The Associated Press went through some of the claims that were made
by the President last night, and I want to give them credit for their
homework on this. It is important for the Record that some of the
things the President said be explained. The President said:
According to the National Academy of Sciences, our current
immigration system
costs American taxpayers many billions of dollars a year. The Associated Press writes:
That's not exactly what the report says. It says immigrants
``contribute to government finances by paying taxes and add
expenditures by consuming public service.''
The report found that while first-generation immigrants are
more expensive to governments than their native-born
counterparts, primarily at the state and local level,
immigrants' children ``are among the strongest economic and
fiscal contributors in the population.'' This second
generation contributed more in taxes on a per capita basis,
for example, than non-immigrants in the period, 1994-2013. The report [that the President unfortunately
mischaracterized] found that the ``long-run fiscal impact''
of immigrants and their children would probably be seen as
more positive ``if their role in sustaining labor force
growth and contributing to innovation and entrepreneurial
activity were taken into account.''
So to argue, as the President did yesterday, that the National
Academy of Sciences, as he said, stated that our current immigration
system costs American taxpayers many billions of dollars is, at best,
incomplete and misleading. The President then went on to say during the course of his speech
last night:
We've saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by
bringing down the price of the F-35 jet fighter. I remember when he said that.
Keywords matched
immigration immigrants