Harold Horstmann
Lohman
Dear Editor:
In response to Mr. O’Mara’s letter ‘High cost of the wall’ published 1/20/2019, I feel Mr. O’Mara needs an education on the real cost of immigration. He claims the cost of the border wall is depriving states of a much needed $108,000,000. Mr. O’Mara, I refer you to the following 9/7/2017 article by Matt O’Brien and Spencer Raley: “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers” (https://www.fairus.org/issue/publications-resources/fiscal-burden-illegal-immigration-united-states-taxpayers).
Quotes and information from the article: “At the federal, state, and local levels, taxpayers shell out approximately $134.9 billion to cover the costs incurred by the presence of more than 12.5 million illegal aliens, and about 4.2 million citizen children of illegal aliens. That amounts to a tax burden of approximately $8,075 per illegal alien family member and a total of $115,894,597,664. The total cost of illegal immigration to U.S. taxpayers is both staggering and crippling. In 2013, FAIR estimated the total cost to be approximately $113 billion. So, in under four years, the cost has risen nearly $3 billion. This is a disturbing and unsustainable trend. The sections below will break down and further explain these numbers at the federal, state, and local levels.” Total governmental expenditures on illegal aliens: federal cost $45,870,474,332; state cost $88,992,981,032; total national cost $134,863,455,364.
For the Trump haters that are willing to forgo a cost of $1,779,859,620 ($88,992,981,032 divided by 50) vs. a savings of $108,000,000 just for the satisfaction of revenge for Hillary’s defeat, I feel sorry for you.
Another article 2/15/2017 by S. Noble I would think should be of interest to anyone who cares about facts: ‘California Spends $25 Billion in Tax Dollars per Year on Illegals, Ignores Dams’ (http://www.independentsentinel.com/california-spends-25-billion-tax-dollars-per-year-illegals-ignores-dams/). I wonder how much Arizona and Texas also spend on illegal immigrants?
Will the Trump haters ever give up? Probably about the same time we all die from global warming!