# Do you think it is reasonable for taxpayers to pay $113 BILLION a year for Illegals/Anchor Babies? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526 "2011-07-19T00:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cyclone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/db5fbb/32.png) [@Cyclone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyclone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/1 "2011-07-19T00:43:25Z")
[http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=23198&security=1601&news\_iv\_ctrl=1741](http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=23198&security=1601&news_iv_ctrl=1741) Ran into this article and researched the source. The estimate of **$113 BILLION a year** being spent for the education, health care and welfare of illegal aliens and their anchor babies seems like a lot for taxpayers in a bad economy. Evidently, there are about 12,000,000 illegals in the United States holding down about 7,200,000 jobs. This while U. S. employment is at 9.2%. I will grant you that life in third world countries is really tough, and I sympathize with their lot. As a liberal I question my responsibility here. Not that I do not sympathize, but shouldn’t America’s first concern be to our own citizens? I did some research $113 BILLION is about the cost of 38 weeks of the War in Afghanistan. I am looking for opinions on where America’s moral rudder should be on the issue of illegal aliens and their anchor babies. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/2 "2011-07-19T00:49:46Z")
Gaaa!! I accidentally hit yes instead of no ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/3 "2011-07-19T00:54:17Z")
Yes. We should continue to pay this and more. Triple the amount. The mere thought of such a thing drives right-wing fucktards into such a frenzy that tripling the amount will make their heads asplode. Then people will have jobs cleaning up the splatter. Win-win. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/4 "2011-07-19T00:59:49Z")
You do realize, **silenus** , that the asploded head cleanup contractors will likely hire quite a number of undocumented workers, or perhaps their natural born US citizen children, to do the work, in order to make the low bid. So it’s not just win-win, it’s win-win-win! ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/5 "2011-07-19T01:01:09Z")
The Democratic Party has a long and proud history of vote-buying, so I’m sure they will be pleased to foot this bill as well. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/6 "2011-07-19T01:03:33Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > Gaaa!! I accidentally hit yes instead of no ☹ :smack:Me too. Must be a bear thing. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/7 "2011-07-19T01:26:39Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > Evidently, there are about 12,000,000 illegals in the United States holding down about 7,200,000 jobs. This while U. S. employment is at 9.2%. While not getting into the anchor babies issue, apparently not many US citizens are [willing to](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57551.html) [do those jobs](http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/may/31/farmers-tie-labor-woes/?local). So lets say we ship all them damn brown people off to wherever the hell they came from and let crops die on the vine and this saves us money and creates jobs…how? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/8 "2011-07-19T01:30:11Z")
Two questions: 1. How do you propose we keep illegal immigrants from costing us anything? 2. You know that “anchor babies” are U.S. citizens, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/9 "2011-07-19T01:31:42Z")
“Anchor babies” are US citizens, and thus entitled to the same rights and benefits as other US citizens. If you’ve got a problem with that then you’ve got a problem with the Constitution (14th Amendment). ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/10 "2011-07-19T01:34:06Z")
Open the border completely. Human rights are human rights, and it’s immoral to discriminate based on where someone was born. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/11 "2011-07-19T01:34:09Z")
> [@Cyclone](#): > > I did some research $113 BILLION is about the cost of 38 weeks of the War in Afghanistan. I am looking for opinions on where America’s moral rudder should be on the issue of illegal aliens and their anchor babies. Honestly, even skipping over the fact that your cite ignores the money which illegal aliens \*contribute _to the US economy in taxes and spending_, I would rather pay $113 billion annually for their continued health and education than for another 38 months in Afghanistan. And that’s not even counting the complete waste of money that we bled into the sands of Iraq. - You do realize that illegal aliens are taxpayers, too, right? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/12 "2011-07-19T01:43:38Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > You do realize that illegal aliens are taxpayers, too, right? Some are. Some aren’t. I don’t know the proportions. ---
**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/13 "2011-07-19T01:49:32Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Two questions: > > 1. How do you propose we keep illegal immigrants from costing us anything? > > 2. You know that “anchor babies” are U.S. citizens, right? [A Modest Proposal](http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html) > [@](#): > > I shall now therefore humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection. > > I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/14 "2011-07-19T01:51:46Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > …apparently not many US citizens are [willing to](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57551.html) [do those jobs](http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/may/31/farmers-tie-labor-woes/?local). So lets say we ship all them damn brown people off to wherever the hell they came from and let crops die on the vine… To the extent that this is true (and I know of and have been a counter-example), it’s because the jobs aren’t paying commensurate wages for free workers. In the specific case you point to, Georgia farmers don’t want to pay decent wages (for hard, hot work) because that would make them uncompetitive with other states still using widespread illegal labor. If illegal labor were effectively checked across the country, agricultural work would have to pay more. Effectively checking illegal labor would mean seriously prosecuting white American _employers_ who hired noncitizens illegally. Strangely the Georgia farmers aren’t pushing for _that_. