The Cost of Illegal Immigration  

Posted by Emily

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...

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 12:28 PM . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

2 comments

Tommy  

Emily,

It appears that either way, illegal immigrants hurt the American economy, but can you clarify which of the two scenarios you describe would be worse for America? How is this $2,750 deficit per illegal immigrant even possible? What is your estimate of the total cost illegal immigrants currently have on the United States? Finally, how does the border fit into the costs illegal immigrants impose on America?

Tommy

October 12, 2008 at 3:17 PM
Emily  

Tommy,
I truly believe that if immigrants were not in our country we would do far worse than we presently are. Many of these immigrants do the jobs that Americans refuse to. Without them, farms would be shutdown, factories would be closed etc.
The deficit is per every illegal immigrant household. It happens because most of the income immigrants receive is not taxable, so they do not pay the income taxes. However, they are still using the free education system for their children, hospital care, and social services.
If I had to estimate, and this is truly just an estimate, I would say 500 billion dollars. Really shouldn't in the dark their though. However, some sources cite that they cost us only 338 billion of so dollars. But that number seems to low considering the numbers.
The border could be factored into the cost of illegal immigrants not currently in our country because we are spending billions of dollars to enforce the security at the border. However, the border costs would not be factored into the illegal immigrants that are already in the United States.
Thanks for the comment!
-Emily

October 13, 2008 at 3:02 PM

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