Number. Many others have not been able to contribute to the system at all.

“If we look at unemployment numbers in the regular community — now 8 percent — and you add to that the people who are not going to be deported, arguably it could have an impact on unemployment upward,” he said.

“But those people are going to become taxpayers, and that’s better from the point of view,” Rodriguez said.

The economist concluded by reiterating the need for comprehensive immigration reform, which is  just as needed for the government itself.

“The government must live within its means … and spend less of their income.”

Watch the Spanish-language interview with economist Tulio Rodriguez: