Illegal Alien Border Crossers Cost $150,000 APiece

[G-Man]

This means that if we have a million of them this year, the lifetime cost will be $150 billion. If we have only 750,000, it will cost $112.5 billion. And that is likely a low-end estimate.

https://www.conservativereview.com/news ... 0-billion/

I am sure that the commenters here who are so incensed at spending $5 billion when we are in debt are aghast at this and want to do something to prevent us from incurring these costs that we cannot afford.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I don't remember CNN saying anything about this.

[Draco Dracul]

This means that if we have a million of them this year, the lifetime cost will be $150 billion. If we have only 750,000, it will cost $112.5 billion. And that is likely a low-end estimate.

https://www.conservativereview.com/news ... 0-billion/

I am sure that the commenters here who are so incensed at spending $5 billion when we are in debt are aghast at this and want to do something to prevent us from incurring these costs that we cannot afford.

It seems the bulk of cost goes to education which is disproportionately going to go to US Citizens. Also if Republicans are so concerned about the cost, maybe they should have taken the 25 billion dollars they were offered in exchange for DACA.

[Yukaphile]

And, you know, there's their tax cuts for the rich. You know that money ain't ever seeing the common man.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

"These numbers include costs like criminal justice, education, and general use of public services balanced against taxes paid, which for a great many illegal immigrants is net zero or negative."

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I'm sensing a theme here.

[G-Man]

This means that if we have a million of them this year, the lifetime cost will be $150 billion. If we have only 750,000, it will cost $112.5 billion. And that is likely a low-end estimate.

https://www.conservativereview.com/news ... 0-billion/

I am sure that the commenters here who are so incensed at spending $5 billion when we are in debt are aghast at this and want to do something to prevent us from incurring these costs that we cannot afford.

It seems the bulk of cost goes to education which is disproportionately going to go to US Citizens.

This is the marginal extra cost of the illegal aliens, so where the bulk of U.S. spending goes on education is irrelevant. And as I understand this, this is not including the costs of educating illegal alien "anchor babies," so this is not the cost of citizens.

Also if Republicans are so concerned about the cost, maybe they should have taken the 25 billion dollars they were offered in exchange for DACA.

That's not what they were offered. They were offered $2.5 B, $1.6 B of which would go to physical barriers, in return for amnesty with a path to citizenship for all 2-3 million "DREAMers" (not just the 800,000 in DACA) and work permit amnesty for their parents. The $25 billion was proposed over 10 years, but in such a way that it could be eliminated the very next year in the next budget (in other words, there would be no upfront guarantee of ever getting the $25 billion).

[G-Man]

And, you know, there's their tax cuts for the rich. You know that money ain't ever seeing the common man.

Which does not change the fact that the illegal alien invasion is very expensive. I notice you are not complaining at all about that, despite being oh so concerned about the deficit when talking about the costs of enforcement (and not just the wall, as I recall, you worried about the cost of hiring extra agents as being a luxury as well).

It just seems hypocritical to say that we cannot afford border enforcement when you have no complaints about the costs of illegal immigration. Somehow, you think we have the money to take care of illegal aliens and fraudulent asylum seekers, but we cannot afford a fraction of that to keep them out.

[Draco Dracul]

This means that if we have a million of them this year, the lifetime cost will be $150 billion. If we have only 750,000, it will cost $112.5 billion. And that is likely a low-end estimate.

https://www.conservativereview.com/news ... 0-billion/

I am sure that the commenters here who are so incensed at spending $5 billion when we are in debt are aghast at this and want to do something to prevent us from incurring these costs that we cannot afford.

It seems the bulk of cost goes to education which is disproportionately going to go to US Citizens.

This is the marginal extra cost of the illegal aliens, so where the bulk of U.S. spending goes on education is irrelevant. And as I understand this, this is not including the costs of educating illegal alien "anchor babies," so this is not the cost of citizens.

Due to the 14th amendment any so called anchor babies are by definition US citizens.

Also if Republicans are so concerned about the cost, maybe they should have taken the 25 billion dollars they were offered in exchange for DACA.

That's not what they were offered. They were offered $2.5 B, $1.6 B of which would go to physical barriers, in return for amnesty with a path to citizenship for all 2-3 million "DREAMers" (not just the 800,000 in DACA) and work permit amnesty for their parents. The $25 billion was proposed over 10 years, but in such a way that it could be eliminated the very next year in the next budget (in other words, there would be no upfront guarantee of ever getting the $25 billion).

