Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Guy On Your Left Is Illegal, The Guy On Your Right Isn't

He's probably kidding, but Madeline's Dad said in a comment here that he believes that illegal immigrants comprise a third of most American classrooms. I probably shouldn't write this before finding out if he's just counter-snarking to something I said, but the figure has been gnawing at me ever since I read it on my iPhone during xmas dinner.

See, here's the thing. The population of the US is a little over 300 million. Assuming the general population of illegals is only a quarter of the population (they are just pumping out the kids like waffles, you know, for anchor terror babies) then that would equal about, oh, 75 million illegals in the country. Sure they're not all Mexican; some are Canadians, sneaking over the border for our superior health care. Some are illegal Muslims. Point is, it's a lot of people! A lot more than even these guys think.

They put the number at 20 million. Of course it's an old estimate, but most evidence is since the recession the illegal population has declined. Less jobs here. Other estimates are as low as 12 million; I'm willing to go up to 16 million, which is a lot but it ain't no third.

I'm wondering how you could possibly believe that we could eliminate a quarter (or a third) of the US population and think it would be good for the economy.

7 comments:

wamk said...

What do you think the effect is on Public services (schools, housing, medical, food stamps, etc), that a large portion of those illegals use, but pay very little for?

What effect does that have on State budgets in a down economy?

piker62 said...

The effect is smaller than you think it is, plus it's offset by the state sales tax generated. These people buy food and clothes and, if my rabid ex-girlfriend is to be believed, luxury cars.

wamk said...

I guess having all those sales tax dollars from all those illegals is what is keeping California from having to borrow money from the Feds every year!

For a second there, I thought your State was having budget troubles!

piker62 said...

Yep, that's it. We'd be flush with cash if it wasn't for the illegal immigrants.

Wamk said...

Back in 2004, illegals only cost you about $10.5 billion. I wonder how much they cost now? If it's "only" the $10.5 billion figure, that works out to about 1/4 of your shortfall.

I suspect the cost to California has gone up somewhat in 6 years.

Wamk said...

Whoops, hit post before I included the link to my data:

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/immigrationnaturalizatio/a/caillegals.htm

piker62 said...

I wonder if you could find a source of data that's a little less... agenda-driven. Have you seen FAIR's website?

http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=dream_act_amnesty

The figures may be accurate, but I suspect they're exaggerated. Last year a guy said this to NPR.

"Legislative Analyst Dan Carson says California now spends about $4.6 billion yearly to provide services for — or to incarcerate — illegal immigrants."

I'm not saying California isn't losing money to illegals, just not nearly as much as you say, and solving the problem would probably cost more than we're losing. If it were even possible.