What is the impact of illegal immigration on the U.S. economy?

Question

I tried asking this in the immigration section, but I just started a debate and deleted my question. Those weren't the kind of answers I'm looking for.

Please include citations and references if you have them. It's been a while since I took economics.

Answer 1

Increased immigration means more competition for low-skill jobs, and so low-skill jobs pay less. This is bad for the existing poor, but may be good overall, as prices for goods and services are lower.

Legal immigrants are screened for, among other things, what strain they might put on the government services. This is the killer for the US. It takes ten immigrants to pay enough taxes to put one immigrant in school, or to pay hospital fees for one baby to be born in a US hospital. In California, emergency rooms can't afford to stay open, and schools are stretched to the limit with students who often have never been to school before, let alone can speak English.

And we pay for those services in our taxes. Those increased taxes are the drain of the US economy. That money could be spent on more goods and services, or invested, but instead is used to provide services that should be provided by the wealthy, yet corrupt, Mexican government.

Answer 2

Sorry, no citations or references here, just a bunch of hooey I saw on a recent TV show.

1. It keeps the "unskilled" or entry level job wages low.
2. In some cities, immigrants have jobs that would otherwise be done by American college kids.
3. Don't make me tell you about the cost of educating "limited English proficiency" children, and the hidden cost of teaching to the lowest common denominator, which means that English proficient children are not taught at an appropriate rate.