There we have it, the parameters of how many illegal immigrants are in this country. So is this a good thing or a bad thing?
For this conversation, we will use Yale’s twenty-two million mean number and two hundred thousand making it across the border yearly according to Steve Camerota.
Earlier, we had mentioned that illegal immigrants were a subset of all immigrants. Well, that subset can be, for the most part, divided into two parts: the illegal immigration faction coming through the porous Southwest border and the more overlooked faction of noncitizens violating their temporary visas.
People from all over the world can obtain temporary visas for numerous reasons, from coming here for a vacation for ninety days(B1-B2) to continuing education(F1, J1, M1). Time of the visa is the length of the program. The big one are the visas for work (H1B, H2B, H, L1, E1, E2, J1, O, P, and R).
More than six hundred thousand foreign travelers who legally entered the United States in 2017 overstayed their visas and remained in the country by the end of the year, according to Department of Homeland Security.
Over the last twenty years, 37 percent of all aliens free pending trial failed to appear for their hearings. From the 2,498,375 foreign nationals outside detention during their court proceedings, 1,219,959 were ordered removed, 75 percent of them (918,098) for failing to appear.
Deportation orders for failure to appear are the largest group of orders issued by immigration courts outside detention facilities.
Among those who absconded from court were 3,095 aliens from the thirty-six countries that promote terrorism.
As populations from countries that promote terrorism have increased since 9/11—from naturalized citizens, immigrants, and refugees—plots and acts of Islam-inspired terrorism have also increased, more than twice as many under Barack Obama than under George W. Bush.
Chapter 3
Illegal Immigration and Taxes
“A Nation That Cannot Control its border is not a nation.”
—Ronald Reagan, fortieth US president
Illegal immigrants and taxes
What you see is only part of the story. For examples, see below.
What you see
Illegal immigrants contribute significantly to state and local taxes, collectively paying an estimated $11.74 billion a year. Contributions range from just over $550,000 in Montana with an estimated undocumented population of one thousand to more than $3.1 billion in California, home to more than three million illegal immigrants
(Source: Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy).
Illegal immigrants nationwide pay on average an estimated 8 percent of their incomes in state and local taxes (this is their effective state and local tax rate). To put this in perspective, the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay an average nationwide effective tax rate of just 5.4 percent
(Source: Undocumented Immigrants’ State and Local Tax Contributions, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy).
The complete picture
Total tax deductions by illegal immigrants
Total federal taxes paid: $15,447,897,700
Total state and local taxes: $3,520,960,000
Total tax contributions: $18,968,857,700
Total governmental expenditures on illegal immigrants
Total federal expenditures: $45,870,474,332
Total state and local expenditures: $88,992,981,032
Total national expenditures: $134,863,455,364
Total fiscal burden of illegal immigrants on US taxpayers
$115,894,597,664
Source: Fair—The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on US Taxpayers (2017)
The majority of illegal aliens seeking employment in the United States have lived in an environment where they have little fear of deportation, even if discovered. This has created an environment where most illegal aliens are both able and willing to file tax returns. Because the vast majority of illegal aliens hold low-paying jobs, those who are subject to wage deductions actually wind up receiving a complete refund of all taxes paid, plus net payments made on the basis of tax credits. As a result, illegal aliens actually profit from filing a tax return and, therefore, have a strong interest in doing so. The Tax Policy Center, an Urban Institute / Brookings Institution joint project, notes that “most low-income households do not pay federal income taxes, typically because their incomes are lower than the combination of their allowed standard deduction and their personal and dependent exemptions, or because they receive substantial rebates via refundable tax credits”(65 [emphasis added]).
Source: Fair—The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on US Taxpayers (2017)
What you see
Granting legal status to all illegal immigrants in the United States as part of a comprehensive immigration reform and allowing them to work legally would increase their state and local tax contributions by an estimated $2.18 billion a year. Their nationwide effective state and local tax rate would increase to 8.6 percent
(Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy).
The complete picture
Taxes collected from illegal aliens offset fiscal outlays and, therefore, must be included in any examination of the cost of illegal immigration. However, illegal alien apologists frequently cite the allegedly large tax payments made by illegal aliens as a justification for their unlawful presence and as a basis for offering them permanent legal status through a new amnesty, similar to the one enacted in 1986. The argument is nothing more than a red herring. In fact, in November 2016, the Heritage Foundation estimated that an amnesty would require an immediate tax increase of $1.29 trillion to finance the infrastructure, school, welfare, and other public costs associated with illegal aliens
(Source: Fair—The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on US Taxpayers (2017))
I must digress for a moment. During my endless research, I have come across more than one heated response from Cato Institute on fair articles, and the response to the above study is no exception.
In their estimation of illegal immigration on property values, I believe they take estimates of statistical evaluation to a whole new level.
And I quote as follows:
FAIR also undercounts the tax revenue generated by illegal immigrants. The first and most egregious undercount is that they ignore how increased housing demand raises the value of all real estate per county which also raises property tax revenue. According to research by economist Jacob Vigdor, each immigrant raises the value of all homes in their county by 11.5 cents. The average immigrant also lives in a county with 800,000 housing units. The locations of illegal and legal immigrants are closely correlated so we can assume that the typical illegal immigrant also lives in a county with 800,000 housing units. If the typical illegal immigrant increases the value of all housing unit prices by 11.5 cents, then illegal immigrants increase nationwide housing values by about $1 trillion. Using the 1.15 percent average annual property tax rate, the increase in housing values created by illegal immigrants results in $12.2 billion in additional tax revenue. Adjusting for the extra property taxes paid by property owners as a result of illegal immigration boosting housing values increases tax revenue by $11.2 billion over FAIR’s estimate.
This method seems to make a lot of assumptions at multiple levels and appears to be taken the same level of statistical manipulation as they accuse the Fair.org.
To be fair, they do come up with a revision of between 3.3 billion to 15.6 billion in