Posted on 02/22/2017 4:23:03 PM PST by TigerClaws
In light of Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, it’s worth looking at the facts—how many illegal immigrants are there, and what do they cost America?
This article focuses specifically on California, which is home an estimated 27% of America’s illegal aliens. Illegal Immigrants Cost California $30.29 Billion A Year
Illegal immigrants and their children cost California at least $30.29 billion a year in net costs—$7,352 per alien.
For context: given that California’s state budget is $171 billion, this means that illegal immigration would cost 17.7% of this spending (although much of the costs are absorbed locally).
At this point, the question is no longer whether California ought to allow illegal immigration—it’s whether it can afford it.
Illegal aliens are expensive, and financial burden on California’s already strained government is unsustainable. Worse, it’s already taking its toll.
Just this week California’s Oroville Dam was on the brink of breaching, due to financial neglect—there’s just not enough money to go around. oroville dam main spillway overflow Oroville dam’s main & auxiliary spillways were opened to relieve water pressure. The state was aware of the need for upgrades 12 years ago.
Immanent disaster seems to have alerted the state legislature of the need for action—last week they requested $100 billion in federal funding to rebuild their state.
Frankly I hope they get the funding. They need it.
But it brings up an important question: why can’t they afford to maintain their state themselves?
California is America’s largest and richest state. It’s the home of giant, high-tech, highly profitable companies like Apple and Google—yet it’s fallen into disrepair.
Frankly, it’s because the state’s been flooded with illegal immigrants, who increase systemic strain without proportionally contributing to the economy.
Basically, Californians are supporting themselves, in addition to a very large underclass—one in eleven Californians are illegal immigrants (at bare minimum).
This is much like Sweden, which now spends over 20% of it’s tax dollars on migrants. It’s not that bad in California, but it’s very close. How Many Illegal Aliens Reside In California?
In all honesty, no one really knows.
They’re undocumented. That’s the whole point.
Estimates are wide-ranging. On the low end, Pew Research estimates that there are roughly 11.1 million illegal immigrants currently living in the US—a number which tracks fairly closely with official government figures.
On the high end, estimates peg the number at roughly 30 million people. This number has been proposed by conservative author Ann Coulter, who based the figure off banking and remittance payment records, government service demand, and migration projections from ICE.
Frankly, I think the math makes much more sense with the high estimate, but in the interests of neutrality, this article will proceed using the lowest realistic number of illegal immigrants (11.1 million).
But that’s for the entire USA. What about California?
According to the Migration Policy Institute, there are 3,019,000 adult illegal immigrants living in the state of California. On top of this are 1.1 million children of illegal immigrants (975,000 of which would be considered anchor babies). Hispanic Americans protest illegal immigration Americans of all backgrounds are impacted by illegal immigration, which suppresses wages for American citizens, and increases the cost of living.
In total, there are 4.12 million illegal immigrants, and their children living in California.
Furthermore, these people use government services (which proponents of illegal immigration often try to minimize). I’ll get into the details later, but just as an example, some 806,000 undocumented migrants had drivers licences in 2016.
Most are also relatively unskilled with poor language skills. It is estimated that 54% of illegals speak English “not well” or speak it “not at all”. This is why they tend to work in low level service sector jobs, like in restaurants, or doing manual labor, like picking fruit.
In any event, it must be noted that illegal immigrants aren’t adding value to the economy that teenagers or machines couldn’t easily do, given the chance.
So that’s the number we’re dealing with. Let’s look at the costs, and how they break down. Calculating The Cost Of California’s Illegal Immigrants california classrooms are crowded California’s classrooms are some of the most crowded in the country—classes are swollen by a large number of “anchor babies” and undocumented children. Education: $15.63 Billion
As stated, there are 975,000 anchor babies and 130,000 undocumented children living in California. This totals 1.105 million children—all of whom are educated largely at state expense.
Although the California Department of Education doesn’t include undocumented children as a separate statistical group in terms of costs, we know that the total enrollment in California’s public schools was 6,226,737 in 2016. A further 573,000 attended private charter schools.
Given that the vast majority of illegal immigrants attend public schools, this means that roughly 17.7% of California’s public student population is comprised of children here illegally, or the children of illegal immigrants.
This inflated student population costs a lot, and adds huge burdens on California’s education system.
According to California’s state budget, $88.3 billion is allocated for California’s K-12 students ($51.6 billion from California, the rest from local and federal initiatives).
Given their proportion of the student population, illegal immigrants and their children eat up $15.63 billion in educational costs.
This lowers the quality of education for American citizens, especially since California’s student-to-teacher ratio is 35% above the national average.
This is directly the result of illegal immigration—it’s the kids that suffer. Healthcare: $4.02 Billion
Illegal immigrants impose significant healthcare costs on California, while also increasing wait-times and decreasing the overall quality of care (by lowering the physician-to-patient ratio).
Illegal immigrants withdraw roughly $2.28 billion from Medicaid in California, and cost roughly $1.3 billion in emergency services (they are treated, but do not pay).
Together, these hard costs equate to $4.02 billion per year.
