Immigration Reform: Jason Richwine Resigns From Heritage Foundation After Writing Controversial Report

Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at Heritage Foundation and a co-author of its recent controversial report on comprehensive immigration reform, resigned on Friday.

The conservative-leaning think tank confirmed the news in a brief statement, but declined to comment on why Richwine left.

“Jason Richwine let us know he’s decided to resign from his position,” a Heritage representative, who wished not to be identified, wrote in an email. “He’s no longer employed by Heritage.”

The rep added, “It is our long-standing policy not to discuss internal personnel matters.”

Heritage issued a report this week criticizing the U.S. Senate’s “Gang of Eight” immigration-reform legislation, stating that giving legal status to 11 million illegal immigrants would cost taxpayers at least $6.3 trillion. The authors of the report contended that over time the immigrants would get $9.4 trillion in government benefits and services but pay only $3.1 trillion in taxes.

Following the release of the report, the Huffington Post posted on Scribd a Richwine thesis paper submitted to Harvard University years ago that argued the IQ of immigrants in the U.S. is “substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations.”

Heritage did not say whether the public criticism it has faced from partiticipants on both sides of the immigration debate led to Richwine’s resignation.