Thread: Maybe Lou Will Run For President

A study by the Center of Immigration Studies, also opponents of illegal immigration, found that illegal immigrants paid about $4,200 a year to the federal government per household in taxes for a total of about $16 billion in 2002. But they imposed costs on the federal government of nearly $7,000 a year per household, or $26.3 billion. Among the largest costs were Medicaid, $2.5 billion; cost to treat the uninsured, $2.2 billion; food assistance programs, $1.9 billion; the federal prison system and court system, $1.6 billion, and federal aid to local schools, $1.4 billion in costs.

Some argue immigration poses a real threat for many native-born blue collar workers. Immigrants accounted for about 48 percent of the unskilled labor sector in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's statistics. Wages in many low-skilled sectors have not risen with inflation. In some cases, such as meatpacking and construction, they have declined. Others maintain it is the American economy — not the immigrant — that has devalued much of that work.

George Borjas of Harvard University estimates that wages for native-born high school dropouts are 7.4 percent lower than they would have been without immigrant labor.

"It's a simple supply and demand issue. The greater supply of labor you have, the less of a demand you have for labor,â€

The Costs of Illegal Immigration
Illegals Cost Feds $10 Billion a Year; Amnesty Would Nearly Triple Cost

WASHINGTON (August 25, 2004) — A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies is one of the first to estimate the impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Based on Census Bureau data, the study estimates that households headed by illegal aliens used $10 billion more in government services than they paid in taxes in 2002. These figures are only for the federal government; costs at the state and local level are also likely to be significant. The study also finds that if illegals were given amnesty, the fiscal deficit at the federal level would grow to nearly $29 billion.
Among the findings:
ï‚· Illegal alien households are estimated to use $2,700 a year more in services than they pay in taxes, creating a total fiscal burden of nearly $10.4 billion on the federal budget in 2002.
ï‚· Among the largest federal costs: Medicaid ($2.5 billion); treatment for the uninsured ($2.2 billion); food assistance programs ($1.9 billion); the federal prison and court systems ($1.6 billion); and federal aid to schools ($1.4 billion).
ï‚· If illegal aliens were legalized and began to pay taxes and use services like legal immigrants with the same education levels, the estimated annual fiscal deficit at the federal level would increase from $2,700 per household to nearly $7,700, for a total federal deficit of $29 billion.
 With nearly two-third of illegals lacking a high school diploma, the primary reason they create a fiscal deficit is their low education levels and resulting low incomes and tax payments — not their legal status or their unwillingness to work.
ï‚· Amnesty increases costs because illegals would still be largely unskilled, and thus their tax payments would continue to be very modest, but once legalized they would be able to access many more government services.
ï‚· The fact that legal immigrants with little schooling are a fiscal drain on federal coffers does not mean that legal immigrants overall are a drain. Many legal immigrants are highly skilled.
ï‚· Because many of the costs are due to their U.S.-born children, who are awarded U.S. citizenship at birth, barring illegals themselves from federal programs will not significantly reduce costs.
ï‚· Although they create a net drain on the federal government, the average illegal household pays more than $4,200 a year in federal taxes, for a total of nearly $16 billion.
ï‚· However, they impose annual costs of more than $26.3 billion, or about $6,950 per illegal household.
ï‚· About 43 percent, or $7 billion, of the federal taxes illegals pay go to Social Security and Medicare.
ï‚· Employers do not see the costs associated with less-educated immigrant workers because the costs are spread out among all taxpayers.
Why Legalization Is So Costly. Costs rise unavoidably because amnesty will not change the low education levels of illegal aliens or the fact that the American economy offers such workers very limited opportunities, regardless of legal status. The vast majority of illegal aliens will continue to have very low incomes, and make very modest tax payments. However, legal status would allow them to use many more programs. We know that costs would rise dramatically because legal immigrants with the same levels of education make extensive use of public services. Thus, even though we estimate that average tax payments would rise by 77 percent, we also find that costs would rise 117 percent. To understand why this happens, it is helpful to consider a program like the Earned Income Tax Credit, which pays cash to low-income workers. Illegals currently account for only 1.5 percent of the program’s total costs, but if they were legalized their use of the program would grow tenfold because with legal status they would no longer need stolen or bogus Social Security numbers to get the credit. This dramatic rise in costs is not due to laziness on the part of immigrants. In fact, only those who work receive the EITC. The dramatic rise in costs simply reflects the low educational attainment of illegals and their resulting low incomes.

If Illegals Stay, So Will the Costs. To the extent that policy makers have considered the fiscal costs of illegal immigration, they have generally tried to reduce the costs while allowing illegals to remain. But this strategy has not been effective because the average illegal already receives less than half as much in services from the federal government as do other households. Moreover, many of the costs are due to their U.S.-born children, who are awarded American citizenship at birth under current law. Other programs are simply too politically sensitive to cut, such as the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program. And others costs are unavoidable, such as incarcerating illegals who have been convicted of crimes. Conversely, enforcing immigration laws is both popular with voters and administratively more feasible. There are really only two options: either we begin to enforce the law, significantly reducing the number of illegals in the country, or we accept the costs created by the presence of a large pool of unskilledworkers.

Results Similar to Other Studies. A 1997 report by the National Research Council (NRC) on the fiscal impact of immigrants concluded that education levels and resulting income are the primary determinants of tax payments and service use, which is also a central finding of this report. The results of this study closely match the findings of a 1998 Urban Institute study. Our estimated average tax payment for illegal households in New York State is almost identical to that of the Urban Institute, when adjusted for inflation. The results of this study are also buttressed by an analysis of illegal alien tax returns done by the Inspector General’s Office of the Department of Treasury in 2004, which found that about half had no federal income tax liability, very similar to our findings of 45 percent.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalrelease.html

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readartic ... 331&z=3&p=
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA: NBC2 investigators found out American taxpayers are shelling out thousands of dollars a day for illegal immigrants to spend time in jail. NBC2 found out it costs taxpayers in Collier County $8.5 million each year to pay for illegal immigrants in jail. We took the results of our investigation to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find out why.

In Collier County, it is Sheriff Don Hunter's job to make sure taxpayer money is wisely spent when it comes to law enforcement.

Something troubles Hunter and he thinks it will trouble taxpayers too.

"I think they're going to be as surprised as I was when I looked to see how many people were in our jail who might admit to being illegally present," said Hunter.

Sheriff Hunter started counting the number of people arrested and booked into his jail who admitted they were illegal immigrants.

We picked a random day and asked Hunter for a head count. On January 26th, out of a total population of 1167 inmates, 283 admitted they were illegal.

The estimated cost of housing one inmate per day is $82.06. Multiply that by 283 and you find out Collier county taxpayers paid $23,222 to house those illegal immigrants on that day.

The yearly figure is astounding - $8.5 million, or about 22 percent of the total jail budget.

Illegals stay in county jails throughout the court process, and if convicted, they serve jail time at county taxpayer expense.

That enrages Russ Landry of Citizens Against Illegal Immigrants.

"I don't believe that the country should have to pay for illegal immigrants here that are multi-times arrested each and every day," said Landry.

We drove to Tampa to take up the issue with the special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Robert Weber.

NBC2: It's kind of a perception maybe, that when someone is picked up here illegally, that the process is to move them out.

Weber: There's not a blanket statement that if you're picked up for whatever crime or issue it was, that you're going to be deported.

In fact, US law keeps them here. They are allowed due process of law under the current law of the United States.

Sister Maureen Kelleher is a legal aid attorney. She represents farm workers in Immokalee.

"It would be fool-hardy to just have an allegation without a conviction," said Kelleher.

The conviction creates a record which should keep that illegal immigrant from ever getting a Visa. Some would argue that with the conviction, the illegal should be sent packing. But should they pay a debt to society first?

"I'm born in this country I have to do 8 months, solid lock up. He's born in Mexico, broke our law to come here, and he's walking out of here," said Kelleher.

"If it's a crime that they've been arrested for by the state you let that process run through. As far as them serving their state crime, time for the crime, and then we move in with deportation orders," said Weber.

Until then, the cost is shouldered locally.

Sheriff Hunter is so concerned, he took his numbers to Washington DC and lobbied high level staffers for the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

"Congress needs to get the message that we should not tolerate this. This is a heavy, heavy burden for taxpayers," said Hunter.

Not all jails keep track of their number of illegal immigrants because they are not required to, but according to Homeland Security, 630,000 illegal immigrants are booked into our jails and prisons every year. It costs Americans almost $1.5 billion a year.

Originally Posted by zeezil

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readarticle.asp?articleid=11331&z=3&p=
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA: NBC2 investigators found out American taxpayers are shelling out thousands of dollars a day for illegal immigrants to spend time in jail. NBC2 found out it costs taxpayers in Collier County $8.5 million each year to pay for illegal immigrants in jail. We took the results of our investigation to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to find out why.

In Collier County, it is Sheriff Don Hunter's job to make sure taxpayer money is wisely spent when it comes to law enforcement.

Something troubles Hunter and he thinks it will trouble taxpayers too.

"I think they're going to be as surprised as I was when I looked to see how many people were in our jail who might admit to being illegally present," said Hunter.

Sheriff Hunter started counting the number of people arrested and booked into his jail who admitted they were illegal immigrants.

We picked a random day and asked Hunter for a head count. On January 26th, out of a total population of 1167 inmates, 283 admitted they were illegal.

The estimated cost of housing one inmate per day is $82.06. Multiply that by 283 and you find out Collier county taxpayers paid $23,222 to house those illegal immigrants on that day.

The yearly figure is astounding - $8.5 million, or about 22 percent of the total jail budget.

Illegals stay in county jails throughout the court process, and if convicted, they serve jail time at county taxpayer expense.

That enrages Russ Landry of Citizens Against Illegal Immigrants.

"I don't believe that the country should have to pay for illegal immigrants here that are multi-times arrested each and every day," said Landry.

We drove to Tampa to take up the issue with the special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Robert Weber.

NBC2: It's kind of a perception maybe, that when someone is picked up here illegally, that the process is to move them out.

Weber: There's not a blanket statement that if you're picked up for whatever crime or issue it was, that you're going to be deported.

In fact, US law keeps them here. They are allowed due process of law under the current law of the United States.

Sister Maureen Kelleher is a legal aid attorney. She represents farm workers in Immokalee.

"It would be fool-hardy to just have an allegation without a conviction," said Kelleher.

The conviction creates a record which should keep that illegal immigrant from ever getting a Visa. Some would argue that with the conviction, the illegal should be sent packing. But should they pay a debt to society first?

"I'm born in this country I have to do 8 months, solid lock up. He's born in Mexico, broke our law to come here, and he's walking out of here," said Kelleher.

"If it's a crime that they've been arrested for by the state you let that process run through. As far as them serving their state crime, time for the crime, and then we move in with deportation orders," said Weber.

Until then, the cost is shouldered locally.

Sheriff Hunter is so concerned, he took his numbers to Washington DC and lobbied high level staffers for the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

"Congress needs to get the message that we should not tolerate this. This is a heavy, heavy burden for taxpayers," said Hunter.

Not all jails keep track of their number of illegal immigrants because they are not required to, but according to Homeland Security, 630,000 illegal immigrants are booked into our jails and prisons every year. It costs Americans almost $1.5 billion a year.

Any thoughts around US forces occupying foreign lands against the wishes of the natives being branded "illegal aliens" ?

Originally Posted by legal_alien

Any thoughts around US forces occupying foreign lands against the wishes of the natives being branded "illegal aliens" ?

More babble from the ILLEGAL ANARCHIST ENRIQUE MORONES WANNABEE IDIOTA INVASOR ALIEN.

Originally Posted by legal_alien

Any thoughts around US forces occupying foreign lands against the wishes of the natives being branded "illegal aliens" ?

What?

AND...

Border jumper to the Boat Jumber....isn't that fair ?

I'm not sure what a Jumber is but wouldn't a boat "jumper" be going from water to water? Is this guy talking about dolphins? Sea World... Shamu is an Orca and not an illegal alien and she has documents.

Help!!!!!!! I'm suffering from poor English confusion. I'm sure there is a clinical term for it. What's it called... blathering...

Dixie

Hey, (IL)legal OBL ALIEN: Your Padre called and said it's time for you to move the goats back to the front yard and get the chickens out of the casa.

Originally Posted by Dixie

Originally Posted by legal_alien

Any thoughts around US forces occupying foreign lands against the wishes of the natives being branded "illegal aliens" ?

What?

AND...

Border jumper to the Boat Jumber....isn't that fair ?

I'm not sure what a Jumber is but wouldn't a boat "jumper" be going from water to water? Is this guy talking about dolphins? Sea World... Shamu is an Orca and not an illegal alien and she has documents.

Help!!!!!!! I'm suffering from poor English confusion. I'm sure there is a clinical term for it. What's it called... blathering...

Dixie

You might find help across the Atlantic where the ancestors and "English" came from...don't forget to carry the remains of the ancestors else you may be an illegal alien on the other side of the ocean as well...Do fix the broken boats too..else there is a danger of drowning....bon voyage...

Originally Posted by legal_alien

You might find help across the Atlantic where the ancestors and "English" came from...don't forget to carry the remains of the ancestors else you may be an illegal alien on the other side of the ocean as well...Do fix the broken boats too..else there is a danger of drowning....bon voyage...

(IL)legal OBL Invader Alien, your goat misses you:


And your rooster, too:

SecureTheBorder

Can you even begin to imagine the mincemeat LOU DOBBS could make of SHILLARY in a debate?

LOU is not a Washington insider........EXACTLY what we need. Aren't you getting a little sick of CAREER POLITICIANS?[/b]