It never ceases to amaze me how people are so willing to blame their woes on the weakest group. In the U.S. today that group is the "illegal alien." If we are being more precise about it, we are talking about the people who are in our country that speak Spanish. Most people assume that they are here illegally and while that isn't always the case, often it is. People who are anti-illegal immigrant (and from now on I will call them "xenophobes") are often citing how much they cost our country by taking advantage of our wonderful social programs we offer here in the U.S. Most xenophobes are conservative (although that's not always the case) and uneducated (and that's usually the case). Many of them support Arizona's law S.B. 1070 and favor deporting all illegal aliens back to where they came from. When questioning these people the vast majority of them cite the economics of the problem as their main impetus for why they favor this solution over others. So I decided to do a little research of my own.
First I need to state that generally speaking, I don't like anecdotal evidence, but because this is first hand to me, I will use it as I haven't seen any statistics on this. My husband's uncle is in law enforcement in Tucson, Arizona. His job is to accompany deportees back to Mexico and make sure they are deported according to the terms of American Immigration Law. When a judge has ruled that a person is to be deported, Uncle Tommy goes to pick them up at the courthouse, takes them to Tucson International Airport and purchases a round trip ticket for himself and a one way ticket for the deportee. The ticket for the deportee alone costs $1200. That is just in transportation costs alone. According to the U.S. Census- there are approximately 12 million people in this country who would qualify for deportation. If we were to take 12 million and multiply it by $1200, we would be talking about a cost of $14.4 Billion in transportation costs alone. And mind you, that is for one of the shortest trips possible from -Tucson to Mexico. That cost would no doubt go up if deporting from any other state or to any other country. It's a very conservative estimate and doesn't take into account the costs associated with rounding these people up and prosecuting them.
The economic absurdity of this solution becomes even clearer when you take a closer look at how much illegal aliens really cost us. According to fairus.org- an anti-illegal immigrant website, illegal immigrants cost the U.S. $29 Billion in what they utilize in social programs. These programs include education, healthcare and entitlement programs.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the annual cost in 2006-07 of public education in the U.S. was $562.3 billion. According to the Tax Policy Center, the U.S. spends over $600 Billion on healthcare. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The U.S. spend $708 Billion on Social Security and $482 Billion on Safety Net programs for the poor (what some people call "entitlement programs). When you add all of these programs together you get a total budget of
$2,352,300,000,000 or $2.352 Trillion. When you divide that number by the $29 billion of these budgets that go toward benefits for undocumented workers you find that only 1.2% of the Federal budget goes towards programs that benefit them (and since the majority of that number is for education- in the long run it benefits us too). That means that although undocumented workers make up 3% of the population they are actually UNDER utilizing these services for their proportion of the population, which means that they actually cost the U.S. less than its citizens do. In addition, this doesn't take into account that often these people do pay into they system when they use false ids to get gainful and legitimate employment.
And these are just the economic facts. This doesn't take into account the human factor involved. The vast majority of these people are hard working, honest people that are just trying to escape poverty and starvation in their own countries. The few violent criminals that sneak over the border with them give the whole lot a bad name, and truly, deportation for those few is a must, regardless of the cost. Even the staunchest advocate of SB 1070 agrees that the goal here is to do what's best for America and deporting honest hard working people is not the answer.
So what is the solution? Simple. Just go back to the immigration policy of the late 19th century. That is, allow anyone to come here to work legally, provided that they are able to work, don't have a communicable disease and do not have a criminal background. People won't need to sneak over the border. They will then be able to cross over and obtain a work visa. They will be paid what every American gets paid, therefore removing the incentive employers have to hire them in the first place, and then they will pay taxes on those wages. In fact, I would be willing to bet they would be glad to pay an additional tax just for the privilege of
working here.
Many Americans get adamant about allowing these people to become citizens. However, this is something I do NOT understand. We can make the criteria for citizenship the same criteria for the model citizen. For example, we could require that they learn to speak, read and write English; they have good credit, have never been arrested, have never been on a public assistance program, have lived here for a set number of years, et cetera
I was just trying to find this great piece that UURISE put together about Myths Regarding Immigration. There was some good stuff in there about the economic angle. I've heard more and more lately about how the economy *relies* on low-wage immigrants, too. We have to push back against the idea that low-wage earners are a drain on the economy.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Rena. Thanks for fighting the good fight!
I live 12 miles from the Mexican border, in southeast New Mexico. The rancher who was recently shot and killed (we don't know who shot him, but it's widely assumed to have been illegal aliens) lived in my area, and many of my friends knew him and know his family. They're local heroes in these parts.
ReplyDeleteBecause of my proximity to the border, and the fact that I wrote a novel (Missing White Girl, Penguin/Jove, 2007) that largely revolves around border issues, I've done a lot of research, including (but hardly limited to) going out to the border with a Border Patrol agent.
What I've learned is that there are no easy answers to the issue, and the people who say there are rarely have a clue what the real problems are. Deport all 12 million undocumented people? As you point out, the logistical/cost end of that is ridiculous, even if it could be done. Not to mention what it would do to our food prices, restaurant and hotel prices, etc., etc.
But there's a deeper problem. The Mexican economy largely rests on three legs: drug money, oil money, and remittances from people in the U.S. to family in Mexico. If you take away any one leg, the rest of it collapses. Remittances are the one that goes most directly to the lower and middle class people--most of the drug and oil profits go to the kingpins in those particular fields, with some trickling down through the ranks.
If the Mexican economy collapses (and fair warning--many experts say they've only got a decade of oil left, maybe less) then the stream we've seen crossing our borders so far becomes a flood. If all 12 million were sent home tomorrow, in a year we'd have 20 million.
Fences don't stop migrants. Laws like SB 1270 make the xenophobes feel better but they don't stop it either--the illegals already know they're breaking the law. Not having opportunity would stop them. Tougher enforcement slows them down--that, not big fences, is how CA and TX blocked them, so that now most of them come through AZ and NM, specifically through the part of AZ I live in. Since 2005, the number of illegals crossing the border each year has been cut in half. The biggest cuts have been since our economy crashed in 2008, and jobs became harder for undocumented workers to get. So for anyone wanting to stop it, the best answer is to make it impossible for them to get hired. They won't come. Then we'll have to deal with the spike in our own consumer prices.
And we'll lose the lifeblood that's bringing some of Mexico's best people here to add to the American experience. How many Americans do you know who would risk life and limb, walk 300-1,000 miles through wilting heat and bitter cold, braving bandits and rattlesnakes and arrest and all manner of other obstacles... for a job? Any job? Someone who will do that is courageous, dedicated, determined, tough. Seems like we could use some more like that.
As usual Jeff, beautifully said. I am of the perspective that if we allow people to register to work and ensure that they are capable of working, not carrying any communicable diseases and have no criminal history, then we should let them have the right to come here to work for a fair wage (to compete with the rest of us) and pay taxes on those wages then the vast majority of people coming over here will.
ReplyDeleteThis will in turn stem the tide of people sneaking over the border and the damage that ensues with that. The few who continue to do so will obviously be doing it for the wrong reasons and our border patrol and law enforcement will be able to catch those few just that much easier.
A residual effect of doing it this way is that otherwise honest, hardworking people will not be forced to be drug mules just to get into this country, which will then make it that much difficult for the cartels to get their products into this country.
Thank-you for pointing out the ineptitude of the Mexican government and the impending collapse of the economy. You are right, when that happens, we will have a flood of refugees coming over here and will no doubt have to give them refugee status. It's an impending mess.
Thanks once again for your insightful post, Jeff.