Any multi-year project can be cancelled in the next budget due to the fact that one of the powers congress explicitly does not have is binding the powers of future congresses.

And, you know, there's their tax cuts for the rich. You know that money ain't ever seeing the common man.

Which does not change the fact that the illegal alien invasion is very expensive. I notice you are not complaining at all about that, despite being oh so concerned about the deficit when talking about the costs of enforcement (and not just the wall, as I recall, you worried about the cost of hiring extra agents as being a luxury as well).

It just seems hypocritical to say that we cannot afford border enforcement when you have no complaints about the costs of illegal immigration. Somehow, you think we have the money to take care of illegal aliens and fraudulent asylum seekers, but we cannot afford a fraction of that to keep them out.

It seems just as hypocritical to say we need to be concerned about 150 billion dollars over a lifetime, when at the same time enacting a policy that within ten years will be costing us 450 billion dollars per year.

[G-Man]

This is the marginal extra cost of the illegal aliens, so where the bulk of U.S. spending goes on education is irrelevant. And as I understand this, this is not including the costs of educating illegal alien "anchor babies," so this is not the cost of citizens.

Due to the 14th amendment any so called anchor babies are by definition US citizens.

Irrelevant, because as I said, this is NOT INCLUDING the cost of the anchor babies (assuming that this is what you were talking about when you said that the bulk of the money would be spent on citizens).

Also if Republicans are so concerned about the cost, maybe they should have taken the 25 billion dollars they were offered in exchange for DACA.

That's not what they were offered. They were offered $2.5 B, $1.6 B of which would go to physical barriers, in return for amnesty with a path to citizenship for all 2-3 million "DREAMers" (not just the 800,000 in DACA) and work permit amnesty for their parents. The $25 billion was proposed over 10 years, but in such a way that it could be eliminated the very next year in the next budget (in other words, there would be no upfront guarantee of ever getting the $25 billion).

Any multi-year project can be cancelled in the next budget due to the fact that one of the powers congress explicitly does not have is binding the powers of future congresses.

Which means that any offer of money over the course of several years is not reliable. Which was my point. People act as if Trump was offered $25 billion in return for making DACA permanent for those receiving it. Given that the offer was by definition not enforceable in future years, and that 90%+ of the money would have to be appropriated in future years, and given that Congress has repeatedly de-funded border barriers and other enforcement, there is no reason to believe that Trump would ever see that $25 billion. And he was asked to go a LOT further than DACA did.

I am not arguing that Congress ought to be able to bind future Congresses. I am saying that Trump was not offered a lump sum of $25 billion, which means that accepting the Democrats' offer would not have resulted in him getting $25 billion for the wall, so it is dishonest to act as if he had actually been offered $25 billion for the wall.

And, you know, there's their tax cuts for the rich. You know that money ain't ever seeing the common man.

Which does not change the fact that the illegal alien invasion is very expensive. I notice you are not complaining at all about that, despite being oh so concerned about the deficit when talking about the costs of enforcement (and not just the wall, as I recall, you worried about the cost of hiring extra agents as being a luxury as well).

It just seems hypocritical to say that we cannot afford border enforcement when you have no complaints about the costs of illegal immigration. Somehow, you think we have the money to take care of illegal aliens and fraudulent asylum seekers, but we cannot afford a fraction of that to keep them out.

It seems just as hypocritical to say we need to be concerned about 150 billion dollars over a lifetime, when at the same time enacting a policy that within ten years will be costing us 450 billion dollars per year.

(a) I was not a fan of the tax cuts.
(b) Also, the tax cuts are a separate issue from illegal immigration. Spending money on border enforcement is not. That is, not spending the money on border security directly results in spending more on illegal immigration.

Saying "I want to spend fifty thousand on jewelry but not twenty thousand on a car" is not necessarily hypocritical, because you might value the jewelry more than the car.

Saying "we should not spend money on a security system for the home because it is too expensive" is ridiculous if the end result is that you lose ten times that amount in burglaries.

The reason I am calling hypocrisy here is that if you object to border enforcement due to the expense, but are okay with paying the costs of illegal immigration, then expense is not the real issue for you.