What we know about unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S.
“As of 2022, unauthorized immigrants represented 3.3% of the total U.S. population and 23% of the foreign-born population. These shares were lower than the peak values in 2007 but slightly higher than in 2019.” - Pew
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OK, let's work the numbers.
Public schools cost $10k/year and up--I believe $30k/student in cities like DC. Are we going to seriously claim that illegals' property taxes are that high? At a typical 1-2% property tax rate, half of which goes to schools, we're talking about a million to six million dollars in house per public school student to break even. There is no way that is true.
Regarding the income tax, illegals typically work fairly entry level jobs at $20/hour or less, and the types of jobs they work--farm, restaurants, construction labor--are also ones where a lot of employers pay under the table. So even if they pay taxes, the revenue is not that great, and a lot of them most likely are not paying taxes.
Welfare? Absolutely. Start with SNAP and emergency medical care, and then let's not forget that when you have low wage competition for jobs, many native born Americans suffer unemployment or lower wages as a result--driving welfare among the native born.
Long and short of it; the studies that find that illegal immigration is a benefit, or not a net drain to government budgets, are lying, or they're mixing legal and illegal immigration. Here's a Newsweek article suggesting that Biden's expansion of illegal immigration was costing a cool $150 billion annually. That study does not even count the increases in welfare spending necessitated by competition for low wage jobs.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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