Maggie's Farm

The financial burden on the states of illegal immigration is among the arguments for the Arizona law that increases local enforcement of federal immigration laws. Little commented upon is that the $26-billion the Democrats in Congress just voted in additional aid to the states, primarily to reduce or avoid layoffs of teachers and indirectly, it is said, of police, is the federal taxpayers helping the states meet this fiscal burden from illegal immigration.

According to the July 2010 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, (102-page pdf ; Executive Summary), the overall annual cost at the state and local level of illegal immigration is estimated at $84.2-billion and at the federal level another $29-billion. Particularly impacting education expenditures are the estimated over 3-million “birthright citizen” children of illegal immigrants and those here temporarily on entry visas, $49.2-billion from state and local government coffers for the education of children of illegal immigrants and temporary residents.

The FAIR study repeatedly states its numbers are based on estimates and extrapolations, but it uses the available wide-range of piecemeal studies from legitimate sources to base them upon. FAIR itself has been justly and unjustly criticized for harboring extremists. On the other hand, FAIR has not been critiqued for existing for the self-enrichment of its officers or fundraisers. It is recognized by Charity Navigator as a 4-star 501(c)4 which “Exceeds industry standards and outperforms most charities in its Cause,” on a par with the ACLU and ADL for its score on use of donations and assets for its goals. Other immigration focused organizations also receive 4-stars, like the National Immigration Law Center and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, while others receive 2-stars, like the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund or the Appleseed network of public interest law centers in the US and Mexico.

Charity Navigator does not rate unions. Unions have spent more than any other lobbying group in many current and previous federal, state and local issue and election campaigns, overwhelmingly to Democrats and for causes that will protect or increase the jobs and pay of its members. The $26-billion federal bailout for the benefit of unionized state and local government employees is one of its victories. Many unions have been exposed as inordinately feathering the nests of their officers.

There is an urgent need for more comprehensive and well-sourced studies of the fiscal impact, to taxpayers and to citizens generally, of illegal immigration, including from “birthright citizenship.” Some studies do indicate that the FAIR study may be overblown or that there are other benefits to the US not as easily counted. However, until there is such a new study that will do a far better job of taking into account all the impacts and benefits, the FAIR study deserves to stand as an indicator, at least, of the hole we’ve dug ourselves into by the holes in our borders and laws, including the unintended one in the 14th Amendment.

PEW Too: According to the widely-respected  PEW Research Center's Hispanic Center, there are over 4-million children of illegal immigrants in the US, 8% of the US birthrate.