News and Commentary

How Much Is Illegal Immigration Costing You? Here Are The Numbers.

   DailyWire.com

One of the reasons why there has been such a groundswell against illegal immigration is the burdensome cost it imposes on taxpayers. A new report shows that in toto, illegal immigration costs taxpayers over a hundred billion dollars a year.

The report, published by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), found that when adding together federal, state and local spending on illegal immigration, the total cost for taxpayers is nearly $135 billion.

The Left likes to claim the cost of illegal immigration is outweighed by the amount of taxes they pay, but FAIR found that illegals pay nearly $19 billion taxes to federal, state and local governments, meaning the net cost is $115 billion for taxpayers.

This is due to the fact that when illegals pay federal taxes, they are largely negated by tax credits and wage deductions since most illegals work in low-paying fields. Most of the cost of illegal immigration is at the state and local level since state laws typically allow illegals to have access to welfare programs and there are costs involving education, infrastructure and the legal system.

Paul Bedard of The Washington Examiner highlighted other key findings in the report:

  • The staggering total costs of illegal immigrants and their children outweigh the taxes paid to federal and state governments by a ratio of roughly 7 to 1, with costs at nearly $135 billion compared to tax revenues at nearly $19 billion.
  • The nearly $135 billion paid out by federal and state and local taxpayers to cover the cost of the presence of 12.5 million illegal aliens and their 4.2 million citizen children amounts to approximately $8,075 per illegal alien and citizen child prior to taxes paid, or $6,940 per person after taxes are paid.
  • On the federal level, medical ($17.14 billion) is by far the highest cost, with law enforcement coming second ($13.15 billion) and general government services ($8 billion) third.
  • At the state and local level, education ($44.4 billion) was by far the largest expense, followed by general public services ($18.5 billion) and medical ($12.1 billion).
  • The top three states based on total cost to state taxpayers for illegal immigrants and their children: California ($23 billion); Texas ($10.9 billion), and New York ($7.5 billion).

The report’s findings show the absurdity of opponents of the wall claiming that it would cost too much. The wall is believed to cost in the range of $15-25 billion — well below the net cost of $115 billion to taxpayers. And evidence shows that the wall or fence does work to stem illegal immigration.

Between the drain on taxpayer dollars and worsening impact it has on crime, it’s no wonder that illegal immigration was such a driving issue for voters in the past election and highlights the need for a wall or a fence along hundreds of miles of the Southern border.

Read the full report here.

Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.

Got a tip worth investigating?

Your information could be the missing piece to an important story. Submit your tip today and make a difference.

Submit Tip
The Daily Wire   >  Read   >  How Much Is Illegal Immigration Costing You? Here Are The Numbers.