The number of illegal immigrants in North Carolina has risen in recent years, bringing added costs,
according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
North Carolina has a higher rate of illegal immigrants at 4.3 percent of the state’s population than the national average of 3.9 percent, according to FAIR. The cost of illegal immigration has increased for the state with some 410,000 illegal immigrants in 2014, about 25,000 more than in 2007.
The cost to North Carolina taxpayers is about $2 billion a year, FAIR reported. Although illegal immigrants pay about $288 million a year in taxes, the tax revenue does not account for the overall costs. The organization, which aims for immigration reform, estimates that each household of native-born or naturalized U.S. citizens pays about $578 of the cost for illegal immigration.
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FAIR reported that half of expenditures go to costs for K-12 education because of children born to illegal immigrants or those in the country illegally. Expenditures jump to two-thirds of educational costs when including supplemental English language instruction to certain students.
The $1.3 billion cost for total educational needs includes $299 million each year for English instruction for some 90,000 children of illegal immigrants,
according to Mike Scruggs in an article for The Tribune Papers, citing the FAIR report. The state takes care of 71 percent of the costs while county and local governments handle 29 percent.
Scruggs reported that tax fraud or avoidance further puts a burden on residents, many of whom are displaced in the workforce because of cheap foreign labor. It may have played a part in North Carolina’s 6.9 percent unemployment rate by the end of 2013, ranking it 17th out of the 50 states, he said.
Health care costs for illegal immigrants are $232 million a year. Public assistance costs $79 million a year and there is about $212 million spent for general government services used by illegals.
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Scruggs also reported that crime by illegal immigrants costs North Carolina residents about $216 million in annual expenditures going to justice and law enforcement on illegal immigration.
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