Parsing Immigration Policy, Episode 8

The 287(g) program, created by Congress to enable trained local officers to work in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), serves as a force multiplier by taking illegal aliens who have been arrested for state or local crimes off the street.

Millions of illegal immigrants have Social Security numbers, potentially allowing them to receive cash payments from the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit. We estimate that illegal immigrants may receive between $3.8 and $4.5 billion from the two programs. This is in addition to the $4.4 billion we have previously estimated illegals likely received in stimulus checks this year.

In a series of reports from both sides of the Texas-Mexico border, Todd Bensman explains conditions for the Border Patrol, local law enforcement, and migrants. 

What Normalized Mass Illegal Immigration Looks and Feels Like

Washington Won’t Let Border Patrol Arrest Human Smugglers Offloading Aliens Right in Front of Them

Texas Responds to the Border Crisis

To address the problem of juvenile delinquency in our communities and conserve resources in this system that are needed to handle its traditional caseload, Congress should start by fixing the parts of the immigration law that add to the problem by enticing citizens of other countries to hire smugglers to bring families and minors to cross our border illegally.

Under current law, illegal immigrants are net contributors to Social Security and Medicare because they partially pay in to entitlement programs but cannot legally receive benefits. By granting eligibility for benefits, however, amnesty would transform illegal immigrants from net contributors into net beneficiaries, imposing steep costs on the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.