FAIR Reports Illegal Immigration Costs American Taxpayers $135 billion a Year, Average Cost of $8,075 Per Illegal Alien
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s (FAIR) 2017 report, illegal immigrants, and their children, cost American taxpayers $135 billion annually—the most in this nation’s history.
These costs are only partially offset by taxes, which total a mere $19 billion. Therefore, the next cost of illegal immigrants to taxpayers is $116 billion annually. This estimate is similar to those found by the National Economics Editorial.
The full 2017 FAIR report can be read here.
Here are the highlights:
State and local governments bear two-thirds of the costs associated with illegal immigration, spending $88 billion annually. Meanwhile, the federal government only absorbs $45 billion in the costs associated with illegal immigration.
Conversely, the federal government receives the lion’s share of taxes paid by illegal aliens ($15.4 billion)—although this does not cover the costs. State and local governments receive just $3.5 billion in annual taxes from illegal immigrants.
Given the massive disparity between taxes receipts and expenditures, it is amazing that anyone still thinks that illegal immigration is somehow good for the economy—although these people aren’t hard to find.
It’s also worth putting these numbers in context: the next tax costs associated with each illegal immigrant/anchor baby works out to $8,075 in local, state, and federal spending.
The single greatest cost is education at $46 billion annually; behind this are $29 billion in medical care, $23 billion for law enforcement, and $9 billion in welfare. And, of course, the report does not include the value of remittances sent by illegal aliens, which would push the net fiscal loss higher by some $38 billion.
None of this data should come as a surprise: illegal immigrants are overwhelmingly poor, and poor people generally consume more than they produce in terms of government expenditure.
It is also worth mentioning that the State of California spends the most on illegal immigration—illegal immigration costs California $30.3 billion annually, which works out to some 17.7 percent of the state’s budget.
Texas is a distant second, although the costs are likewise significant: illegal immigration costs the State of Texas $12.4 billion annually, or roughly 10 percent of the state’s budget. In third place is New York, which spends $7.4 billion on illegal immigration.
Illegal immigration is costing America dearly: it’s time we got serious and built the wall.
