Illegal Immigration?

Question

How much does the US spend on everything to do with illegal immigration, i mean keeping them in jail when they do something wrong... tansporting them back... boarder controll... everything... my guess what about 10-20 billion, but i really dont know. A number answer would be nice... not an answer like "a lot" or "to much"

Answer 1

far far more than 10-20 billion. ICE alone requested almost a 42 billion dollar 'increase' in its budget in addition to what it already was spending.

Answer 2

It's hard to say since it involves people who are hiding, and we really don't know how many are out there. I would say that the number you offer is generously low. If we assume there are 12 million illegal immigrants , 20 billion wouldn't even cover much. that would be less than 1,700 per person. The cost to support a single person in government services runs in the tens of thousands. Thats not including the extra cost involved with illegal immigrants. Some of it might be offset by what taxes they pay, but I would guess the loss would be far greater. Frankly they would only be able to break even if they were making middleclass wages.

Edit I forgot, Hobbes you should find calvin. He's peeing all over the place. First a flag and now a wall. You should teach him to use a toilet.

Also I find it intersting that peopl are trying to compare other waste of tax payers money. Illegal immigrants is still something that we shouldn't have to pay for. I do agree that Homeless and AMerican Criminals should be something we should attack in addition to illegal immigration. If we only attack the big crimes, that would mean I could go around doing alot of petty theft and never get caught.

Answer 3

If you're talking taxpayer expense - $135 - $400 billion. (Actual government expense is less)

The cost of their crimes is over half the expense. Most jurisdictions don't report crime costs of illegal immigration but they can estimate. Over half the crime in larger border state jurisdictions is caused by illegal immigrants or the children of illegal immigrants, many who are anchor babies and therefore citizens.

Other costs:
- Education - over $30 billion with little ROI
-Uninsured motorist payouts - Hardly any have insurance but they have lots of accidents.
-State and Federal incarceration - this expense is well documented -- around 20% of the US prison population is illegal immigrants - Around $10 billion
-WIC, ADC, Medicaid (paying for anchor babies and other emergency care - i.e flu, bad colds, etc.)
-Increased DHS budget - over $20 billion
-Non-profit and NGO expenses (we contribute to them -- charities, churches especially Catholic, etc)
-Taxes not collected due to under the table payouts. ($$??)
-Drug smuggling - Estimates range from $2 billion to $30 billion.
There's more

Answer 4

The best way to get that answer to to write a letter to congress or your governor, if you want a number answer. All I know is that I have a sign on my property that reads...All trespassers will be shot. We should put that on the border. All other countries would do the same. We are the only stupid one that doesn't.

Answer 5

One of every four inmates in prisons are illegal aliens,not only were they here illegaly but commited crimes against citizens of this country,and for every one we are spending $40000 a year to house them,there are hard working americans in this country that do not even make half of that money,yet this same americans are taxed to support these illegal azzholes

Answer 6

Go to Chinese buffet, they are all illegal. Deport them. Ha Ha Ha...

Answer 7

what exactly is your question?

and i would say billions it costs the tax payers about 40000 dollars a year for one inmate

Answer 8

not as much as supporting homeless people, war, and for sure less than the amount used for americn criminals.

Answer 9

a lot and too much

Answer 10

not dollar amounts but good facts


Newest Data Shows Latin American Immigrants
Make Heavy Use of Welfare

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Contact: Steven Camarota
[e-mail]
202-466-8185

WASHINGTON (June 6, 2007) — As they debate legalization for illegal immigrants, Senators would do well to keep in mind the most recent data on welfare use by the people in question. According to the Department of Homeland Security, nearly 60% of illegal aliens are from Mexico and 80% of the total are from Latin America as a whole. A Center for Immigration Studies analysis of 2006 Census Bureau data, which includes legal and illegal immigrants, shows use of welfare by households headed by Mexican and Latin American immigrants is more than double that of native households. Among the findings:

51% of all Mexican immigrant households use at least one major welfare program and 28% use more than one program.
– 40% use food assistance, 35% use Medicaid, 6% use cash assistance.

