FAIR Executive summary of estimated annual NET fiscal costs of illegal immigration in North Carolina.
With 410,000 illegal immigrants, 4.3 percent of the population, North Carolina ranks 11th among the states.
The NET costs are estimated at $2.0 Billion annually or $578 annually for each NC native or naturalized citizen household.
In 2013, the North
Carolina General Assembly passed an "immigration enforcement" bill that
actually weakened immigration enforcement. This bill, HB786, was
essentially a special interest bill for agriculture, restaurants,
hotels, and construction associations. Both the North Carolina Chamber
of Commerce and the North Carolina Farm Bureau lobbied heavily for its
passage. It was vetoed by Governor McCrory, but his veto was overridden
by the General Assembly. The principal fault of the bill was that it
widened the gap of non-enforcement of the State's E-Verify law, which
requires employers to check the immigration status of job applicants.
The bill's principal
sponsors in the NC House, who I am sad to say are Republicans, actually
proposed that illegal immigrants be issued NC driving permits to help
them get to and from jobs. This outrageous provision was fortunately
defeated.
Most of the $2.0
billion annual cost of illegal immigration in NC actually impacts at the
county level. It disproportionately impacts counties with high numbers
of agricultural workers.
The $2.0 estimate
includes $1.3 billion for education of the children of illegal
immigrants, including the cost of dual-language instruction for some.
Healthcare for illegals costs $232 million per year, public assistance
$79 million, and law enforcement and justice $216 million per year.
Illegals only pay $228 million in taxes per year, most of which are
sales taxes. They pay less than $14 million per year in income taxes.
They are cheap labor for employers, but a sizable fiscal burden on
taxpayers
Their fiscal costs are
by no means the only costs. The economic cost to North Carolina workers
are considerable. The cheap labor of illegal and imported workers
displaces and drives down the wages of North Carolina workers. Judging
from national figures compiled by Harvard economist George Borjas, the
economic costs of illegal immigration to American workers exceeds the
fiscal costs.
Unfortunately, most
North Carolina voters have not noticed that they are paying a huge
burden in taxes, unemployment, and lower wages for the benefit of
special interests.
In addition to the
dollar measurement of illegal immigration costs, there are some costs
that are extremely different to measure, but are nonetheless very
important.
North Carolina is
spending $216 Million per year on justice and law enforcement to
maintain 410,000 illegal immigrants, but that does not measure the cost
of crime to its victims. An independent organization called NCFire.com
at least tries to track the more serious crimes.
Mike Scruggs
I have long said Democrat or Republican both are snakes on opposite sides of the same coin. They only care about their boss and themselves. The people voting to change the government from Democrat to Republican or Republican to Democrat will change nothing. Both get their instructions from the same elite masters. The only reason two parties have been allowed to exist is simply the illusion of difference and choice.
ReplyDeleteBadger
Agreed.
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