The net national costs of illegal immigration into the United States

"This article examines the major economic pros and cons of illegal immigration and answers the question: what, if any, are the public and private costs of illegal immigration in the United States? In brief, the article finds that between four and 5.4 million illegal immigrants reside here.... The article also finds that illegal immigrants and their own citizen children cost taxpayers an additional $12 to $16.2 billion annually for education, public services, and incarceration after deducting all local, state, and federal taxes paid in by them. In the private sector, illegal aliens are found to save their employers and owners of capital about $1.5 billion more than U.S. workers lose due to wage depression. The article also considers what legal and enforcement reforms would be necessary to dramatically slow the current flow of 300,000 illegals yearly and concludes that, although improvements in the system are now being proposed, the actual reforms will be insufficient to more than stem the currently rising tide of illegals due to economic instability in Mexico and the Third World."