Posted on 08/26/2004 9:54:59 AM PDT by Smogger
Illegal immigrants use $10 billion more in government services than they pay in taxes, a study released Wednesday shows. Legalizing the roughly 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States would nearly triple that to $29 billion, the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., reported.
Providing amnesty would allow undocumented immigrants to use many more government programs, driving up costs dramatically.
"If you bring in lots of unskilled workers, you're going to unavoidably create large fiscal costs for American taxpayers," said Steven Camarota, the study's author.
"It's not because the illegal aliens are lazy or use an inordinate amount of welfare. It's because their low levels of education mean they're going to have low incomes. That means they will make modest tax payments."
Nearly two-thirds of illegal immigrants don't have high-school diplomas, Camarota said.
The study shows the largest federal costs associated with illegal immigration are Medicaid ($2.5 billion); treating uninsured patients ($2.2 billion); food-assistance programs ($1.9 billion); the federal prison and court systems ($1.6 billion); and federal aid to schools ($1.4 billion).
The research used data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some experts questioned the findings.
"Take this study with a grain of salt," said Stephen Moore, an economist with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. "This contradicts what most other studies have shown, which is that immigrants help the economy. Overall, they use less government services than they pay in taxes."
Moore pointed to a 1997 National Research Council report that shows the typical immigrant and his or her children pay an estimated $80,000 more in taxes than they will receive in federal, state and local benefits during their lifetimes.
Camarota said that conclusion is misleading because the report included legal and illegal immigrants and projected the earnings of an immigrant family more than 300 years.
Camarota said illegal immigrants pay nearly $16 billion a year in federal taxes. However, he said they impose annual costs of more than $26 billion.
Barring illegal immigrants from federal programs will not save much money because many costs are due to their U.S.-born children, who receive U.S. citizenship at birth.
Other programs such as the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program are too politically popular to be cut, he said. Other costs, such as incarcerating illegal immigrants who are convicted of crimes, are unavoidable, he said.
There are only two options for policymakers who are trying to reform immigration policy, Camarota said.
"Either enforce the law, or stop complaining about the cost," he said.
Public hospitals, which treat undocumented immigrants among their uninsured patients, have seen health care costs continue to rise.
"Anyone that comes to the hospital that doesn't have insurance obviously is costing the taxpayer money," said Bob Page, spokesman for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. "We don't ask people when they're admitted whether they're a citizen or an undocumented immigrant. We're required to serve anybody who comes to this hospital and shows up at the emergency room."
In the 2002-03 fiscal year, the hospital spent about $217 million to take care of patients who couldn't afford to pay, Page said. Included in that cost was an unknown amount to treat illegal immigrants.
Page wouldn't say if undocumented immigrants are a drain on the hospital's budget.
"We are able to find sources of taxpayer money to make sure we balance the books," Page said.
Illegal immigrants interviewed Wednesday at the Day Labor Center in Rancho Cucamonga said they came to the United States for work.
"We contribute more to the economy than the Americans who were born in this country," said Humberto Flores, a 47- year-old Ontario resident who arrived from the Mexican state of Veracruz three years ago.
"We do all the heavy work because the Americans don't like to do it," he said in Spanish.
Besides being a day laborer, Flores said he works seasonally in a nursery that deducts federal taxes from his checks. He also pays sales and property taxes to state and local governments.
Flores said he has never requested government health care, welfare or other public services in the United States. His wife and three grown children live in Mexico.
"If all the immigrants got together and decided not to work for two days, the economy of this country would fall apart," Flores said.
But, our son doen't get a free or reduced breakfast or lunch. Also, at orientation, the assistant principal spoke of the form that needed to be filled out for title 1 and how if it wasn't ahnd't back in by next Tuesday then the child would have to pay full price for their lunch.
If they had such a surplus from last year that every child was marked as receiving Title 1 lunches, then why the insistence that the form for receiving the free lunch needed to be filled out or else a child would have to pay full price??
Something just doesn't add up. imho
From looks of things, Mexico would be just as good as US....why do they keep coming if poverty here is all they have to look forward to? I say close the borders....to all of them, and make everyone go through heavy process to obtain US residency.
What adds up is that the school gets extra funding for all sorts of programs based on how many are on free breakfast / lunch. It makes a major difference in how much they get in grants and other goodies.
In short, your school administrators are scamming the system. It's illegal, by the way.
People with no education at all, no ability to learn English, no jobs skills and who start families at age 14 or 15 are going to be "poor" where-ever they go --- but being poor in the USA means you get free food, free housing, free health care, free babysitting services and much more. In Mexico with no education, they might work hard for $25-30 a week and they would have to pay for the schools, health care, housing, and food that they get.
Being "poor" in the USA means you live like a queen and the government hands you more money than you could ever have imagined.
In short, your school administrators are scamming the system. It's illegal, by the way.
Any suggestions?
If that shack in CA is "living like a queen" then I don't want any of it. Most countries have a "dole" system that they could use, although we do have better healthcare, housing, but they grow a lot of our food in Mexico....fresh food would be available there too.
The solution is simple and as I have stated previously 'CLOSE THE BORDERS'...Australia doesn't let in every Juan, Rameriz, and Pedro....
Neither does Mexico let in every Juan, Rameriz, and Pedro --- they close their borders with Guatemala and deport Central Americans.
Yes --- the welfare queen might be living in a shack here, but she was in Mexico too -- only without the $400 or more monthy housing subsidy from our government. And without the WIC, food stamps, help with utilities, and all the free health care she would hope for. In Mexico she would have to work or beg for a living.
I think we are too lenient with the "visa's", and open borders that attract illegal aliens, I say we demand our government close the borders...period.
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