Illegal Immigrants Cost America $84 Billion per Year Because of Crime
May 1, 2008: This post is obsolete and wrong in places. For something better, go to:
http://rasmusen.org/t/2008/04/illegal-immigrants-cause-21-of-crime.html
How much does crime by illegal immigrants cost America each year? My estimate is $84 billion per year.
Crime costs America about $400 billion per year, of which about $167 billion per year is government spending– $72 billion on police, $57 billion on imprisonment, and $38 billion on courts. My blogpost Illegal Immigrants Cause 21% of Crime shows that by a conservative estimate, illegal immigrants cause 21% of crime. 21% of $400 billion is $84 billion, and 21% of $167 billion is $35 billion. (See these powerpoints for sources.)
This totally wipes out the gain from immigration generally estimated in the June 20, 2007 CEO report Immigration’s Economic Impact, which says immigration has a net benefit of $30 billion per year, including both legal and illegal immigrants. It says:
Immigrants have lower crime rates than natives. Among men aged 18 to 40, immigrants are much less likely to be incarcerated than natives. (Source: Butcher and Piehl)
I won’t go into a fullscale critique of Butcher and Piehl’s paper, Why Are Immigrants’ Incarceration Rates So Low? Evidence on Selective Immigration, Deterrence, and Deportation , which concludes that immigrants have lower crime rates than native- born Americans. Points to note, however, are:
1. They lump together legal and illegal immigrants.
2. They adjust for age and sex and education. If a lot of immigrants are young men aged 16 to 30 without high school degrees, it might well be that they commit crimes at no higher a rate than young American male high school dropouts, but the immigrants will still add a huge amount to crime in the United State, all out of proportion to their numbers. Moreover, they won’t “grow out of it”, if they go back to Mexico on reaching age 30– immigrants will still be spending their criminal years in the United States. Also, adjusting for education is misleading. An American who fails to get a high school degree is unusual. I would not be surprised if it is common for an illegal immigrant to fail to have gotten a high school degree. If so, that is comparing underclass Americans to typical immigrants.
Point (2) means that the Butcher-Piehl results are not useful for addressing the question of how expensive immigrants are. Rather, it says that increasing the number of foreign-born high school dropout young males wouldn’t increase the crime rate any more than increasing the number of their domestic equivalents– but either increase would increase crime a lot.
July 1st, 2007 at 8:02 pm
See also: The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave, Heather Mac Donald City Journal 2004.
July 10th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I’m from Kenosha, Wisconsin. A few weeks ago we had a deputy sheriff murdered by a Mr. Lopez. Yep, Mr. Lopez illegal as hell. He’s also criminal and druggy as hell. He shot deputy Fabiano during a trafic stop with a gun he had bought intending to murder a woman.
There is more than dollars involved in illegal alien crime.
October 2nd, 2007 at 12:43 am
something has to be done about illegal immigrants. this is out of control. the numbers are way off, on the low side. government figures do not count children born to illegal immigrants in the united states, as illegal immigrants. they consider them us citizens, which they are not. there is no law that grants them citizenship simply by being born on u.s. soil. in fact there is exactly the opposite. the fourteenth amendment and 8 USCS 1401 grant citizenship only to those under the jurisdiction of the united states illegal immigrants are under the jurisdiction of their home country this went in front of the supreme court twice 83 US 36 and 112 US 94 we need to deport them all NO MORE EXCUSES
October 30th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
you are misinformed on your fact..in this ountry there is a birthright citizenship in the united states….re ad the following so you can educate yourself and others…..Under the currently accepted reading of the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, any person born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction is now automatically a U.S. citizen, regardless of the legal status or the citizenship of that individual’s mother or father. American Indian tribal members are not covered by the constitutional guarantee, but they were granted citizenship by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Children born to foreign diplomats or to hostile enemy forces or born on U.S. territory while it is under the control of a foreign power are not considered subject to U.S. jurisdiction and therefore are not citizens at birth. Throughout much of the history of the United States, the fundamental legal principle governing citizenship has been that birth within the territorial limits of the United States confers United States citizenship,[1] although the United States did not grant citizenship to all black former slaves until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which was subsequently confirmed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Birthright citizenship has its roots in English common law. Calvin’s Case, 77 Eng. Rep. 377 (1608), was particularly important as it established that under English common law “a person’s status was vested at birth, and based upon place of birth–a person born within the king’s dominion owed allegiance to the sovereign, and in turn, was entitled to the king’s protection.”[2] This same principle was adopted by the newly formed United States, as stated by Supreme Court Justice Noah Haynes Swayne: “All persons born in the allegiance of the king are natural- born subjects, and all persons born in the allegiance of the United States are natural-born citizens. Birth and allegiance go together. Such is the rule of the common law, and it is the common law of this country…since as before the Revolution.” United States v. Rhodes, 27 Fed. Cas. 785 (1866).
