$5 billion for wall 'a waste'? Taxpayer burden 31 times greater

Democrats claim the $5 billion President Trump wants from Congress to fund a border wall is a waste of money, but the annual burden of illegal immigration on taxpayers is $155 billion, according to an independent report.

The Gateway Pundit blog points to a 2017 report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, titled "The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers that breaks down the financial costs on top of the threats to national security and public safety.

The blog notes the $155 billion number does not take into account American jobs lost, commerce affected by remittances to Mexico, and the health crisis and deaths due to illegal drugs.

With cameras rolling, President Trump engaged with incoming House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in an extraordinary, contentious debate Monday in the Oval Office over wall funding.

Amid the threat of a government shutdown, Democrats are offering $1.3 billion for border fencing and barriers while Trump has requested $5 billion.

Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, who likely will chair the House Appropriations Committee next year, declared "it would be reckless and irresponsible to waste national security resources on a border wall that is nothing more than in-kind contribution to his re-election campaign."

The FAIR report, however, explains that "illegal aliens are net consumers of taxpayer-funded services and the limited taxes paid by some segments of the illegal alien population are, in no way, significant enough to offset the growing financial burdens imposed on U.S. taxpayers by massive numbers of uninvited guests."

"Political and judicial efforts to accord illegal aliens the same government benefits available to U.S. citizens (e.g., the Supreme Court’s holding in Plyler v. Doe guaranteeing illegal alien children a free public education, at taxpayer expense) have increasingly stressed federal, state and local budgets — to
the detriment of Americans, particularly the poor, elderly, and disabled. Te impact on public school systems and criminal justice institutions has been particularly harsh," the report states.

"And the situation has been greatly exacerbated by government refusal to implement measures aimed at deterring, detecting and prosecuting illegal aliens who commit fraud to obtain benefits and/or to avoid deportation following a criminal conviction."