The Fiscal Impact of Runaway Immigration

Last year Americans responded in justifiable anger against the amnesty proposals for illegal immigrants that some of our federal legislators were trying to force on America’s citizens. Yet the people said “no” for many good reasons – our concern for American sovereignty and our belief that the laws of our nation must be upheld, the unfairness of granting citizenship to scofflaws when so many law abiding people continue to wait their turn, the threat that cheap illegal labor has on American jobs by driving down wages, and, in the aftermath of 9/11, the serious threats that unsecured borders pose to our nation.

At the outset, let me emphatically state that I am not opposed to immigration. I am opposed to illegal immigration. We are a nation of immigrants. But immigration must be managed in accordance with our established laws! Every country has a sovereign right to regulate its borders and surely our country does as well.

It concerns me that many do not consider the enormous financial costs that out-of-control immigration imposes on local, state and federal governments. An extraordinary new study on the costs of legal and illegal immigration, “The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration” by Edwin S. Rubenstein, reveals the staggering costs of this crisis and the massive hidden burden it imposes on every American taxpayer. The study analyzes the costs to fifteen federal departments and agencies. Yet as shocking as these findings are, they are only part of the story, because the study does not include the enormous costs to local and state governments.

Rubenstein points out that the U.S. has 37 million legal and illegal immigrants that cost U.S. taxpayers last year more than $346 billion. This means that U.S. taxpayers are providing on average more than $9,000 annually to each immigrant or $36,000 for a family of four. These costs imperil our economy and our nation and they affect virtually every aspect of our national life.

Since most immigrants don’t speak English, 3.8 million children of immigrants enrolled in K-12 schools require special classes and the hiring and training of specialized teachers with annual costs estimated at $1,030 per pupil, or $3.9 billion. In the next few years, immigration will consume the entire planned increase in spending for public schools.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides $250 million annually to help hospitals cover part of the costs of providing emergency medical treatment to illegal immigrants, but costs to the hospitals are far greater than the federal reimbursement and as a result some emergency rooms and hospitals have been forced to close.

Our federal prisons house 267,000 criminal aliens in an already overcrowded system. As a result of overcrowding, many dangerous criminals who otherwise should be securely locked-up are out among us.

The Federal Housing Administration has encouraged home ownership among low-income immigrants by requiring down payments as low as $200 to $300. Since these buyers have virtually nothing invested, they often walk away when they can’t meet their mortgage payments, resulting in blighted, abandoned houses and neighborhoods, and high foreclosure rates that threaten our economy.

This entire enormous tab, paid for by the American taxpayers, is increasing while the former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and many federal representatives in the House and Senate are calling for even higher levels of immigration. Greenspan has said that “significantly opening up immigration to [more] skilled workers solves two problems: Companies can hire educated workers they need. And those workers would compete with high-income people, driving more income equality.”

What this really means is that salaries are being depressed for skilled American workers who will now be forced to compete with a flood of foreign competitors in our own country. American workers are being squeezed, but by whom?

Nearly half a century ago, President Eisenhower, who had been a great military leader, warned Americans of an emerging “military-industrial complex” that even then was seen to be threatening our national sovereignty. In the past year we have seen the enormous power and influence that modern day transnational corporations, with no allegiance to our nation, wield over the decisions of many of our elected representatives.

Time and again the American people have insisted that we want our borders secured and illegal immigration stopped. Yet time and again, through parliamentary maneuvers, last minute amendments, and their own singular determination, many of our elected representatives have sought to give amnesty for illegal immigrants already here, while doing little or nothing to stop this destructive growing tsunami.

America is at a crossroads. Will we allow our businesses and industries to be deported and our people reduced to a mere labor pool for transnational corporations, or will we continue as one nation, under God, the shining city upon a hill? The choice is ours to make.

Several roll call votes on this issue make clear which of our representatives are working for transnational corporations and which are working for “we the people.” It is our civic duty to take notice of who’s who and wield the power we still have at our polling places to literally reclaim our country.

SECURING THE HOME FRONT

It is becoming clear to many Americans that the cost of our federal government’s reluctance to enforce immigration laws, to secure our borders, and to ensure our national security and the safety of American citizens, affects every facet of American life.

The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that the net public cost for providing illegal immigrants with services like Medicaid, food assistance programs, our federal prison system, our court systems, and public education exceeds $10 billion annually.

Some states are recognizing the enormous costs and threats this problem poses to our American way of life. Many states recognize that employment is the most common incentive for illegal immigration to the United States, and some are beginning to hold scofflaw employers accountable for aiding and abetting criminal behavior. There is also growing awareness that those that hire illegal aliens are discriminating against U.S. citizens and legal resident immigrants. In response, some states are taking greater responsibility for addressing the crisis.

Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, and West Virginia have enacted tough new laws requiring or encouraging employers to verify every job applicant’s legal status using a federal data bank. These states have also imposed tough new sanctions on employers, including a progressive penalty system for those found guilty of hiring illegal workers. Arizona will permanently revoke an operator’s business license for a second offense. As a result, states that have been aggressively implementing new laws have dramatically reduced costs and problems, as illegal aliens have moved back home or to other states.

There are an estimated 76,000 illegal aliens in South Carolina, costing our taxpayers $87.4 million annually for education alone. Between 2000 and 2006, South Carolina’s K-12 student enrollment increased by over 34,000 students, and is projected to increase by a similar number by 2015. This increase will, of course, result in the need to build many new schools. But that’s just one small part of the toll this crisis presents our state.

Consider our transportation systems. Increased traffic congestion results in slower commute times, greater fuel costs, and more need to repair and build roads and highways. The SC Department of Transportation already has a $5 billion maintenance backlog. The illegal wave that’s flooding our state and nation also increases problems with air quality and solid waste disposal, requires additional low-income housing, dramatically increases costs for many of our hospitals and clogs their emergency rooms, and stretches capacity while increasing costs for law enforcement.

Despite these added costs to taxpayers, threats to national security, discrimination against hardworking citizens and legal immigrants, and threats to our personal safety, when our state Senate recently had the opportunity to address the problem, it yielded to special interests that seem driven by a desire for low-cost labor. In response to overwhelming support from the citizens of our state for tough, meaningful reform, the Senate passed a bill so loaded with loopholes it would accomplish little.

Fortunately, our state House of Representatives passed stronger legislation that would hold employers accountable for aiding and abetting the criminal act of invading our country and claiming a job rightfully belonging to a legal citizen. The House and Senate bills have gone to a “conference committee” to hammer out differences, and there is hope that the provisions in the stronger House bill will prevail.

It is disappointing that many elected officials would not only put the interests of special interests above the welfare of the citizens of South Carolina, but that they would do so on matters that concern the very security and survival of our state and nation. If they would do so on matters like this of such enormous cost and importance to the safety and security of us all, think of how ready they must be to put our interests below those of special interests on so many lesser matters.

This issue emphasizes again the need for every patriotic South Carolinian to know what is happening in our state, to speak out on the issues of our times, to hold our elected officials accountable, and to ensure on Election Day that those we elect truly do represent “we the people."