The modern world is divided up into nations with each nation, at least nominally, exercising control over its own territory and the people who reside within that territory. Among modern nations, citizenship at birth is conveyed in one or both of two ways; through Jus soli (the right of the soil or the land) meaning that one’s nationality is determined by the place of one’s birth; and/or through jus sanguinis (the right of blood) where nationality is determined by the nationality of one’s descent (parents). Birthright citizenship is the term used for Jus soli as it is applied under US law.
November 29th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
This is cool.
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
esta problema no es bien… yo soy consado de todos este paleantaba… :(
April 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
stop illgal immigrant cuz my dad waz killed by a immi.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
#1- immigrants have lower crime rates than natives- even illegal immigrants.
#2 2005 labor in the U.S. statistics- 20% of cooks in the U.S. are ILLEGAL as well as 25% construction workers, 22% maids and housekeepers, 25% ground maintenance workers, 29% agricultural workers, 11% janitors, 22% constuction and maintenance. …these statistics does not include the legal immigrants.
#3 – 40% of he people who hold P.H.D’s in the united states are foreign born.
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- sadly but true immigrants do the dirty work in our country, we benefit from them as well because with out them working in agriculture for the small amount they recieve the cost of an apple would be tripple the amount, NOT TO MENTION 2008 IS THE YEAR ALL BABY BOOMERS FROM THE 1920′S RETIRE, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHO RECIEVE FAKE SOCIAL SERCURITY CARDS PAY TAXES, BUT BECAUSE ITS FAKE THEY DO NOT RECIEVE ANY MONEY BACK AT THE END OF THE YEAR, THUS THEY PUT MONEY IN WHICH LARGE SUMS OF IT WILL BE CONTRIBUTED TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY OF ALL OUR RETIREES THIS YEAR BUT THEY DONT RECIEVE ANY BACK.
SOURCE=
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/immig/immigworkforce.htm– national confernce of state legislation.
===as a last note immigrants are people migrating to our country for personal reasons, they come here to work. they work so that they can send money back to their families to levitate them from poverty or to raise themselves up. they work and with the money they earn they buy AMERICAN PRODUCTS at wal-mart or target and send that stuff back to their families. So what they hell are all you people talking about??,, BY THE WAY—- look closely, most of the bumbs on our streets are white americans.
July 6th, 2008 at 8:50 am
The bums are the street are not only white americans, they are fat, well fed and mentally ill. (depression, psychotic, addicts or alcoholic are mental illnesses.) I wonder why so many are white Americans. Does this mean that minorities are less inclined to be mentally ill and more inclined to be concientious hard workers busily scrambling for work and opportunity to care for their families? And what about the “American family?” Where are these people when their members are on the street? What kind of family or culture would allow their members to live outside?
How about this? Look at ANY OTHER country in the world and observe the condition of homeless people and you will see hungry miserable filthy, skinny, sick, and desperate souls. Talk to ANYONE from ANY OTHER country about the prevalence of fat mentally ill homeless people in the U.S. and you might learn something about our “great family values.” Perhaps one might even begin to wonder about the “great American values” that yield the highest rates of mental illness, drug abuse and incarceration in the world. “Oh no! That would make you a traitor to the “”American Dream” or should I say “illusion?” “
August 14th, 2008 at 12:06 am
I want to know why immigrants from Europe, Russia, and other overseas people with violent convinctions are allowed to come to the US? I am very tired of hearing about people from Mexico and Cuba who are here to better their lives; very willing to work hard, not asking for hand outs seem to be the only “immigrants” that get talked about. Meanwhile I have heard of people we would consider “convicts” coming from overseas! Russian mafia people, IRA bombers, convicted felons that are here commiting crimes just like they did where they came from. To me these are the “illegal immigrants” we need to oust out of here! People coming here to “earn” a better life by working hard don’t scare me. They do not take advantage, break laws, or look for ways to “ruin” the American way of life. I hate that, just like many other topics, issues are voted on by people who are not affected by that issue, it doesn’t touch their life and they have not seen both sides. When here in California you see Mexicans who work very hard, are very respectful, and do not commit crimes. Most pay taxes for benefits they will never see; they would gladly posses drivers license, work permits, social security cards or any other mandated forms. Along bordertowns you see visble prejudices against Mexican people by whites. Just like the Academy Awards, you should not be allowed to vote on an issue until you can prove you have seen the whole story!
