Thread: THE REAL COST OF IMMIGRATION

THE REAL COST OF IMMIGRATION
A new study by Edwin S. Rubenstein, a Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow, looks at the myriad ways immigration increases the cost of government and how government policies increase immigration.


For example:

Rubenstein found that each immigrant costs taxpayers more than $9,000, while every immigrant household of four costs $36,000 in taxes.

That's far more than the $3,408 in 2007 dollars the National Research Council's 1997 "New Americans" study of federal, state and local government expenditures found immigrants to cost.

Looking at education alone, Rubenstein found:

- About 3.8 million public school students -- 7.9 percent of total K-12 enrollment -- are enrolled in classes for English language learners, according to the Department of Education.

- Rand Corp. researchers discovered back in 1981 that added costs for language assistance instruction ranged from $100 to $500 per pupil.

- The total cost of providing English Language Learning instruction to the 3.8 million students enrolled in those programs is about $3.9 billion.

Turning to the Department of Justice, Rubenstein found criminal aliens to be an increasing burden on U.S. prison systems:

- In 1980, federal and state facilities held fewer than 9,000 criminal aliens, but at the end of 2004, about 267,000 noncitizens were incarcerated in U.S. correctional facilities.

- Of all prisoners in federal prisons, 27 percent are criminal aliens, he found, with a total cost of $1.5 billion.

- According to a 2003 Government Accountability Office (GAO) survey, the average criminal alien was arrested for 13 prior offenses, 12 percent of which were cases of murder, robbery, assault and sexually related crimes; only 21 percent were immigration offenses, the rest being felonies.

Source: Editorial, "The Real Cost of Immigration," Investor's Business Daily, April 4, 2007.

For text:

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticle ... 4157102985

For more on Immigration Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?A ... ategory=34

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=16173

A Gem of an article zeezil, great post

I believe the full report is supposed to be released today after a presentation at the National Press Club.

NPC day book:

Event Name: Immigration Fiscal Impact
Event Date: Apr. 8, 2008
Event Type: News Conference
Time: 1:00 PM
Event Location: Zenger Room
Details: Release of New Study on the Costs to 15 government agencies of immigration
News Conference (preceded by light lunch)
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Zenger Room
Details: Manhattan Institute Fellow, Edwin S. Rubenstein, will release his new 70-page report detailing the cost of immigration to 15 federal departments and agencies. This first of its kind assessment of the fiscal impact of mass immigration looks at the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Interior, Justice, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, transportation, Treasury, and State, in addition to Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

Copies of the new study will be available.

A light lunch will be available for journalists at 12:15.

Contact: Fran Griffin, PR @griffnews.com, 703-255- 2211

Contact: Fran Griffin

This is just the tip of the iceberg. It has become clear to me that unions want to regain a position as a heavyweight on the American political landscape. I'm pro-union but now they are advocating open immigration to continue building both membership and accompanying political clout. In the process legitimate American workers will be displaced--but since those will remain at present a relatively small minority the backers of this policy will be able to trumpet their success in increasing union membership.

So what do unions advocate that will be even more costly? Basically, a massive public works program to upgrade many, many publicly funded structures that will continue for decades. This will require more unionized workers--and the consequence will be a rapidly swelling population that will ultimately require more infrastructure investments. The most recent price tag put on all of this is $11 Trillion---and have politicians ever been known to lie about the final cost of a project before?

In this metropolitan area we are trying to fight off a multi-billion transportation package that will do little to solve our transportation problems. It would, with present policies, make lots of jobs for immigrants. We could have better service with a much smaller package that was designed intelligently---and not become dependent upon US taxpayer subsidies. Multiply this problem a hundred fold across the nation. It is not necessarily a liberal/conservative divide, since many business interests would advocate some outrageous projects, too. But the concept of nationwide infrastructure rebuilding is a centerpiece of labor's political agitation.

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The Real Cost Of Immigration