Heritage critic says illegal aliens already eligible for retirement programs...but it's much worse than that

It just keeps getting better and better...for the illegal, that is. For the taxpaying citizen, who has to pay for it all, not so much...

TheDC: The conservative Heritage Foundation’s $6.3 trillion cost estimate for the amnesty bill is overstated because taxpayers are already on the hook to pay most of the costs used to calculate that total, said Robert Lynch, an immigration expert at the progressive Center for American Progress.

Heritage’s comprehensive prediction that it will cost $6.3 trillion over 50 years to legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants includes the cost of putting all of them on national retirement programs, such as Social Security and Medicaid.

But current law allows American-born, adult children of illegal aliens to seek green cards for their parents and siblings, Lynch told a May 29 panel discussion hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The exclusion of that loophole is “astonishing,” said Lynch, who backs the controversial immigration rewrite that would bring in 30 million immigrants over the next 10 years.

Did you catch that? This progressive just explained how illegals are already eligible for retirement programs, while dismissing the Heritage report's inclusion of such calculations, then supports a plan that would bring in nearly 3x as many immigrants!

Now, here's where the math gets interesting...

Heritage study author Robert Rector fired back, saying half of the current population of roughly 11 million illegal immigrants has U.S.-born children that could enroll them in retirement programs, which cost taxpayers roughly $22,000 per retiree each year. And the amnesty would allow all illegal immigrants to sign up for retirement programs, and also to bring in millions of their relatives who could also sign up for the retirement programs.

“If your interest is saving the American taxpayer trillions of dollars, close that loophole,” Rector said. “We should not grant amnesty and we should also close that loophole.”

Alright. If we buy that the current population of illegals is roughly 11 million (I'll get to that later), then half of that number (5.5M) times the $22,000 it's gonna cost taxpayers to pay per retiree is $121B (billion). And that's just per year. That number will jump to $1.2T (trillion) over a 10 year period, or nearly $2.5 if you factor in all 11 million, which the amnesty would allow all to sign up retirement benefits. That's a pretty significant chunk just in retirement costs of Heritage's overall $6.3T price tag. But remember, Mr. Progressive (Lynch) wants to bring in more...thus costing America much, much more!

If we do the math on that (30 million immigrants over a 10 year period), the initial cost of the first 3 million doesn't look so astonishing (considering how this administration spends). However, if you calculate adding 3 million each year for 10 years, the price tag on retirement benefits gets progressively terrifying:

Year 1: 3M immigrants × $22,000 → $66B × 10yrs = $660B
Year 2: 6M immigrants × $22,000 → $132B × 10yrs = $1.32T
Year 3: 9M immigrants × $22,000 → $198B × 10yrs = $1.98T
Year 4: 12M immigrants × $22,000 → $264B × 10yrs = $2.64T
Year 5: 15M immigrants × $22,000 → $330B × 10yrs = $3.3T
Year 6: 18M immigrants × $22,000 → $396B × 10yrs = $3.96T
Year 7: 21M immigrants × $22,000 → $462B × 10yrs = $4.62T
Year 8: 24M immigrants × $22,000 → $528B × 10yrs = $5.28T
Year 9: 27M immigrants × $22,000 → $594B × 10yrs = $5.94T
Year 10: 30M immigrants × $22,000 → $660B × 10yrs = $6.6T

That's a whopping $36.3T ($36,300,000,000,000) cumulatively spent after just 10 years! That's well over twice our national debt! After Year 3, we've surpassed anything Rector is calculating. I'd say the Heritage estimate of $6.3T over 50 years is extremely conservative.

And of course, there's more...

The 11 million illegal immigrants have an average education equivalent to the 10th grade, said Rector. If amnestied, the May 6 Heritage Foundation report states they would be on track to received $9.3 trillion in benefits over the next 50 years, and pay $3 trillion in taxes — just like similarly unskilled Americans.

“We cannot afford to throw away $6 trillion on individuals whose claim to those resources is that they came here in violation of our laws,” Rector said. “It is an unnecessary burden on U.S. taxpayers.”

So besides the nearly $2.5T tax burden over 10 years (which remember, grows the higher the number of amnestied immigrants), we're looking at an automatic $6T revenue loss over the next 50 years if this amnesty is adopted. 'Eh, what's that over 50 years?' you might say. Well, we know that number isn't static. It will certainly grow as well. Just look at the current skyrocketing of welfare benefits among the citizenry under this administration, many of whom are paying little-to-no taxes. Our future is more people, more welfare, but less across the board taxes? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who's paying for that unsustainable load: middle class working Americans. 'Fair share,' my @$$!

Let's also factor in something I said I'd get to later: buying into that 11 million figure...

Notice how that number has shrunk from just a few years ago? Remember how it started at over 20 million? Then down to 16? Then lower and lower, to the current 11 million figure? What, did illegals begin a process of self-deporting attrition? Although the law-abiding citizenry has encouraged that, while our government works against us, tossing out fallacious figures, the illegal trends say otherwise. This number has consistently been downplayed and reduced by advocates, including our governmental ruling class, in hopes of presenting a more acceptable, dare I say compassionate, case to opponents to just go ahead and give these poor people amnesty (you heartless, racist s.o.b's).

This wrongheaded approach presents an unnecessary and unprecedented burden that too many politicians are ready to foist onto the very citizens who elected them. Don't let'em get away with this without a fight, America.

ADDENDUM: This Grade-A sponge is a dime a dozen...and poor thing needs more!



Navigating us towards the precise redistributive goals that D'Souza warned us of.