November 17th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Illegal immigrants need to be forced out of the country. They are detremental to society and the economy.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:54 am
if your gunna make such a critical statment such as, they are detremental to our society and the economy please back up that statment with facts and as for the guy who said that we should go and see how other people in other countries live, how miserable and filthy they are, well thats because they come from a society where theyre government is so throughly corrupt that there is no way for them to progress financially. They dont have the priviledge of having a free education, there is no minimum wage protecting them, jobs are incredibly hard to find, there is no welfare and food stamps or government housing. the reason why i always point out the white americans as being the majority of the bums and homeless on the streets is because they had every opportunity to become somebody in life. They were offered a free education, they are citizens and they come from a country (U.S.A) where they have every opportunity of becoming something more than a bum. It isnt hard to get a job it just depends weather u are picky or not. Has anyone ever seen a spanish person on the side of the road with a sign that sais “god bless i have no money please spare me some change”.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Illegal!!!!! Illegal is the key word. We have laws. we, as American citizens are expected to follow them. Every single illegal should be picked up and taken back to there own country. If they want to live and work in the U.S., great. Do it according to the law. No exceptions!!!! I am sick to death of paying their way. Our jails are full of illegals that the tax payers have to take care of. They comment crimes against our citizens and then we have to take care of them. What is right about that? They cost us Millions of dollars every year and give very little, if any, back. Our schools are suffering, our ecomony is suffering, hospitals are overwhelmed with illegals that will never pay a cent. They need to go home, by force if necessary.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I agree “sick of it”. The major problem is that we too many immigrant sypathizers. They do everything they can to talk up the illegal immigrants. They push huge lies (many of which you will see above), such as they do the jobs we don’t want, work cheaper, want a better life, send money home to their families.
All have some truth bit most lies do. Most immigrants refuse to work for under $15 dollars an hour. I am thirty years old and have never held a job that paid this much. Many immigrants work in the computer industry. Americans have to get a degree to hold the same job and yes they will want more. So companies hire an undocumented worker with no degree they can pay a few dollars less. Most immigrants come here to evade prosecution in their home country, for crimes such as murder and rape. They continue to rape and murder after they come here. A better life as they can continue to do what they like. In two years of looking I have not found a working illegal immigrant who sends money home, this is a trait of legal immigrants not illegal, except for large time drug dealers who do send money to their families.
THE LAST POINT I WANT TO MAKE is to anyone who thinks for a moment that illegals are not criminals. Do not forget to calulate unsolved crimes the reason most crimes go unsolved is because the perpetrator is a undocumened transient person who can not be located. We often try to shift the blame for these crimes to legal Americanhomeless peoples. These people are documented and can at some point be located. These crimes are most often commited by illegal immigrants who then just change the name they use and get away with the crime.
The best idea I have ever heard regarding illegal immigrants has proven to be a very successful in the past THE BOUNTY. I did the calculations if a bounty of ten thousand dollars was placed on illegal immigrants, the taxpayers would break even the first year the immigrant was deported. If the Immigrant did not return the Taxpayers would save that some amount each year the immigrant was gone. With proper measures in place to protect the immigrants and make sure they were treated in a humane manner this would be a great resouloution to the economical crisis.
Yes I believe that even illegal immigrants have human rights, I believe that all people have human rights. This does not change just because they come and destroy the life of millions of honest Americans.
March 9th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
this helped me alot with a persuasive paper i had to do as a freshmen in high school..
April 1st, 2009 at 6:53 am
i bet the libs who hate the money given to AIG don’t hate this.. AND THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR! i’d be willing to bet that the numbers went up since he wrote this blog.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
[...] but welcome guests courtesy of the taxpayer and detrimental to national security as well as increase in crime statistics; continuing the Three Amigos principles of the Bush-devised North American Union (of which Obama [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 10:33 am
For those of you who think Immigrants are a problem, Look at your grandfathers, and fathers of grandfathers and ask them where they came from.
Do you think Angelo Saxon Caucasians just fell on this mound of land that was deemed america.
Infact if you think about it…… from even a child’s perspective.
Those who aren’t native born, came here by boat.. Immigrating from a n on promising country (sounds a lot like Mexico with America..?)