45% of all Latin American immigrant households use at least one welfare program and 24% use more than one program.
– 32% use food assistance, 31% use Medicaid, 6% use cash assistance.

20% of native households use at least one welfare program and 11% multiple programs.
– 11% use food assistance, 15% use Medicaid, 5% use cash assistance.

Among Mexican and Latin American households, welfare use is somewhat higher for households headed by legal, as opposed to illegal, immigrants. Thus legalization will likely increase welfare costs still further.

90% of Mexican and Latin American households have at least one worker. Their heavy welfare use reflects their low education levels and resulting low incomes – and not an unwillingness work.
– 61% of all Mexican immigrants have not graduated high school.
– 48% of all Latin American immigrants have not graduated high school.

There is a common but mistaken belief that welfare programs are only for those who don’t work. Actually, the welfare system is designed to provide low-wage workers, or more often their children, things like food assistance and health care.

It is the presence of their U.S.-born children coupled with their low education levels that explains why so many immigrant households use the welfare system.

Most recently arrived immigrants are barred from using welfare programs and this would likely apply to those legalized by the Senate bill – however this is not true in every state, nor does not apply to all programs. Most important, the bar does not apply to the U.S.-born children of immigrants, who are immediately eligible.

There are an estimated 1.4 million households headed by illegal aliens using at least one major welfare program. If even half these families returned to their home countries, the savings for taxpayers could be substantial.

If we do not wish to make a large share of illegals return to their home countries, then the United States has to accept the welfare costs. There is no other option.

Programs examined in the analysis are food stamps, WIC, school lunch, Medicaid, TANF, SSI, and public/rent-subsidized housing.
If Illegals Stay, So Will Welfare Costs: The heavy use of welfare by immigrants from those parts of the world that send the most illegals is relevant to the question of whether to allow illegal immigrants to stay or, alternatively, to enforce the law and cause them to return home. The figures reported above are drawn directly from the best government data available, and show that allowing illegals to stay creates significant welfare costs. Many of the welfare costs described above are due to the presence of U.S.-born children, who are awarded U.S. citizenship at birth. Thus, the prohibition on new immigrants using some welfare programs makes little difference because their U.S.-citizen children will continue to be eligible. We estimate that nearly 400,000 children are born to illegal aliens each year.


Welfare Use by Working Immigrant Families: Most immigrants from Mexico and Latin America hold jobs. Their heavy use of the welfare system is due to the fact that a very large share have little education and as a result are able to earn only low incomes in the modern American economy, even though they work. The welfare system is geared toward helping low-income workers, especially those with children. Their education levels and the presence of U.S.-born children means welfare use will be extensive.


Tax Payments: Of course, immigrants, including illegal aliens, also pay taxes. However, because of the education level and resulting incomes levels of Mexican and Latin American immigrants, their tax payments are much less than natives on average. The same is true for illegal aliens. In a 2004 study, the Center for Immigration Studies estimated that illegal alien households used about $2,700 more services than they paid in taxes at the federal level only. We also found that households headed by a legal Mexican immigrant created a net fiscal drain at the federal level of roughly $15,000, and for those with only a high school degree the drain was a little over $3,700. However, those with more education were a fiscal benefit. A new Heritage Foundation study estimated the net fiscal drain at all levels of government created by households headed by high school dropout immigrants at about $20,000 a year. A 1997 National Research Council study found the same pattern – less-educated immigrants create a net fiscal drain and educated immigrants create a net fiscal benefit.


Data Source: The data for this analysis come from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS) collected by the Census Bureau in March of 2006. It includes legal immigrants and most illegal immigrants. Like the Department of Homeland Security, we distinguish legal from illegal immigrants based on the socio-demographic characteristics of those who responded to the survey. By design our estimates of illegal immigration closely match those of DHS.


Results are also broken out for the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Texas.

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The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent research institute
which examines the impact of immigration on the United States.