Latino Activist: "Immigration study tells slanted story" [BARF ALERT]

The Fresno Bee ^ | 06 September 2004 | Juan Esparza Loera

[MegaSilver]

It's hard to believe, but an actual report on the costs of undocumented immigration has finally been released. For those who have railed against previous columns about undocumented immigrants and cited their drain on taxpayers, your ammunition has arrived via a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies.

Released last month, "The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget" shows that undocumented immigrants used $26.3 billion in government services in 2002 but paid only $16 billion in taxes. That, concludes the study, resulted in a $10 billion cost to taxpayers.

This study is about as worthless as Enron stock.

[MegaSilver]

First of all, studies show that President Reagan's 1986 amnesty resulted in better jobs for newly legalized residents, who in turn paid more in taxes and became less of a burden for taxpayers.

If there's really the much upward mobility, one wonders, then, how Senor Esparaza Loera would explain the near ejection of the GOP in California due to its opposition to illegal alien social welfare programs.

[Iam1ru1-2]

Let's ring up the cash register on these misfits who dare take advantage of federal programs: $2.5 billion on Medicaid, $2.2 billion on treatment for the uninsured, $1.9 billion on food-assistance programs and school lunches, $1.6 billion on federal prisons and the court system, and $1.4 billion on federal aid to schools.

We know immigration reform has been kicked around at the federal level, including a bare-on-specifics plan by President Bush. Some immigrant advocates are pushing for an amnesty program. Hold on! That would add $29 billion to the federal deficit, according to the 49-page study. And, this addresses only federal costs, not the costs to local and state governments. "Put simply, it seems almost certain that if the illegals are allowed to remain in the country, so will the fiscal costs," says Steven A. Camarota, the study's author. "If we are serious about avoiding the fiscal costs of illegal immigration, the only real option is to enforce the law and reduce the number of illegal aliens in this country."

Need I apologize to those callers through the years who have complained about the costs of undocumented residents on taxpayers?

HELL YES!!!!

[hershey]

Why don't we just hand the country over to Mexico and points south? No, wait, the rest of the world wants a piece of us, too, and there's not enough to go around.

[MegaSilver]

Why don't we just hand the country over to Mexico and points south? No, wait, the rest of the world wants a piece of us, too, and there's not enough to go around.

Ever read the book Civil War II? I'm told the author believes Mexico WILL reclaim the Southwest, ca. 2020.

Incidently, that's about exactly the time I'll be eligible to run for president. I'll run on a platform of "Manifest Destiny."

[NewRomeTacitus]

Other recent border issue stories:

Along the (North) border, a new eye on security

Flow of migrants puts border's agents on alert

Retail giant acknowledges settlement talks in illegal workers case

Parties targeting 12 million immigrant citizens of voting age (not assimilating)

Law aids (illegal) immigrants who are victims of abuse

Houston Thinks Small to Tackle Big Dropout Problem

Racial Profiling Redux

[NeoCaveman]

Can we send Mexico a bill for 10 billion a year?

[BurbankKarl]

[Amerigomag]

The study conveniently fails to note that children born in the U.S. to undocumented parents are guaranteed the same rights as other U.S.-born citizens, including education, the costs of which have been included in the study

Yup those damn studies again. They never fail to undermine your point. Damn studies!

Right here and right now we shall declare the God given right of every Mexican to receive a free public education in the US through the post secondary environment.

Screw the US taxpayer. They owe it to every Mexican since the US has kept Mexicans oppressed after Mexico declared their sovereignty over California in the late 19th century!