Arsenio Hall used to do a segment on his relatively short-lived
talk show called “Things That Make You Say Hmmm?” Many of the things we see
presented as fact, usually by the Far Right are of that nature. I say “usually”
because too much of the “green new deal’ package of celestial pastry is also of
that nature, but that’s not the topic du jour.
The piece that
got my attention was a post by a well- meaning, but not fully informed, friend
which relayed as fact the information that the US spends $82,000 on each “illegal”
immigrant. As it turns out, the study comes from a conservative think tank
(speaking of contradictions in terms!) and uses data from a study done by a
federal agency. The problem is several fold.
First, the
wording of the piece is skewed so as to give the impression to those all too
willing, even eager, to buy the bullshit, that the $82k figure represents money
actually given in some fashion to each “illegal” person. More in a moment on
that fallacy.
Second, if an individual
is actually an “illegal immigrant” which most generally interpret as a person
who is already inside the US illegally and without government knowledge or permission.
These individuals cost the government nothing. Zip, nada, zilch, unless they
have children born here (ergo citizens) who qualify for food stamps. Non-documented
non-citizens are ineligible for welfare in any case, but do, however, as does every
person in the country, qualify for emergency medical care, thanks to a Reagan administration
law. Their children will probably also be able to go to public schools, but
this cost falls light years short of the $82,000 figure. Now the flip side:
regardless of which of numerous ways these persons find work, they will, unless
their American citizen employer ignores the law as Donald Trump is known to
have done in a number of instances, have social security and income tax withheld
from their pay. This money will never be recovered by them unless they naturalize
and get a Social Security number, and then any money earned and withheld before
that time doesn’t count either.
Bottom line, unlike citizens, who generally will
get some tax back and can draw Social Security, these folks well may not, so
they are an actual plus factor to the federal government’s income. If two
undocumented persons work full time in a family, (by far the norm, as far more US
citizens by percentage, are content not to work, being welfare eligible, or
Social Security disability eligible) and earn, just for example, $35,000 annually, doing all those jobs many
citizens consider themselves too good to do, they will give the federal government
$2275 in Social Security withholding and another $500 or so in Medicare, none
of which they will ever see again unless they become citizens.
The other
people the ignorant lump in this group are asylum grantees and/or children
citizens, born here and citizens by birth. Like it or not, and some don’t,
unless the Constitution is amended, birthright citizenship will endure. Both
groups aren’t either by definition or by law, “illegal”. Th children citizens,
regardless of parental status are entitled to pubic schooling, and, if
qualified, food stamps. As noted above, most of these parents, “legal” or not
work, pay sales taxes and have tax withheld from income. The difference is that
they get less for it. Studies, such as the one referred to, ignore this
contribution, which renders them completely invalid.
So where does
the magic $82k figure come from, and where does that money go? The figure as
far as that goes is probably close, but the end of the money trail is quite different
than the inference, which remember, to most uninformed readers is that somehow this
money goes to the immigrant. This erroneous interpretation is, (coincidentally - not!)
pretty much what the spin doctors wish
to be the case.
The study used
to generate most of the think tank report actually documents how much money flows
from one government agency (be it state, county or federal) to another as a
cost of dealing with catching and sending back or processing these persons.
This cost is so high because the process has been ramped up in complexity. The
Obama administration actually ran a pilot program where asylum seekers were
granted their own recognizance to report for a court hearing at a date certain.
The Family Case Management Program, launched as a pilot in early 2016, aimed to
keep asylum seeking kin together, out of detention, and complying with
immigration laws. It was praised by immigration advocates for both its high
rate of compliance and its ability to help migrants thrive in a new country —
right up until the Trump administration shuttered it almost exactly a year ago.
According to The Associated Press, it cost the government $36 per day per family.
Trump said this, “And we say, 'Please show up to court in a couple of months.'
You know what the chances of getting him to court are? Like zero. Ok? It’s
crazy,” Trump told Fox News in June. But wait, was that true? Not by any metric.
In fact, According to the Inspector General report, overall compliance in the cities where the pilot was launched was 99 percent for ICE check-ins and
appointments, and 100 percent for attendance in court hearings. Just 2
percent of participants absconded during the process.
The $82k figure primarily represents salaries of judges, court costs, ICE, law enforcement and border patrol
officials and unfortunately, the cost of housing and separating families in
confinement rather that allowing them to remain together and pay their own way
by working and then showing up for their hearings (as mentioned above, with a
very high compliance rate). It costs
about $775 per person per night to keep the newly separated children of
families who cross the U.S. border illegally in “tent cities.” The per-person cost at certain detention
centers that would keep families together is $298 per night, according to an
agency estimate. That's $13,000 per month!This is the new normal, 3300% higher than the $36 per-day family of four figure of the last Obama years. Isn’t that strange in a year with a record
deficit while the president brags about “his” booming economy?
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