Here's a breakdown of the costs of illegal immigration:
1. The average illegal immigrant household pays $4,200 a year in taxes, but unfortunately, they impose costs of $6,950 per household. That's a deficit of $2,750 for each illegal immigrant household.
2. $2.2 billion is spent on food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal immigrants.
3. Medicaid for illegal immigrants costs the US $2.5 billion each year.
4. $12 billion is spent on education for illegal children, while another $17 billion is spent on American-born children of illegals.
5. Per day, $3 million is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
There are just a few of the costs that begin to add up over time. These costs do not include the million of dollars in suppressed American wages that are instead paid to illegal immigrants. I chose not to highlight that cost because I realize that without the illegal immigrants taking certain low-paying jobs, no one would.
I also decided not to include welfare costs because illegal immigrants are actually not eligible to receive any kind of welfare benefits and even legal immigrants are severely limited in benefits, so the costs are non-existent.
This post was written to highlight the negative effects illegal immigration has on our country. I realize illegal immigrants cost us billions of dollars each year, but I also realize that without them, our economy would slow drastically. With or without illegal immigrants, our economy will suffer. Instead, we must work to legalize the current illegals and secure the border between Mexico and the United States.
Until next time...
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