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/15 "2011-07-19T01:59:14Z")
Why, yes, citizens can sponsor their parents’ residence in the USA. When those citizens are adults & able to support the old folks. As babies, not so much. [Great source](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federation_for_American_Immigration_Reform): > [@](#): > > In 2007, the Southern Poverty Law Center branded FAIR a hate group, stating that: > > > [@](#): > > > > “The founder, chief ideologue and long-time funder of FAIR [John Tanton] is a racist. Key staff members have ties to white supremacist groups, some are members, and some have spoken at hate group functions. FAIR has accepted more than $1 million from a racist foundation devoted to studies of race and IQ, and to eugenics - the pseudo-science of breeding a better human race that was utterly discredited by the Nazi euthanasia program. It spreads racist conspiracy theories.” Try again. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/16 "2011-07-19T02:08:34Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Some are. Some aren’t. I don’t know the proportions. Even the ones who aren’t paying federal taxes still pay sales taxes and such. Here’s a [USA today article](http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/taxes/2008-04-10-immigrantstaxes_N.htm) claiming that illegal workers paid about $90 billion in federal taxes over an eight year period (98-06). That article (from 2008) concludes: > [@](#): > > Ford, of Middle Tennessee State University, said a majority of economists agree that illegal immigrants are a net benefit for the U.S. economy. > > He said the tax contributions from illegal immigrants, including sales taxes, property taxes and excise taxes (such as the gas tax), are significant. > > He calculates that illegal immigrants contributed $428 billion dollars to the nation’s $13.6 trillion gross domestic product in 2006. That number assumes illegal immigrants are 30% less productive than other workers. Here’s a [CBS article](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/14/politics/main549153.shtml) about the IRS program which issues Individual Taxpayer ID numbers, which can be used by people without social security numbers. The is article points out that illegals contribute to SS, even though they can’t receive SS money. Here’s a [NYT article,](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/business/19illegals.html) which describes how most illegal immigrants these days are hired by corporation which issues them W-2 forms, just like any legal citizen. They get regular paychecks and if they get busted, the corporation just that they were fooled by false paperwork and hires some other illegal from the temp agency. Illegals fill an important economic niche in this country. While that’s true, there’s no getting rid of them. Since they’re hear, keeping them healthy and educated, and giving their kids a proper upbringing, is better for a stable, healthy, society. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/17 "2011-07-19T02:12:30Z")
I vote yes. These folks pay into social security without any chance of getting anything back. They do work that Americans cannot and will not do. They buy food, gas, lodging, and pay taxes. I’m not a fan of illegal immigration, but refuse to get emotionally swayed by terms like “anchor babies.” Why are the Tea Partiers and Fox News adherents so easily swayed by emotional arguments instead of logical ones? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/18 "2011-07-19T02:13:03Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > - You do realize that illegal aliens are taxpayers, too, right? > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Some are. Some aren’t. I don’t know the proportions. Pretty much all of them. As of 2005, Social Security alone got [7 billion dollars a year](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ei=5090&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ex=1270353600&partner=kmarx&pagewanted=all&position=) from illegal immigrants - who unlike citizens get nothing for what they pay in. And of course there’s sales taxes and so on. The fact is, despite all our whining we are the ones who are exploiting them. We just persist in trying to blame the victim so we can pretend otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/19 "2011-07-19T02:15:04Z")
> [@Implicit](#): > > [A Modest Proposal](http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html) That only works with the flithy Irish. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526/20 "2011-07-19T02:45:19Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Pretty much all of them. As of 2005, Social Security alone got [7 billion dollars a year](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/05/business/05immigration.html?ei=5090&en=78c87ac4641dc383&ex=1270353600&partner=kmarx&pagewanted=all&position=) from illegal immigrants - who unlike citizens get nothing for what they pay in. Why the hell SHOULD they??? They’re here illegally. They are intentionally breaking the law by being here. If they want SS they can oh, GET legal like millions of honest immigrants have. (Incidentally, you don’t necessarily have to be a citizen to get Social Security. You do have to be here legally, though.) Getting legal may require going back to their country of origin and coming back the right way .. a hardship, yes, but that’s just too damn bad. Yes, it’s hard as hell to come over here legally … yet people still manage to do it, so it’s not impossible. I have a really hard time understanding why anyone who has already shown that they have no respect for the law should be aided in any way by the government whose laws they are ignoring. (And just to clarify, I am talking about people who came here illegally _of their own volition_ - not kids who were dragged into the US illegally by their parents. I’m well aware that situation is different, damned if I know what the answer is, but I do see the distinction.) And I gotta ask … and I’m asking this out of sheer ignorance … do other industralized nations have this problem – as in, people sneaking across their borders illegally and expecting the government to take care of them and/or have the same rights as citizens? If they do, what countries are they, and what are they doing about it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-it-is-reasonable-for-taxpayers-to-pay-113-billion-a-year-for-illegals-anchor-babies/589526.md?page=2)