Enforcing immigration law benefits Americans

The administration is right to argue that enforcing immigration laws gets criminal aliens out of communities. It is exceedingly unwise for jurisdictions to release undocumented immigrants from their jails as a matter of policy, even after Immigration and Customs Enforcement asks them to hold them.

The reasons for enforcing the law go well beyond sending criminal aliens home. When ordinary undocumented immigrants leave, or are deported, the rule of law is restored, less-educated American workers win, as do taxpayers. It also keeps the size of the foreign-born population within reasonable limits, facilitating assimilation, according to the Tribune News Service.

In its detailed 2017 review of the academic literature, the National Academies of Sciences listed more than a dozen studies showing that immigration reduces wages for some American workers, particularly the least educated and poorest. It is difficult to tease out the specific effects of illegal immigration. However, the Center for Migration Studies and Migration Policy Institute estimate that seven out of 10 undocumented immigrants have no education beyond high school. The documented immigrants and US-born workers facing competition from undocumented immigrants tend to be the least educated and poorest.

Undocumented immigration has also allowed politicians, businesses and society to ignore the huge decline in work among less-educated US-born men. In 1960, 7 percent of non-institutionalised US-born men ages 20 to 64 without a college degree were not in the labour force, meaning neither working nor looking for work. By 2000, it was 16%, and, in 2025, it was 21%.

This deterioration is linked to profound social problems, from crime to overdose deaths. Enforcing immigration laws will not only help raise wages and draw some of these men back into the labour force, but it will also help create the incentive to undertake the difficult reforms necessary to address this problem. After all, why should our leaders care about these men if undocumented immigrant workers are available?

Despite what some may assert, keeping wages down at the bottom of the labour force has only a trivial effect on consumer prices. The poorest third of workers account for just 12% of economic output. Using undocumented immigration to hold down wages is neither fair nor wise.

In addition to the effect on less-educated workers, undocumented immigrants also impose high costs on taxpayers. A recent analysis of government data by my colleague Karen Zeigler and I estimated that more than two-thirds of households headed by undocumented immigrants use one or more welfare programmes. Typically, undocumented immigrants receive benefits on behalf of their US-born children who are awarded American citizenship and full welfare eligibility at birth. They can also access some programs directly.

Undocumented immigrants make extensive use of the welfare system, not because they are lazy — most actually work — but rather because their low average educational levels and resulting lower incomes mean many who are employed are still poor enough for their US-born children or themselves to qualify for means-test programmes.

It also means their tax contributions tend to be modest, even when paid on the books. The National Academy of Sciences study was clear that educational attainment is the single best predictor of an immigrant’s income, use of public services and tax payments. Given the education level of most undocumented immigrants, they are a large net fiscal drain, even though some do pay taxes.

There are numerical limits and selection criteria for undocumented immigrants, along with resources to enforce this system, for sound reasons that go beyond keeping out violent criminals. These include protecting American workers, avoiding fiscal costs and keeping the overall numbers low enough to facilitate assimilation. Sanctuary jurisdictions undermine all of these goals, to say nothing of the adverse effect on the rule of law.