However, these numbers don’t necessarily reflect the true costs of illegal aliens on the healthcare system, because they don’t quantify opportunity costs (we could be investing in better technology, or more doctors, rather than treating illegal immigrants) or damage caused by the burdened system (pain and suffering caused by long wait times, lost productivity etc.). Remittances: $3.86 Billion
A remittance is a transfer of money from someone in the US to their family back home.
They are usually given by recent immigrants, and particularly by illegal immigrants and visa card holders (who come to America to work in order to support their family abroad).
Basically, a remittance is money lost from the economy: it vanishes, never to be spent domestically.
According to Pew Research America lost $133.6 billion in remittances in 2015.
Of this, $24 billion went to Mexico (the biggest recipient).
Other important destinations, for our purposes, are Guatemala ($5.9 billion), El Salvador ($3.98 billion), the Dominican Republic ($3.83 billion), and Honduras ($3.2 billion).
All totaled, $40.9 billion was sent from the US to Mexico and Central America.
Now, we can’t assume that only illegal immigrants send remittances, so I will estimate that first generation immigrants and illegal immigrants send remittances at the same frequency.
This will provide us with an (intentionally) low estimate for remittances paid by illegal immigrants to Mexico and Central America alone.
Given that there are 11.7 million legal immigrants from Mexico, and 3.1 million from Central America living in the USA, this gives as a pool of 14.8 million legal immigrants contributing to the remittance figures.
We also know that 74% of illegal immigrants are from Mexico or Central America, or 8.14 million.
This means that of the total Hispanic population assuming to be paying remittances, 35% are likely illegal immigrants. This works out to illegals paying out $14.31 billion to the region annually.
If we narrow this down to California, where 27% of total illegal immigrants live, then we can determine that Californian illegal immigrants remit $3.86 billion every year to Mexico and Central America.
This is to say nothing of the other nearly 1 million illegal immigrants, most of whom overstayed their visas, which would add significantly to this figure. Justice Costs: $4.4 Billion 40% of all federal crimes occur in states bordering Mexico.
The costs for additional policing, court, and incarceration costs add up to $4.4 billion, according to the study done by the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
This includes an additional $1.85 billion for policing, $1.12 billion for court services, and $1.54 billion for prisons.
As significant as this is, it doesn’t begin to approach the true costs of crime, which should rightly factor in lost productivity and wages, and intangible costs such as pain and suffering, long-term social costs (such as a reduction in community cohesion etc.). The list goes on and on.
These intangible costs (which are never included in such studies because of their vagueness) are likely significantly higher than the tangible costs.
For example, a study which estimated the average intangible costs of crimes in California (2008 dollars) shows that the real cost is much higher than the calculated costs for most crimes—especially for violent and sexual crimes.
The intangible costs are estimated based on special damages awarded by court proceedings. Type of Offense Tangible Cost Intangible Cost Total Cost Murder $1,285,146 $8,442,000 $8,982,907 Rape/Sexual Assault $41,252 $199,642 $240,776 Aggravated Assault $19,472 $95,023 $107,020 Robbery $21,373 $22,575 $42,310 Arson $16,429 $5,133 $21,103 Motor Vehicle Theft $10,534 $262 $10,772 Stolen Property $7,974 N/A $7,974 Household Burglary $6,169 $321 $6,462 Embezzlement $5,480 N/A $5,480 Forgery and Counterfeiting $5,265 N/A $5,265 Fraud $5,032 N/A $5,032 Vandalism $4,860 N/A $4,860 Larceny/Theft $3,523 $10 $3,532
Were we to include intangible costs, even doubling the stated figure of $4.4 billion would probably understate the situation.
Frankly, I think the number’s probably higher in terms of tangible costs, given that almost 75% federal drug possession sentences were given to illegal immigrants, and that 40% of all federal crimes were committed in jurisdictions neighboring the Mexican border—meaning they were likely due to gang and drug trafficking problems committed by illegal immigrants.
Beyond that, illegal immigrants are highly over-represented in murder charges, committing 38% of all murders in California, Texas, Arizona, Florida and New York.
We’ll stick with $4.4 billion as our ballpark, but it’s probably at least double that. Government Administration & Services: $1.6 Billion
Added strain caused by the illegal immigrant population costs California $1.6 billion a year.
Included in this number are things like the upkeep of parks, public recreation areas, libraries, roads, fire departments, and $792 million in state welfare handouts.
This number doesn’t include intangible costs of systemic strain, such as longer lines, busier parks etc. This contributes to the quality of life, but can’t easily be measured.
It also doesn’t include the spillover impact on American citizens who need public assistance but can’t get it, because illegal immigrants are milking the system.
For example, roughly 1.5 million citizens spend over half their income on shelter in California—housing is expensive because illegal immigrants compete in the property market, inflating costs. You never hear about this, but the cost of living is increased due to illegal immigration. Tax Revenue: $3.5 Billion
Illegal immigrants do pay taxes, including sales taxes and (sometimes) payroll taxes. It’s estimated that they contribute $3.5 billion in taxes to California’s state revenue.
