The high cost of anti-immigrant law
From Think Progress:
Today on CBS’s Early Show, Bay Buchanan — right-wing strategist and sister of Pat Buchanan — argued that the government can, and should, deport all the undocumented workers in the United States.Of course, an alternative would be to give them all five-year prison terms, which are part of Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner's bill to make it a felony to be in this country illegally. How much would that cost?
BUCHANAN: Every guest worker program in the history of this country and any other country around the world has always turned into amnesty. He says it’s impossible to move these people out. It is certainly not impossible. It is very realistic. We should absolutely stand up to the law and let people come through legal channels, but in no way reward them for illegal behavior.
But as Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM) later points out, it is “unrealistic to deport” 11 million people, many of whom are already paying U.S. taxes. A 2005 American Progress study found that it would cost at least $206 billion over five years to deport all undocumented workers. The annual $41.2 billion cost exceeds the entire FY06 budget for the Department of Homeland Security.
posted by xoff @ 12:01 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Any thoughts on Sensenbrenner's amendment that would have changed the bill to make violation of the law a misdemeanor and lessened the sentence for illegal entry?
Democrats killed it.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d109:19:./temp/~bdviVo::|/bss/d109query.html|
I'll bite, epilogue.
The problem with Sensenbrenner's bill is not the misdemeanor/felony distinction; it's civil/criminal.
Right now, being an "illegal alien" is not a criminal act*; it's a civil offense. This may sound like a trivial difference, but it has huge implications on how defendants are tried and punished (think what would happen if speeding were made a misdemeanor offense). The strains on the system would be enormous - and outrageously expensive.
You also have to ask yourself whether the change would be effective, even if the country were to commit the resources. A good number of illegal immigrants leave their families and risk their lives to come to this country. Do you think the prospect of arrest and jail is going to deter them?
* There can be criminal acts involved in crossing the border illegally, such as such as "entering the country without inspection." But these are very hard to prosecute for evidentiary reasons.
Actually, the distinction between felony and misdemeanor is quite relevant as being convicted of a felony would make them ineligible to become US citizens. This is a big compromise by Cong. Sensenbrenner. Now if only the Senate will move to the right...
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