Ann Coulter Exposes the Real Costs of Mass Migration
Jose Nino
|
Ann Coulter sets the record straight on immigration.
In a column for The Hill, she exposes the high costs of mass migration.
Many advocates of open borders argue that cheap labor is necessary for an economy to function. However, that cheap labor comes at a steep cost.
Coulter cites a Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) study in 2017 revealing that illegal immigrants “cost the American taxpayer — on net — $116 billion a year.”
The conservative commentator points out that the number presented by FAIR may actually be a conservative estimate. She argues that “the actual number is more likely triple that.”
Coulter contends that the 12.5 million illegal immigrants that FAIR based its study is a gross underestimate. She says “The 12 million figure is based on the self-reports of illegal aliens to U.S. census questionnaires.”
That being said, more “serious studies” estimate that these numbers are much higher. At one end of the spectrum, “Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale study last year put the number of illegals at 22 million.” A Bear Stearns investment bank study placed it “at 20 million back in 2005.”
However, other studies show a much larger illegal immigrant figure. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele found that “3 million illegals were crossing each year — so simple math would put it at well over 60 million today.”
Based on these numbers, Coulter argues that the FAIR study underestimates the costs of illegal immigration “by at least a factor of three”, which puts the real cost to “about $350 billion a year.”
Coulter also alluded to other studies that demonstrate the steeps costs of mass migration. The Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector found that under America’s government redistribution system, households led by illegal immigrants received $14,387 more in government services than they paid in taxes. Legal immigrants also received $4,344 more in government services than they paid in taxes. This study assumes that the number of illegal immigrants has stayed the same since the Bush era.
Coulter also points out other hidden costs such as increased crime rates and drug smuggling that has contributed to the opioid epidemic as some of the socially detrimental aspects of mass migration.
All in all, mass migration has steep costs that most in Washington D.C. refuse to acknowledge.
Share: