A typical tactic of amnesty and open borders advocates is to confuse legal and illegal immigration issues when it comes to benefits and costs. They only give positive facts about legal immigration designed to lead to the conclusion that all immigration, including illegal immigration, is good for America.
However, the crimes committed specifically by illegal immigrants and their costs to the taxpayers are conveniently left out of the discussion. The resources spent on criminal immigrants who already should have been deported are rarely highlighted.
The federal and state costs to incarcerate criminal immigrants are almost $2 billion annually. And, according to the United States Sentencing Commission, approximately 37 percent of federal sentences are imposed on illegal immigrants. Yet immigrants unlawfully in the country comprise 3.5 percent of the total population. So illegal immigrants are about 10 times more likely than the population as a whole to be convicted of crimes. Americans need to know that illegal immigrants are disproportionately a menace to our communities.
What about the economic impact of illegal immigration?
Illegal workers depress wages and force struggling Americans to compete with them for scarce jobs. Lower pay and higher unemployment leads to increased reliance on government assistance by the unemployed.
For instance, illegal immigrant households on average account for 35 percent of the annual costs of federal welfare programs despite the fact that they are prohibited by law from accessing the majority of these programs. Native households, in comparison, comprise only 27 percent of the costs of welfare use. If illegal immigrants were given amnesty, no doubt their use of government programs would dramatically increase.
Yet some policy makers actually propose amnesty for the millions of immigrants unlawfully in the United States. This would make it even tougher on American workers and taxpayers.
Amnesty proponents say legalization programs would result in billions of dollars in revenue to the federal government. These reports also claim that millions of additional consumers (illegal immigrants) create increased demand for goods and services, which would create additional jobs.
But a Heritage Foundation study found that introducing additional unlawful workers to the labor market would depress wages and force lower-skilled Americans out of the workforce altogether. The analysis also determined that illegal immigrants cost $6.3 trillion in government benefits after their tax contributions. That is an extra cost of $40,000 per taxpayer. Amnesty is a fiscal burden, not an economic gain.
Legal immigrants, who on the whole are more educated and skilled than illegal immigrants, overall do have a positive impact on the economy. Highly skilled immigrants obtain three times the number of patents as skilled American-born workers. Innovation often flourishes when these highly skilled immigrants and their inventions complement American workers instead of competing against them.
But the typical illegal immigrant is not a highly-skilled worker. In fact, the Pew Research Center has determined that 75 percent of illegal immigrants work in lower-skilled jobs, double the proportion of US-born workers. Biased commentators want to convince the public that larger numbers of immigration, even illegal immigration, is in the nation’s best interest.
Voters and taxpayers deserve an honest debate about the costs and benefits of legal and illegal immigration. These facts might enable policymakers to consider changes to the immigration system to prioritize skills and education. In short, is the legal immigration system putting the interests of American workers and taxpayers first?
The debate should start from the basic premise that current immigration laws should be enforced. Borders must be secured and illegal immigrants should be sent back to their home countries.
Once existing laws are respected, voters and their elected representatives can assess how the immigration system might better serve the interests of hardworking Americans, taxpayers and employers. But the distinction between the impact of legal and illegal immigration is real and cannot be dismissed.
Congressman Lamar Smith represents the 21st District of Texas. He serves as chairman of the House Science, Space, & Technology Committee, is also a member of the Committee on Homeland Security, and is a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
