Illegal Immigration Costs U.S. $113 Billion a Year, Study Finds
The cost of harboring illegal immigrants in the United States is a staggering
$113 billion a year -- an average of $1,117 for every “native-headed”
household in America -- according to a study conducted by the Federation
for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
The study, a copy of which was provided to FoxNews.com, “is the first and
most detailed look at the costs of illegal immigration ever done,” says Bob
Dane, director of communications at FAIR, a conservative organization that
seeks to end almost all immigration to the U.S.
FAIR's opponents in the bitter immigration debate describe the organization
as "extremist," though it is regularly called upon to testify before Congress.
Groups that support immigration reform immediately attacked FAIR's report
and pointed out that it is the polar opposite of the Perryman Report, a 2008
study that found illegal immigration was actually a boon to the American
economy. It estimated that illegal immigrants add $245 billion in Gross
Domestic Product to the economy and account for 2.8 million jobs.
The FAIR report comes as President Obama moves immigration reform to the
top of his agenda, and it is likely to be a rallying point for those who oppose
the president. At a speech Thursday at American University in Washington,
D.C., Obama argued that the entire immigration system is broken and needs
sweeping reforms. Among the changes he said are needed is "a path for
[farm] workers to earn legal status," which the president's critics called an
opening for a new amnesty program.
FAIR's report argues that there are two choices in the immigration
debate: “One choice is pursuing a strategy that discourages future illegal
migration and increasingly diminishes the current illegal alien population
through denial of job opportunities and deportations. The other choice,” it
says, “would repeat the unfortunate decision made in 1986 to adopt an
amnesty that invited continued illegal migration.”
The report states that an amnesty program wouldn’t appreciably increase tax
revenue and would cost massive amounts in Social Security and public
assistance expenses. An amnesty “would therefore be an accentuation of
the already enormous fiscal burden,” the report concludes.
The single largest cost to the government of illegal immigration, according to
the report, is an estimated $52 billion spent on schooling the children of
illegals. “Nearly all those costs are absorbed by state and local governments,’
the report states.
Moreover, the study’s breakdown of costs on a state-by-state basis shows
that in states with the largest number of illegals, the costs of illegal
immigration are often greater than current, crippling budget deficits. In
Texas, for example, the additional cost of immigration, $16.4 billion, is equal
to the state’s current budget deficit; in California the additional cost of illegal
immigration, $21.8 billion, is $8 billion more than the state’s current budget
deficit of $13.8 billion; and in New York, the $6.8 billion deficit is roughly two-
thirds the $9.5 billion yearly cost of its illegal population, according to Jack
Martin, the researcher who completed the study.
“The most important finding of the study is the enormous cost to state and
local governments due to lack of enforcement of our immigration laws,”
Martin wrote.
The report found that the federal government paid $28.6 billion in illegal
related costs, and state and local governments paid $84.2 billion on an
estimated 13 million undocumented residents. In his speech, Obama
estimated that there are 11 million.
But FAIR's critics said the report wrongly included American-born children of
undocumented workers in its study.
“The single biggest 'expense' it attributes to unauthorized immigrants is the
education of their children, yet most of these children are native-born, U.S.
citizens who will grow up to be taxpaying adults," said Walter Ewing, a senior
researcher at the American Immigration Council. "It is disingenuous to count
the cost of investing in the education of these children, so that they will
earn higher incomes and pay more in taxes when they are adults, as if it
were nothing more than a cost incurred by their parents."
He added that “the report fails to account for the purchasing power of
unauthorized consumers, which supports U.S. businesses and U.S. jobs” and
that it “ignores the value added to the U.S. economy by unauthorized
workers, particularly in the service sector.”
Martin said FAIR expected that criticism, but that because the children are a
direct result of illegal immigration, their inclusion was both fair and reasonable.
cause the parents there don't know how to stop their kids from going there. 
I'd vote for you Cap.