Let me explain this in Crayon, and for those of you this applies to, read it as you would a remedial child
Immigrants from Europe basically came here, ‘Founded’ the land… like they owned it.
Found out that people were living here… and spend decades naming forests, rivers, mountains and animals… These people are known as Indians compliments to Christopher Can’t read a Compass to find India.
They decided ‘ wow these guys are cramping our style’ and gave them the shaft; Small pox, war and death all that fun stuff. Stuff they don’t teach your babies in elementary school.
After clearing the area, they brought more people. Then segregated the natives, pushing them further and further away until The Immigrants were content with what they had.
Peace… and wars passed with white and reds
so did love and bonding..
in fact if you think about it; and this isn’t hard to do. Spaniard Immigrants + Native Americans = Mexicans
after this… Revolutions came.. more war and disarray.
skip forward a few hundred years from the Colonial era, and you’ve got people who are the PRODUCT OF IMMIGRANTS now making rules to keep Immigrants from coming over.
Perhaps it’s a deep seeded guilt instilled in every American’s conscience; that has to do with ” Hell our ancestors came over here and conquered a whole race of people… we don’t want that to happen to us. ”
This is why we’re so hated…and by we I mean American’s. You asses are messing it up pretty mad. Knock that crap off so we can move forward..
All this talk about the universal language to be English ? then how about taking the time to teach it.
It’s so often Americans say this : ‘ It’s America we speak English here..anyone who doesn’t should learn it’ Because they’re lazy minded.. and it’s a solid excuse to push within political correctness.
So make everyone else who doesn’t speak it, cater to your incapacity to learn.. .. This is how we’re being viewed. The lazy fat stupid nation with the lowest graduating rate in the top elite of nations.
-Illegal immigrants need to be forced out of the country. They are detremental to society and the economy.
No, Mr. Pilgrim.
- Illegal is the key word. We have laws. we, as American citizens are expected to follow them.
Yes, you; the spoiled american citizen who was grandfathered in by you IMMIGRANT FAMILY
Do you even utilize or care for most of the American rights you have?
if you think it’s all about having the right to cable tv, and a comfy sofa, you need to get a clue about something.
-Our jails are full of illegals
I’m a corrections officer, and no they are not. Illegal immigrants are deported for felony charges. Anything below that they are fined and kicked lose. If they can’t afford to pay the fine, they are then put in jail FOR HOLDING until further action can be placed upon relocation; this process is also known as holding for deportation.
- Most immigrants refuse to work for under $15 dollars an hour.
200$ a week here..is what some one in Mexico gets payed in a month there.
-THE LAST POINT I WANT TO MAKE is to anyone who thinks for a moment that illegals are not criminals.
Why would you even make this point? Look at this sentence for a moment please.
Illegals…… Criminals….
-Yes I believe that even illegal immigrants have human rights,
….THEY ARE HUMAN. Believing has nothing to do with it, are you daft? They’re not a different species. Wikipedia human rights.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:27 am
I am sick of American citizens explain why we oppose illegal immigration? It’s a duty. Any nation has the right to defend it’s sovereignty. People can fabricate whatever positive stats they want. It’s still unbelievable. There are so many statistics available, that even a blue collar guy like me can debunk your arguments. They are here illegally, and they don’t add a damn thing to this country. You can look at the condition of this country, and see the great contributions of the illegals. You didn’t mention the explosion of Hispanic gangs since the 80′s. It really irks me when these Hispanic extremist sing the praises of the illegals and invariably end by slammin’ whitey. The cost of bi-lingual services, medical care, and lost tax revenue. Not to mention jobs taken tha should. to Americans first. You can downplay the numbers all you want, but visit any emergency room or clinic in America, and you’ll see the true numbers. I have vowed to break with forty years as a Democrat over this crap. It’s going to get setted, one way or another. You think it won’t? Census in 2000 showed 247 million caucasians in America. It’s a quiet, peaceful race, but don’t sell short the vote. In 2012 every citizen of any color should be looking to remove Obama, and restore love of counrtry
July 31st, 2010 at 1:27 am
MAIMA LEVY stated that ” #1- immigrants have lower crime rates than natives- even illegal immigrants.”
Wrong Maima, everyone of them is a criminal (illegal aliens). It is illegal to be here without going through proper channels!!! If you are willing to break one crime, why not more?
August 19th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
the only reason ignorant people like yourself think immigrants are bad is because of the media. they only show the bad things that SOME immigrants do rather than the good.