As if we don't have enough problems
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060821/ap_on_go_co/immigration_costs



WASHINGTON - The Senate's immigration proposal would cost $49 billion over the next five years and $127 billion over the next decade, according to the        Congressional Budget Office.


 
The majority of the costs would be for increased enforcement, such as hiring more Border Patrol officers and building more detention facilities.

The legislation would offer a chance at citizenship for millions of immigrants. Spending on government benefits programs, including refundable tax credits for the working poor, would rise by $16 billion for the years 2007-11, and by $48 billion over the decade, the CBO said in a report released over the weekend.

Legalization of now illegal immigrants would increase spending on        Social Security and Medicare benefits by $10.5 billion over the next 10 years, the CBO said. Eligibility by many of them for refundable earned income tax credits aimed at helping low-income families would cost another $24.5 billion.

The CBO forecast only modest increases in other popular benefit programs as a result of illegal immigrants and new guest workers acquiring legal status.

"We estimate that enrollment in child nutrition, Food Stamp and Medicaid programs ... would each be about 2 percent to 3 percent higher in 2016 than under current law," it said.

In the written proposal, federal revenue would be reduced in the next five years. But the CBO said a technical change to a tax provision would increase federal revenue by about $44 billion over the next 10 years through payroll taxes, visa fees, fines and penalties assessed immigrants.

"Clearly the biggest-ticket items are the enforcement programs, building fences and increasing the number of Border Patrol agents," said Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the Immigration Policy Center. "Legalization is nearly a wash in terms of costs and revenues." Johnson's center rejects an enforcement-only solution to U.S. immigration problems.

More than 16 million people would become legal residents or adjust to some other legal status through 2016 under the Senate bill, the CBO estimated. Of that number, about 9.5 million are already in the country or will enter in the next decade under current law.

Steve Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict immigration laws, said the numbers make a case for restricting legal immigration as well as cracking down on illegal residents.

The House passed an enforcement-focused immigration bill last December. House Republicans have balked at meeting with Senate counterparts to stitch together a compromise immigration bill, and held hearings focusing on problems in the Senate bill.

The CBO estimated in a report last year that the House bill would cost about $1.9 billion over the five years beginning in 2006 and "substantial amounts" after 2010.

Wait until the Democrats take over the government again... Yikes!

Thats an expensive wall.

Ok supposedly there are only 10.5 million illegals in the U.S.

Some quick and dirty math:

That’s $13,000 a head.

I bet you “Dawg the bounty hunter” could have every one of them back in their home country for five grand a head.

Well the senate uses the 10.5 number others say as many as 20 to 30 million.  So 127 billion govt math is probably 381 billion

Quoted: Thats an expensive wall.

too bad all that money spent won't fix the problem near as well huh?

The government (originally I typed Congress but then I realized that it extends to all three branches) is so detached from the American public, it's unreal.

Rewarded for breaking the law,OK so we didn't see that coming.But if our gun is to short we're doing time.My god this freaking country needs a douche.

Quoted: My god this freaking country needs a douche.

with a simultaneous colonic and ipecac combination.