DAN FLYNN: The Economy of Illegal Immigration

Enablers of mass immigration to the U.S. rationalize it on humanitarian grounds, but a deeper dive into the economics behind it all reveals more sinister financial motives. A look at the economics of mass immigration reveals a dark picture of greed and corruption.

The money trail of mass immigration begins with illegal immigrants in the U.S. sending money back to their home countries. Because it is not feasible for them to send cash, they commonly use wire transfers. Thus, it is possible to measure the amounts they send since wire transfers for international transactions are routed through the U.S. Federal Reserve system to the central banks of each destination country. The bank records in turn reveal an interesting story about staggering sums of money immigrants move out of the U.S. to their foreign home countries.

A prime example of the outbound money flow involves Mexico, our neighbor to the south. Mexico is not the only source of immigrants to America, but the volume of money Mexican immigrants send home demonstrates the economics of mass immigration. As reported by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Central Bank of Mexico, in 2023 alone, immigrants sent a record 63 billion dollars to Mexico, predominantly by wire transfers.

Mexico is only one supplier of immigrants on a list of countries including Guatemala, El Salvadore and Haiti just to name a few. Other south and central American countries also receive billions of American dollars from illegal immigrants in the U.S. every year. The simple multiplication presents an outrageous financial scenario for the U.S. economy.

For a better understanding of immigration economics, consider where illegal immigrants in the U.S. acquire the money they send back to their home countries. Most of it is from two primary sources in the U.S; taxpayer funded social entitlement programs and untaxed money from off-the-books employment, or salary-only employment with family living expenses paid by U.S. taxpayers.

When money from the U.S. reaches the foreign country, it is frequently used to bribe corrupt foreign officials and fund the trafficking of more illegal immigrants into the U.S., keeping the vicious cycle going. In fact, human traffickers and corrupt foreign officials ultimately make fortunes from funds originating from undocumented U.S. immigrant employees and U.S. government social entitlement programs like EBT (food stamps) as well as housing, transportation, education and medical care, etc. All at the expense of U.S. taxpayers.

Immigrants who walk, run, or are flown into the U.S., at U.S government expense, are not the only ones who feed the immigration money flow. The other major source, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report, involves those who overstay visas, which is also a crime. Between 1-2% of nonimmigrant admissions result in an overstay each year, representing about 650,000 to 850,000 overstays annually for the fiscal years between 2016 and 2020. In fiscal year 2022, about 3.7% of all the aliens who entered the United States, called non-immigrants, enter with temporary visas, student visas, or business visas — the problem is they don't leave and/or fail to report in as required by law, when their visas expire. They too send billions home, and the U.S. government does almost nothing to enforce visa overstay violations.

So where do those who overstay their visas get their U.S. money? Those here on student visas are a big part of that answer. You guessed it, many of them receive grants, loans, tuition reimbursement and living expenses (often without attending classes) funded by U.S. tax dollars. There is also evidence to suggest they too send money home. Meanwhile many are found among the ranks of violent activists who demonstrate against the U.S., our allies and friends on college campuses and in cities.

Notwithstanding the exorbitant costs of immigration to the U.S. for public health services, law enforcement, and drug rehabilitation, immigrant often displace low-income U.S. citizens and veterans who legitimately deserve to receive vital public services. The economy of immigration is disastrous for the U.S. economy and citizens, it defies logic and common sense.

To interrupt the economy of illegal immigration, we need to close our borders and vigorously investigate, prosecute and deport both human traffickers and drug traffickers. We also need to locate the criminals, terrorists, gang members and spies who have infiltrated the U.S., to prosecute and ultimately deport them with no hope of returning. As to those who overstay visas, we simply need to enforce the laws they repeatedly break, deport them and let them appeal from their home countries, and not fund their appeals in the U.S.

The hordes of non-citizens who place most of the drain on the U.S. economy should incrementally be denied public services and funding. When their money and services dry up, those who want to voluntarily leave should be given free transportation home. Only then could we develop immigration policies that favor immigrants who can contribute to the U.S. economy through guest-worker programs instead of draining taxpayer money to fund the vicious cycle of illegal immigration.