The subject at the NPR link is “first generation immigrants”, not “illegal first generation immigrants”. I don’t drink but I can read. The assumption that all immigrants are illegal, particularly those dubbed as third world immigrants is offensive to me personally.
Who said they were all illegal? But let’s face reality: most illegal immigrants are from the Third World. Since the subject is “money sent out of the country by immigrants,” perhaps it is pertinent to point out that legal immigrants are, under the 1971 Supreme Court ruling in Graham v. Richardson, entitled to any and all benefits that citizens may received. This was altered slightly by the 1996 welfare reform act (Clinton’s end of welfare bill which reduced benefits for everyone), however, In 1997, Congress restored SSI eligibility for most legal immigrants present in the country prior to the ‘96 law’s enactment. In 1998, Congress restored food-stamp eligibility to immigrant children and those elderly or disabled immigrants. My point being, legal immigrants receive benefits from the public purse, and those benefits replace funds that they might send abroad.