Immigration and Why We Can't Afford It

President Trump has been on the receiving end of a lot of negative media attention in regards to building a wall and his recent immigration deal with Mexico. After Trump announced the deal with Mexico, the main stream media set out to discredit the deal.

We have fully signed and documented another very important part of the Immigration and Security deal with Mexico, one that the U.S. has been asking about getting for many years. It will be revealed in the not too distant future and will need a vote by Mexico’s Legislative body!..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 10, 2019

The NY Times released an article on Sunday that described how the deal with Mexico was reached before the Trump tariff plan was even announced. Donald Trump sent out a tweet in December that claimed that expenses on illegal immigration topped $250 billion.

Could somebody please explain to the Democrats (we need their votes) that our Country losses 250 Billion Dollars a year on illegal immigration, not including the terrible drug flow. Top Border Security, including a Wall, is $25 Billion. Pays for itself in two months. Get it done!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2018

Of course the media set out immediately to discredit him. The AP immediately went on the offensive against Trump to discredit his claimed number. Whether or not you agree with the Mexico deal or building the wall, illegal immigration is a major issue needing to be addressed.

Buried in the AP article from December was a figure that was intriguing. The article cited a paper from FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which placed the estimated tax burden of illegal immigrants at $8,075 per illegal family member. If you look at that number, the estimated costs are still staggering.

In January of 2015, it was estimated that 12 million illegals were living in the United States according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security. This places the estimated tax burden to care for these illegals at $96.9 billion in just 2015, far less than the actual estimates by FAIR in their 2013 report. The most recent FAIR report can be viewed here.

Sure, we have no exact way of knowing how many illegal aliens are actually in the US, but the costs that are realized is staggering. If Trump’s estimates of $25 billion for a border wall are correct, the wall truly would pay for itself in less than 6 months.

Millions of dollars in taxpayer funded immigrants are crossing the border each day. Fox News shared a video on Monday showing 134 migrants walking around the border wall. If those 134 migrants had made it into the US, the estimated cost would have been over $1 million annually based on the FAIR report. America simply cannot afford this level of immigration. It is time for Congress to act and address the crisis at our southern border.

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