Life without undocumented immigrants - effects on economy.

Undocumented immigrants get a lot of the blame for America's problems, but they don't deserve it. The government's bill for feeding, healing, and clothing them is balanced by the taxes they pay and the money they spend.

While they are heavily concentrated in a few places, they have only a minor effect on national population growth. Politicians who favor extreme measures to get rid of them aren't helping anyone - they are only scaring people in a cynical attempt to get votes.

Between 225,000 and 300,000 undocumented immigrants are added to the U.S. population of 264 million every year, according to estimates by the Census Bureau and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) respectively. They account for 9 to 12 percent of population growth. But 40 percent of undocs live in California, 15 percent in New York, 11 percent in Florida, and 10 percent in Texas, according to the Urban Institute. Another 10 percent live in Illinois, New Jersey, and Arizona. In these key states and some big cities, the foreign-born are part of a demographic and economic transformation that frightens native-born Americans. Elsewhere, they are insignificant.

Do undocs hurt the economy? Probably not. Providing public education for children of undocumented immigrants costs about $3.1 billion in the seven key states in 1993-94, according to the Urban Institute. Undocumented immigrants in prison cost about $471 million a year, and they consume about $445 million more in Medicaid funds. But these costs are offset by about $1.9 billion in taxes paid by undocs and billions more in consumer spending. Impoverished field workers from Mexico get all the publicity, but the INS estimates that only 31 percent of undocumented immigrants are Mexican. And of the 1.7 million undocumented workers who applied for citizenship in 1987, less than 4 percent were in farming, fishing, or forestry. In contrast, over 4 percent were executives, managers, or professionals; 21 percent held service jobs; and 24 percent were operators, fabricators, or laborers. Undocumented immigrants are consumers, too.

If we built a 2,000-mile wall through the desert, who would pick our crops, wash our dishes, and clean our hotel rooms? Agribusiness and hospitality firms would almost certainly persuade Congress to allow temporary workers to come north, and the flow would begin again. Some say that we should kick undocs out so that American citizens can have these dirty, low-paying jobs. But wouldn't we get further by focusing our efforts on the challenge of creating better jobs?

Undocumented immigration is a crime. Like most categories of crime, it can be controlled but not eliminated. The damage it does to our country is minor compared to the damage done by real problems like handgun violence, substandard schools, or polluted water.



So let's give the Border Patrol the tools they need, then turn our attention back to the real issues. Persecuting undocumented immigrants is about blame and racism. It’s a waste of time.

If you are considering joining the Antis i.e. SOS, Minutemen, Friends of the Border, please realize that you could be using your time in a more constructive manner. Not only that, but do you really want to join a group that appeals to Neo-Nazis and the Sheets?