Immigration Reform 2013: Heritage Says Bill Would Cost Trillions, And They're Right

With the devastating blow the Republicans suffered in the 2012 general election, it is clear that hardcore conservatives are pulling out the stops to revive their movement's prominence, while stonewalling the Obama administration in its aim of getting anything of significance signed into law.

What we now face is the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress attempting to pass immigration reform. The question is, what's the cost of such reform and how will it affect our social structures and economy? Obviously, think tanks and pundits on the right have come out in force to make the case that immigration reform is nothing more than amnesty, which will in turn result in a massive increase in the national debt while threatening basic social services that the American citizenry has come to take for granted since LBJ.

The Heritage Foundation is leading the assault on immigration reform, and while a variety of figures on the right are simply opposed to such reforms due to President Obama being in office, it's worth taking a serious look at the figures that Heritage released on May 6. According to their report, more than 80 means-tested welfare benefits (such as food stamps, public housing, and Medicaid) could cost a grand total of $900 million per annum. Clearly the cost of these programs will increase, along with the fact that the federal government will be expected to pay for Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance for all those who are given amnesty. As Heritage eloquently states, a plan to naturalize illegal immigrants may cost $6.3 trillion, and the wealthy will be expected to pay most of it since an overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants are poor.

With millions more Americans applying for such benefits, taxes will have to be increased, and the federal government will borrow at an unprecedented rate. This will in turn slow down the economy even further, regardless of what the unemployment figures projected by the government are, for it is well known that unemployment statistics do not include those on minimum wage, those who have dropped out of the work force, and those working part-time jobs.

Without a doubt, it is an absurdity to consider such immigration reform at the present time. Even though most Republicans would have been supporting such reform if McCain was elected in 2008 or Romney in 2012, it is evident that for the sake of our economy, we must not permit trillions of taxpayer dollars to go down the drain due for foreign people who don't obey our laws. It‘s not racist — it’s about common sense.