Cost of Illegal Immigration in Oregon

Oregon taxpayers bear a cost estimated at more than $1 billion annually due to illegal immigration.

Some disagreement exists about the size of the unauthorized immigrant population in the Beaver State. The Pew Hispanic Center published an estimate in November 2014 indicating Oregon’s illegal immigrant population was 120,000 in 2012. The

The Federation for American Immigration Reform previously put forth a higher figure, estimating Oregon in 2010 was the home of 170,000 illegal aliens and 64,000 U.S.-born children of illegal aliens.

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The 2012 FAIR report focusing on Oregon identified more than $1 billion in annual fiscal costs borne by Oregon's taxpayers because of illegal immigration.

That was up from a 2009 FAIR estimate that reported Oregon taxpayers paid $704,904,057 annually to cover such costs, which ranked Oregon with the 20th-highest such total among U.S. states.

The 2012 FAIR report concluded the average Oregon household headed by a U.S. citizen paid about $728 each year to cover the state’s costs of illegal immigration.

Government entities provide four types of benefits relevant to determining fiscal costs of immigration, according to The Heritage Foundation:

• Public education, which is largely free or heavily subsidized for parents with low incomes
• Welfare programs, which provide food, housing, cash, medical, and other services to about 100 million low-income U.S. residents
• Direct benefits such as workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, Medicare, and Social Security
• Population-based services such as parks, highways, and police and fire protection, which must be expanded when a community’s population increases

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The average U.S. household in 2010 received $31,584 in government benefits and services in these four categories, according to the foundation.

To illustrate how costly illegal immigration proved, the foundation claimed that U.S. households headed by a person with a college education on average in 2010 received $24,839 in government benefits and paid $54,089 in taxes — amounting to a fiscal surplus of $29,250.

At the same time, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services and paid $10,334 in taxes, bringing a fiscal deficit of $14,387.

FAIR said major findings from its study of the fiscal burden of illegal aliens on Oregon included revelations that the Beaver State on average incurs about:

• $575 million annually in illegal immigration expenses to cover education costs for students in grades kindergarten through 12
• $159 million for supplemental English instruction
• $140 million for justice and law enforcement costs, including courts, policing, and prison expenditures
• $125 million to cover healthcare and social assistance costs

The FAIR report estimated tax revenue from unauthorized immigrants in Oregon at about $77 million, which was about 7.3 percent of the estimated tax burden. “Illegal aliens pay relatively little in taxes, mainly because of their low earnings,” FAIR said.

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