COSTS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Illegals Cost Feds $10 Billion a Year; Amnesty Would Nearly Triple Cost

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has just released a new report, "The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget." The report estimates that households headed by illegal aliens used $10 billion more in government services than they paid in taxes in 2002. C-SPAN covered the release of the new CIS report last week, but it has not re-aired the coverage since then.

WASHINGTON (August 25, 2004) — A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies is one of the first to estimate the impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Based on Census Bureau data, the study estimates that households headed by illegal aliens used $10 billion more in government services than they paid in taxes in 2002. These figures are only for the federal government; costs at the state and local level are also likely to be significant. The study also finds that if illegals were given amnesty, the fiscal deficit at the federal level would grow to nearly $29 billion.

The study, entitled The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget, is on line at http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscal.html