The cost of immigration to the taxpayer

Donald Lambro:

Low-skilled legal immigrants and illegal aliens in the U.S. are receiving much more in federal social welfare benefits than they pay in taxes at a net cost of $89 billion a year to American taxpayers, according to a Heritage Foundation study.
A cost-benefit analysis by the conservative think tank of the immigration reform bill being debated in the Senate -- which it said would grant what many consider amnesty to illegal aliens and increase the flow of low-skilled workers into the U.S. -- warned that if the legislation becomes law, it would result in "the largest expansion of the welfare state in 30 years."
"Such proposals would increase poverty in the U.S. in the short and long term and dramatically increase the burden on U.S. taxpayers," said Robert E. Rector, senior research fellow for welfare at Heritage and the co-author of the study with Christine Kim.
Mr. Rector's findings and conclusions were sharply disputed by another conservative think tank, the Cato Institute, which said that some of his cost estimates were "grossly exaggerated" and that low-skilled workers, especially Hispanics with a strong work ethic, contributed to the U.S. economy's overall growth and prosperity.
Daniel Griswold, director of Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies, acknowledged that lower-skilled workers on average "consume more in government services than they pay in taxes." But he pointed to several studies that showed their work in many low-skill industries, from agriculture to construction, also helped expand state economies.
"The right policy response to the fiscal concerns about immigration is not to artificially suppress labor migration but to control and reallocate government spending," Mr. Griswold said in a recent paper.
Mr. Rector amassed a significant amount of data drawn from the U.S. census surveys that he said showed how a wave of poorly educated, low-income immigrants and illegals were imposing increasing costs on the country through 60 means-tested aid programs, from welfare to food stamps for immigrant families with children born in this country.
"Each year, roughly 1.5 million legal and illegal immigrants enter and take up residence in the U.S. This immigrant flow is disproportionately poorly educated because illegal immigration primarily attracts low-skill workers and the legal immigration system favors kinship ties over skill levels," he said.
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It is the kinship ties that is the weak link and probably costs the most in government services. I think it is more costly than the illegal immigrants who generally shun government services for fear of being caught. The illegals are also hear to work and be productive. Right now they are paying social security taxes with no opportunity to collect. The legalization will change that and make them eligible for collecting so that will be a hidden cost of the new bill.