A new report shows that Texans spend about $12.1 billion annually for services for illegal aliens, who generate only about $1.27 billion in taxes, and the proposal in Congress dubbed "amnesty" by its critics would do little to change that.
"The proponents of amnesty, or 'earned legalization,' as they term it, generally ignore the fiscal effects of illegal immigration other than to note that 'unauthorized immigrants' pay taxes," said the report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR.
"If amnesty were enacted, most of the illegal aliens would become legal immigrants, and, according to the amnesty advocates, the fiscal impact issue would become moot," the group asserted.
FAIR said the fiscal costs "from having absorbed the population of aliens who either entered the country illegally or overstayed visas would not appreciably change."
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"The only way to lessen the fiscal burden from illegal aliens is not by making them legal but, rather, by reducing the size of this uninvited foreign population," FAIR said. "Amnesty legislation would assure that the population would become permanent and invite others to follow."
The report noted that the same arguments were made in favor of amnesty in 1980s, but when the measure passed, "the study that tracked the earnings of the 1986 amnesty applicants five years after receiving amnesty found that for the most part the only income advance they had realized was an overall increase for all wage earners in which the amnestied aliens shared."
However, amnesty for millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States long has been one of President Obama's top objectives. Obama has gone so far as to say that if Congress doesn't pass the "immigration reform" he wants, he would not just wait for legislation.
"I've got a pen and I've got a phone, and I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions," he threatened.
According to the New York Times, House Republicans, who have been America's last bastion against a virtual freeway into the country, are now considering a template to address immigration.
The report said Republican leaders in the House are expected to call for border security and enforcement but also create a path to legal status for most of the 11 million illegal aliens now in the country.
Democrats in the majority in the Senate long have been aboard Obama's immigration train, but the report said now "even some of the most ardent conservatives say consensus is forming around an immigration package that would include several separate bills on border security; a clampdown against the hiring of undocumented workers; expanded guest-worker programs; a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children; and a path to legal status for undocumented workers with family ties to citizens or employer sponsors."
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., in a commentary, said it's foolhardy to think that adding more lesser-skilled applicants is going to help Americans in the job market.
"The president's own economic adviser, Gene Sperling, recently noted that there are three unemployed people for every job available. Wages today have been flat since 2000. Last year, a record one in five Americans households received food stamps. This is a national emergency," he said.
"So what is the president's proposal? … He proposes doubling the number of guest workers entering every year, granting immediate work permits to millions of illegal immigrants, and tripling the number of new immigrants granted permanent residency over the next decade."
Sessions wondered aloud if anyone has asked the American people "whether they wanted to triple immigration."
"Polling shows that the public opposes these increases," he said. 'The opposition is particularly strong among lower- and middle-income Americans. Those earning under $30,000 prefer a reduction to an increase by 3-1."
Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., a far-left mega-millionaire, took to screaming on the floor of the U.S. House because he didn't think the agenda for illegal aliens was moving quickly enough.
"You think they want to be spending their time here?" he shouted, referring to visitors in the congressional gallery. "I want you, Madam Speaker, to address the reason they are here."
FAIR reports that the information available indicates about 14 percent of the immigrants are professionals. Those with other pursuits total 18 percent and those without work comprise 31 percent. The rest, well over one-third, are students and children.
In just Texas alone, taxpayers shell out $8.5 billion for education for illegal aliens annually, $1.8 billion for health care, $1 billion for justice, $47 million for public assistance and $577 million for general services.
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, said the issue needs to wait until Obama is willing to work with Congress to resolve the problem and not dictate terms.
"The president has shown he's not willing to work with us on immigration," he said. "It's not worth having a party divided when we have so many issues we can come together on."
The rhetoric has soared to new levels.
Ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg contended that the current laws are "national suicide."
"I don't think that's an exaggeration," he said.
And Jeh Johnson, a leftist who is Obama's Homeland Security secretary, claimed illegal aliens have "earned the right" of citizenship.
FAIR's solution isn't complicated.
"A refusal to enact amnesty legislation coupled with measures to deny benefits to the illegal alien population – with denial of job opportunities at the top of the list – would work over time to not only deter new illegal immigration, but also to encourage those already residing here illegally to return to their home countries," the analysis said.