Economy Immigration

Jim DeMint’s Very Serious Immigration Report

Jim DeMint has released the report on the costs of immigration reform that we mentioned briefly last night and it’s a whopper.

Legalizing the current population of illegal immigrants would cost American taxpayers a minimum of $6.3 trillion over the lifetimes of those immigrants, according to a Heritage Foundation study released Monday.

The study, titled “The Fiscal Cost of Unlawful Immigrants and Amnesty to the U.S. Taxpayer,” could pose a setback to the Gang of Eight’s immigration-reform bill, which would almost immediately offer legal status to the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. It is an updated version of a Heritage Foundation study from 2007, the last time Congress tried (and failed) to pass comprehensive immigration-reform legislation. Since then, the estimated cost to taxpayers ($2.6 trillion) has more than doubled.

Because of course it has doubled in only six years.

picard-facepalm2

I’m not sure if doubling your previous dubious estimate will increase or decrease your chances of being taken seriously. This is the beltway we’re talking about after all.

I certainly won’t take it seriously, but it remains to be seen if our various congresscitters will light their hair on fire after seeing the $6.3 trillion figure. A figure that Jim DeMint just pulled straight out of his ass.

DeMint’s previous efforts to kill immigration reform were successful in 2007, and today’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives is far more radical than the 110th congress was.