Should We Pay 5 Billion For A Wall? (workers, facts, United States)
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I support a strong border and believe in enforcement of our immigration laws. However I do not support the wall. I believe it would not be effective and we could provide a nearly equal deterrent for much less in the form of a good border fence. I also support investment in high tech equipment to detect illegal crossings and more BP agents to pick up the law breakers.
Most important I believe in enforcing the laws we have so illegals can not live here. If we prevent them from working, sending their kids to school, getting drivers licenses etc. then they will go home on their own. No deportations needed. Also the mayors of sanctuary cities need to be arrested for breaking federal immigration law. We don’t need to spend 5 billion to accomplish this task.
I think the question should we or Mexico pay for the wall is slightly off base.
Quote:
The Cost of Illegal Immigration to the United States
At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. That amounts to a tax burden of approximately $8,075 per illegal alien family member and a total of $115,894,597,664. The total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is both staggering and crippling. In 2013, FAIR estimated the total cost to be approximately $113 billion. So, in under four years, the cost has risen nearly $3 billion. This is a disturbing and unsustainable trend. The sections below will break down and further explain these numbers at the federal, state, and local levels.
The Federal government spends a net amount of $45.8 billion on illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children. This amount includes expenditures for public education, medical care, justice enforcement initiatives, welfare programs and other miscellaneous costs. It also factors in the meager amount illegal aliens pay to the federal government in income, social security, Medicare and excise taxes.
Federal Spending
The approximately $46 billion in federal expenditures attributable to illegal aliens is staggering. Assuming an illegal alien population of approximately 12.5 million illegal aliens and 4.2 million U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, that amounts to roughly $2,746 per illegal alien, per year. For the sake of comparison, the average American college student receives only $4,800 in federal student loans each year.
FAIR maintains that every concerned American citizen should be asking our government why, in a time of increasing costs and shrinking resources, is it spending such large amounts of money on individuals who have no right, nor authorization, to be in the United States? This is an especially important question in view of the fact that the illegal alien beneficiaries of American taxpayer largess offset very little of the enormous costs of their presence by the payment of taxes. Meanwhile, average Americans pay approximately 30% of their income in taxes.
So an extra $5 billion in the over all cost is actually nothing compared to the savings to the American tax payer.
CATO debunked that study as a total farce a long time ago. FAIR counts benefits bestowed on US citizens as a cost of illegal immigration yet fails to account for any economic benefit generated by their presence. Imagine a study concluding that the presence of a local grocery store costs you $100 a week but fails to account for the fact that you got $100 worth of groceries each week in return.
A Republican subset that includes those representing border areas have opposed fixed walls in multiple areas - including the Rio Grande valley and other portions of the of the 700 miles - from the beginning, or at least since 2006. How their concerns and those of others are addressed is no doubt complicated but worth considering for who the heck doesn't want "border security."
But it is on Trump to broker up enough votes for his vision - be they Republican votes or Democratic votes. If he cannot, then he needs to get on with the business of running the US government.
The last thing we need is for him rummaging through Homeland Security for $5billion of so-called "extra" money - and all the additional billions that will be needed after that. Already there are not adequate resources to scan container ship cargos that enter East coast ports.
There are other threats to the US borders beyond those posed by some illegal immigrants. These posts that compare the $5billion to the total US budget completely miss the point.
I dont know why you quoted me.
There is no "extra money". There is $$ allocated for cyber security "national security" that has not been used. If he s not going to protect us from cyber attacks then take that "national security" UNUSED $$ and apply it to his wall budget. However it sounds like the purse is snapped shut tight for wall construction no matter what trump calls the project.
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