Illegal immigrants cost us plenty
Where did Nancy Van Buskirk (letters, April 4) get her figures? Like the liberal media, she provides no verifiable sources other than “a study” and “another study” to “prove” that illegal immigrants “have not cost the American taxpayer a dime.”
I beg to differ. According to a landmark study published in 2013 by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) titled “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers,” illegal immigration costs taxpayers approximately $113 billion yearly — an average cost to each household headed by a U.S. citizen of $1,117 annually. This money goes for public education, English instruction classes, health care, justice and law enforcement, public assistance and general government services.
A study by FAIR showed that approximately 170,000 illegal immigrants cost Oregon’s taxpayers $1.98 billion in 2010, but they paid only an estimated $76.5 million in taxes, leaving a shortfall of some $1 billion for Oregon natives to pick up; roughly $730 per household. Those costs have no doubt increased as our illegal alien population has burgeoned.
FAIR is a non-profit organization based in D.C. advocating the reduction of immigration. Why? Because the organization believes our country can no longer support the continuous and escalating drain on the economy created by supporting illegal immigrants, plus the loss of adequately paid jobs and the lowered standard of living for all. FAIR opposes discrimination on any basis, but advocates strict enforcement of existing immigration laws.
