Luis, there are many other studies and articles which disagree. Google shows about 305,000 hits on this subject. Here is just one.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION COSTS TO AMERICAN CITIZENS
By Frosty Wooldridge
Dec 5, 2003, 13:45
Each day American citizens go to work, they are taxed by their local, state and federal government. Those taxes maintain a functioning society. They provide for the common health, welfare and defense of this nation. The average American must work from January 1st to May 5th to pay their taxes. That means they work for four months to maintain this society. The rest of the year, they work for their families and personal needs.
However, that has changed in the past ten years with an excess of 10 million people from foreign countries having crossed into the United States illegally. Their growing numbers of over 2,200 per day are creating a national crisis for every American family. In 2003, and estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 people crossed illegally into the United States. That number is expected to exceed one million in 2004.
What are the costs? For the average American-extreme and growing. Why? Because illegal aliens work under the table without paying taxes. Who benefits? A few employers. Who loses? You do. Why? According to Harvard Professor George Borjas, immigration costs American workers $133 billion annually in wage depression and job loss. In the past ten years, 2.3 million low skill American workers were displaced from their jobs due to the heavy influx of foreign workers. Taxpayers paid $15 billion in public assistance, Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment compensation to Americans who had lost their jobs to illegal immigrants.
In the past two years alone, the U.S. economy lost three million jobs and unemployment rose to 6.4 percent. Yet the illegal immigration pipeline keeps pumping into communities across America. Even more sobering, immigrant households consume $20 billion more in public services than they pay in taxes. Even more frightening, illegal immigrants as well as legal immigrants send $55.5 billion dollars back to their home countries--$14.5 to Mexico, $25 billion to South America and $16 billion to Asia-thus draining currency out of America.
Each year, immigration takes $68 billion dollars out of your pocket. They cost $7.4 billion to teach their children English as a second language. California, with three million illegals, pays $2.2 billion annually to educate illegal alien children. They are $38 billion in debt. Texas is $12 billion in debt with 1.5 million illegal aliens that cost them $1.03 billion annually. What is it in your state? The USA is $6.8 trillion in debt. How long can your family and your country maintain this financial nightmare?
Currently, illegal and legal immigrants make up 25% of the U.S. prison population at an annual cost of $1 billion. That's just the ones that are caught. Last summer, eight illegals raped eight Boulder, Colorado women and fled to Mexico. One killed an LA police officer and fled over the border. Gangs and drugs run over the Mexican border costing American citizens millions in rehabilitation for addicts.
An even greater dilemma crossing over our borders are the diseases riding in the bodies of illegal aliens who avoid health screening. An incurable strain of tuberculosis, once endemic only to Mexico, is now riding in the bodies of 16,000 people who crossed over in the past four years. Over 7,000 new cases of leprosy have crossed over in the past three years. Included in this growing crisis are Exotic New Castle Disease, Dengue Fever, Chagas Disease and worse. In excess of 100,000 cases of hepatitis have been discovered, but the price has not been added up at this time. The cost to every American citizen grows by the day as over 2.3 million legal and illegal immigrants cross America's borders annually.
Unfortunately, they come from countries without family planning, which makes the line endless and growing. You might ask yourself, "What is all this immigration doing for my family? Am I better off? How am I benefiting? Is there something going on that I've missed? What about my job and my community?"
Every citizen has a stake in the outcome of this crisis. If not now, then later, for your children. You ask, "Why, in fact, are our elected officials giving illegal aliens driver's licenses, instate tuition, free schooling, medical care and more? Why are they helping illegal alien migration by not securing America's borders since 9/11? What good are our laws if our own federal officials won't enforce them?"
The reason is simple: Not enough people have spoken up. The worst decision you can make is to think you can do so little that you do nothing at all. If you do nothing, illegal aliens WILL keep crossing our borders. It will get worse. It's up to you to start writing letters to the editor, speaking up on radio talk shows, calling your senators and congressmen/women daily, calling federal officials, make noise, be heard and join action groups. The Boston Tea Party was one of the great events that started this nation. One of your great, great, great grandparents most likely heaved a few bags of tea overboard. What are you going to do?
Watch, wait or take action?
It's your country, your kids and your future.
--------
Sources: Center for Immigration Studies, Washington, DC. Federation of American Immigration Reform, Dr. Don Huddle of Rice University, San Diego Union Tribune, Harvard University, National Academy of Sciences