Mind-boggling government waste

Last month the National Immigration Forum published a devastating report on the federal government's record-breaking and profoundly wasteful spending on immigration enforcement. The ongoing failure of Congress on immigration is costing taxpayers an incredible amount of money. Here is a summary of the forum's findings:

* The government spends $23,000 to deport each undocumented immigrant. Last year they deported 197,000 immigrants with no criminal record. That means hitting taxpayers for more then $4.5 billion a year (while the government deports people who otherwise would be taxpayers.)

* The average yearly budget INCREASE for the Border Patrol is $300 million, despite the fact that since 2005 the number of undocumented border crossers has been going down.

* The government spends $7,500 for every apprehension at the border. That is a 500% increase since 2005.

* Keeping 1,200 National Guard troops on the border costs taxpayers $300 million per year. When they were deployed, the border crime rate was already down and many border communities were among the safest in the country. (They still are.)

* The wasteful, flawed 287(G) program (which partners state and local police to Immigration and Customs Enforcement) costs taxpayers $68 million each year.

* More and more immigrants are being held in private prisons. These companies try to influence immigration policies in order to maximize the number of prisoners sent to them by the government. (One company contracted by the federal government is the Corrections Corporation of America. It was involved in drafting Arizona's infamous SB 1070, which would greatly increase their number of prisoners. They also gave money to Arizona lawmakers who backed the legislation.)

Overall, billions of dollars appropriated by Congress are wasted each year on deeply flawed immigration enforcement. In the meantime, funds for ports of entry (where an estimated 90% of illegal drugs enter the US) have increased only 17% from 1993 to 2010, while the Border Patrol budget increased almost 1,000%.

To read the whole mind-boggling report, paste this URL into your browser:

http://immigrationforum.org/images/uploads/
2011/ImmigrationEnforcementOverview.pdf