Illegal Immigrant Families Cost $20k Per Year

A Heritage Foundation researcher testified yesterday that the average illegal immigrant family (as well as low-skilled legal immigrant family) receives about $20,000 in benefits more than they pay in taxes, resulting in an average lifetime net loss to American taxpayers of $1.2 MILLION. He makes the point that, while supporters of illegal immigration say low-cost workers help the economy, the reality is that the businesses get the cheap labor, but taxpayers pay far more for those workers. It's a redistribution of money from taxpayers to both business owners and the relatives of immigrants abroad. Obviously we need to bring in far more H1B visa workers (high-skilled) -- who pay far more in taxes compared to the benefits received -- and allow far fewer illegal and other low-skilled immigrants. The current cap on high-skilled workers (many of whom head to Silicon Valley) is 65,000 -- an annual quota reached this year in ONE DAY. Illegal immigrants come every day, and currently number between 12 and 20 MILLION.