Government Efficiency? The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement budget has increased from $9.99 billion to $171 billion. The goal is to remove 3,000 immigrants daily.
Let’s consider a hypothetical using one worker making $15 an hour. Their taxes would subsidize Social Security ($1,934.40), Medicare ($452.40) and federal tax at 12% ($1,760). That totals $4,146.80.
Remove 3,000 people per day (1,095,000 per year), and that’s removing $4.4 billion from the Treasury per year. Over 10 years, that would equal $45.4 billion. They will never collect on Social Security or Medicare. Their payment is a donation to us.
The additional cost of all the court litigation against unconstitutional removals is not even included here. So far, according to the Cato Institute, 65% of ICE detainees have no convictions, and 93% have no violent convictions. So most of the removed workers, instead of contributing to our economy, will cost us detention cells, food and medical care. You do the math.
Let’s come up with immigration policy that allows employers with workers who have worked five years with no criminal record, paying taxes, to apply for some version of a fair, legal status. Stop the cruel arrests and punishment of innocent workers, and instead of $42 billion for prisons in every state, build affordable workforce housing.
Liza Tregillus, MSW
Durango
