'There's a High Cost to Cheap Labor': How Noncitizens Are Costing the American Taxpayer – Big Time
WASHINGTON – Defenders of increased immigration say it's good for the US economy, noting that many immigrants will perform jobs Americans won't.
But a new report shows that comes with a heavy price tag for the people already here.
Taxpayers foot the bill for welfare programs, and noncitizens are adding plenty to that cost. The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies just added up all the numbers.
"We found that 63 percent of households headed by noncitizens had one or more people in that household using at least one welfare program," stated Steven Camarota, who co-authored the new report with Karen Zeigler.
That's almost double the rate of American-born citizens using welfare.
"In terms of food programs or Medicaid, the share of immigrant households with somebody using it is about twice that of the native-born," Camarota continued.
'There's a High Cost to Cheap Labor'
This is what happens when millions of low-wage, less educated immigrants flood the nation.
As Camarota put it, "If you bring in low-wage workers, they – and very often their US-born children – qualify for a host of programs. If you had to put it into a bumper sticker, it's that there's a high cost to cheap labor."
These folks are also three times as likely to be uninsured, causing Americans to bear much more cost.
"Noncitizens in general and immigrants in general have very high rates of lacking insurance…usually double or triple that of native-born," Camarota explained. "But what happens when somebody shows up in an emergency room? They're going to get care. We're not going to deny that, and it's going to come at taxpayer expense."
Or it will come at the expense of other sick people who those hospitals will just hit with higher bills to make up for those who received their medical care for free.
Camarota pointed to one solution: Make an immigration system that mostly takes in better-educated people more qualified for the kinds of jobs that'll let them afford insurance and keep them off welfare.