What does it cost?

May 29, 2006
Peninsula News
Palos Verdes, CA 90274

Dear Editor,

I have read articles and letters in the Peninsula News about illegal immigrants and I understand that the construction industry and the produce industry can charge us lower prices because they employ illegal aliens. But what do illegal aliens cost us for medical care and welfare, crime, education, translators, etc.? We can’t be expected to make wise decisions about illegal immigration until we know what it costs. I spent some hours on the Internet looking up statistics and I will share with you what I found. Illegal Aliens are costing American taxpayers:

$21 billion a year for medical services.

$20 billion a year for welfare.

$7.4 billion a year for schooling (and half of the Hispanics do not graduate).

$27 billion a year for translators and printing of documents in other languages.
$68 billion a year for “resettlement of illegal immigrants.”

$1.6 billion a year in upkeep for illegal aliens in prisons. (I haven’t found any figures yet on how much their legal expenses are, or what the extra police who try to protect us from gang activity cost, or the costs of the losses incurred by the victims).

$80 billion a year for the “war on drugs” plus drug dealers take $120 billion in American money back to South America (75 per cent goes to Mexico).

$133 billion a year in displaced American workers who can’t find jobs because employers are hiring cheaper illegal aliens.

$56 billion is the amount of American money that illegal aliens send home to their families each year.

The number of illegal aliens will double in the next 3 to 4 years. The amount of taxes that we pay to support illegal aliens will also double. There are 4,000 more crossing the border each day, and 300,000 women a year coming here pregnant and having their babies on American soil – they are called “anchor babies” because under current laws, they have American citizenship and make the family eligible for more benefits. The costs of anchor babies are not included in the above costs since they are not illegal.

Amnesty/citizenship would increase the costs since the former illegal aliens would qualify for more benefits, including Social Security. They are 95% unskilled workers, and the taxes they would start paying would amount to a fraction of the new benefits they would start getting.

Our national debt is $7,384 trillion (as of Nov. 2004) and the United States is borrowing $1.6 billion daily from foreign banks.

These numbers came from Cornell University and the U.S. Center for Immigration Studies National Research Council.

Sincerely,

P. F. Bacon