This isn’t even close to what they withdraw in terms of services. Total Net Costs Of Illegal Immigration To California: $30.29 Billion
Illegal aliens cost California $30.29 billion every single year—this includes their contribution in terms of taxes.
This works out to $7,352 per illegal immigrant.
This massive burden is one of the main reasons California’s schools and infrastructure is in a total state of disrepair.
These estimates are likely very low, since they don’t include any intangible costs associated with crime or increased systemic strain, they low-ball remittance estimates, and the number of illegal aliens in California is realistically at least double the numbers used. How Do We Fix Illegal Immigration?
Frankly, the only way to do it is to deport the illegal immigrants, starting with the criminals.
This is not a moral question, it’s a question of fact—California can’t continue to support a massive population of undocumented migrants on the public expense.
The costs are too great, and it’s seriously impacting the quality of life of America’s own people—particularly black and Hispanic American citizens, who often directly compete with illegal immigrants for jobs.
Deportation may sound bad, but it needs to happen. And if we’re being honest, most would probably self-deport if California were to stop subsidizing their living expenses, and the government cracked down on employers who hire illegals.
No jobs, no welfare: no reason to stay.
The second element is to make sure we keep them out. America needs to invest more in border security, and this includes a wall.
And to those who think walls don’t work, you’re sorely mistaken. Walls worked in Israel. Walls worked in Hungary. And walls will work here.
There’s a reason the East Germans built the Berlin wall: it worked.
Thank you!
People act like we wanted to be overrun with non citizens sucking up government money.
Like we deserve it and didn’t even try.
The voters tried but were overruled by tyrants in black robes.
This from LA County alone
LA county budget 22 billion dollars a year (may be higher now)
Percentage of LA County budget allocated to social welfare entitlement transfer payments 86% or 18.92 Billion dollars per year
Percentage of LA County budget allocated for all else 14% or 3.1 billion dollars per year
Most recent LA County audit found 60% rate of entitlement fraud, most of which is illegals fraudulently getting entitlements
So roughly 11.5 billion dollars a year in entitlement fraud in LA County alone
This does not include close to 10 billion per year in court mandated health care for illegals
You moved and hopefully happy now. My wife is from up north and I managed to get her to move south .
My oldest is in the Marine Corps based in CA and he hates it. Hardly he and others leave the base now.
You know how to hurt a guy...
“:^)
And so the kids can play video games instead of developing skills.
Speaking of which, as I type I am sitting in a Chik-fil-A. They do hire high school age kids, and the service is so great here that if I was a hiring manager and saw Chik-fil-A on a resume, all things being equal I'd give that applicant a chance.
If these illegals are so valuable to our economy, why weren’t they valuable to Mexico?
Wait, each of the illegal parents children costs $15,000 a year in education alone.
That number may be very low of $30+ Billion.
Yup. And you all recalled Davis but it still didn’t make a difference.
I would be one of those people. I may not return to CA when I retire, although I remain a legal resident of the state.
The numbers are pretty staggering
California Democrats encourage the fraud and refuse to allow the use of finger prints to weed out the people receiving entitlements under multiple false identities.
can you post your source on that? would be great to be able to show people the entitlement fraud stat.
I have a relative that alerted me to the fact that over 90% of the births in the Los Angeles county owned and operated Medical centers were Illegal aliens.
They would get calls from Mexico asking what services would be covered.
This has been on my radar for the better part of thirty years.
I’m so disgusted with it I finally gave up tracking how seriously my state and the federal government were getting it from behind, and then billing the citizens for the pleasure.
Oh the illegals sign themselves up through their kids for all kinds of welfare, medical free, EBT, WIC and lie about their incomes on the forms as well IMO, working off the books additionally.
DAM! Fix the dams with that money.
I thought you were also a CA native? No one is in denial; every single person knows the score that illegals are a huge net drain. But just as no one dares call it treason, money & power accrue to those who control & benefit from the illegal alien invasion.
Perhaps the biggest key is CA's ability to sell bonds under US federal guarantees (the same way the US is able to run $trillion dollar deficits). As long as taxes aren't raised, the state can continue to simply "run a tab" for future generations to deal with. It's a lot of fun until the game ends and the crying begins.
I personally believe that $30 billion price tag is WAY too low.
In total....the state lost four taxpaying people...............
The audit was done about 15 years or so ago if I remember correctly
If anything, things have gotten worse since then
The number was reported as a percentage only
The budget breakdown between entitlements and all other operating and maintenance expenses were broken down in an article here about 6 years ago.
The cost associated with the court mandated tax payer funded free health care is broken out separately from the LA County budget as it fall under A a State agency . This number comes from another article here from a few years back on the cost of the court mandated free health care for illegals
I thought it was a typo that CA requested 100 billion in federal funds, so I looked it up, and sure enough, they sent in a wish list to president Trump for 100 billion from his infrastructure projects.
Between the environmental reviews, expensive labor unions and everything they could spend that much on a mile long bike trail. Maybe they’ll build another tunnel to Mexico.
But we get cheap lettuce.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.