Immigration Policy Center Releases Fact Check On Reform

Highlights from the fact check include:

• Since Fiscal Year (FY) 2004, the budgets of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - the border-enforcement and interior-enforcement components of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - have increased dramatically.  CBP's budget grew from $6 billion in FY 2004 to $11.4 billion in FY 2010, while ICE's budget increased from $3.7 billion to $5.7 billion over the same period.

• A January 2010 study by Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, conducted for the Immigration Policy Center and the Center for American Progress, estimates that during the first three years after legalization, the higher earning power of newly legalized workers "would generate $4.5 to $5.4 billion in additional net tax revenue."

• A January 2010 study from the University of Southern California estimates that because unauthorized immigrants earn less than they would if they had legal status, the California state government lost out on $310 million in income taxes in 2009, while the federal government missed out on $1.4 billion.

To read these fact checks in their entirety, see: 

• The Fiscal Bottom Line on Immigration Reform: The Costs of Enforcement-Only and the Benefits of Comprehensive Reform (IPC Fact Check, April 13, 2010)

• Assessing the Economic Impact of Immigration at the State and Local Level (IPC Fact Check, April 13, 2010)