'Counting on Immigration,' Part 5

In our series this week, "Counting on Immigration," we've been looking at how immigration affects the Massachusetts economy.

Our reports have examined the issue — from the challenges and opportunities facing immigrant entrepreneurs, to the impact of illegal immigration on the state's labor force, and finally, to the effect of immigrants maintaining ties to their homeland, while living and working in the Bay State.

Today, we'll put all this into context. In a few minutes, we'll hear from Richard Chacon, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants. Firstly, WBUR's Bob Oakes speaks with two people who have differing views about the impact of immigration on Massachusetts' economy.

Steve Adams is the regional advocate for the US Small Business Administration and Jessica Vaughan is a Senior Policy Analyst from the Center for Immigration Studies.

This report was produced by WBUR's Sarah Bush. Our series, "Counting on Immigration," was produced by WBUR's Anna Bensted and George Hicks. WBUR's Jesse Costa and Angel Kozeli created and collaborated on our special web site for the series, with contributions from WBUR's Margaret Evans. You can connect to that on the link below.