The conservative Heritage Foundation will doubtless not be pleased to find out that no one believes a word of its “study” that forecasted that the granting of citizenship to the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants will end up costing American taxpayers up to $6.3. However, what is perhaps most surprising is that this skepticism is not limited to Democrats, with the likes of Republican Senator Paul Ryan, who is in charge of the Party’s fiscal policy, also one of the doubters.
One of the reasons why few believe the Heritage Foundation’s assessment is that the study assumes that benefits given to new citizens will just disappear, rather than being spent on doctors, firemen, grocery stores, police and business in general. The study also makes the assumption that, without immigration reform, undocumented immigrants will apparently just up and leave the United States the moment that they turn 55, for no apparent reason.
As has been pointed out, the study also blindly refuses to take into account the economic benefits that immigration reform would bring – such as new workers being able to get jobs that pay better, for example – which the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) have found will result in an increase of economic growth of up to as much as 1.3%.
Republicans are divided on the issue because the US’ business lobby, which has traditionally sided with the Party’s desire to reduce government rules, wants more foreign workers, while the cultural conservatives who have also long been in alignment with the Republican Party, most assuredly do not.