National Academy of Sciences Report Indicates Amnesty for Unlawful Immigrants Would Cost Trillions of Dollars
December 22, 2016
By Robert Rector and Jamie Bryan Hall
Estimates indicate that there are at least 10 million adult illegal immigrants in the U.S. If granted amnesty or earned citizenship, these illegal immigrants would gain access to benefits under Social Security, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), and over 90 federal means-tested welfare programs. The value of the benefits that amnesty recipients would receive would greatly exceed any taxes and fines to be paid, and the net cost to taxpayers would be in the trillions of dollars.
National Academy of Sciences on the Fiscal Cost of Immigrants
In September 2016, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a major report, The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration,[1] analyzing the fiscal balance (total government benefits received, minus total taxes paid) for immigrants with different levels of education. In particular, the report provides 75-year fiscal projections for the fiscal balance of immigrants and their descendants based on the immigrant’s education level.[2] Since the education level of current illegal immigrants is generally known, the NAS fiscal balance projections can be used to estimate the fiscal cost of current illegal immigrants after an amnesty.
http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...ons-of-dollars
