{"id":15452,"date":"2017-09-26T15:14:39","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T19:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=15452"},"modified":"2018-12-28T12:36:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T17:36:08","slug":"follow-money-americas-refugee-windfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2017\/09\/26\/follow-money-americas-refugee-windfall\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow the Money in America\u2019s Refugee \u2018Windfall\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Struggling to win the hearts and minds of Americans, refugee<\/a> transplanters are now going for the wallet.<\/p>\n A leaked Department of Health and Human Services draft<\/a> report suggests that refugees in the U.S. yield $63 billion in \u201crevenues\u201d over 10 years, exceeding the cost of related government services.<\/p>\n With a windfall like that, the Trump administration should roll out the welcome mat. The world\u2019s huddled masses will knock down the federal deficit in no time.<\/p>\n But, seriously, no one \u2013 including the HHS bean counters — believes the numbers. As the Washington Post gently put it: \u201cThe HHS report is open about the shortcomings in the data and uncertainties in the estimates<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n While crediting taxes paid by refugees, HHS fails to detail the cost of public goods, such as police protection, paid with those taxes. It does not fully account for the full range of refugee-related expenses incurred by local and state agencies.<\/p>\n Fact is, no one knows exactly what those expenses are. HHS says the average per-capita annual cost of resettling a refugee is $7,134. The Center for Immigration Studies<\/a> pegs it at $12,874. Both figures are lowball estimates.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s agreement on anything, it\u2019s the United Nations\u2019 position that transplanting global refugees in the U.S. is multiple times more expensive than settling them closer to their homelands.<\/p>\n The cost of settling refugees in foreign nations and alien societies thousands of miles from home is exacerbated by the fact that refugees typically hail from underdeveloped countries wracked by violence and, as a result, are frequently poorly educated and poorly skilled.<\/p>\n Such socio-cultural disadvantages make it harder \u2013 and more costly \u2013 for refugees to find their footing in skills-oriented, technology-based economies. \u201cResearch also suggests that poorly educated immigrants have, on average, a negative fiscal impact on receiving countries,\u201d the Heritage Foundation<\/a> concluded this year.<\/p>\n At best, refugees compete with underemployed American citizens for low-pay, low-skill jobs, and drive down wages. At worst, they are costly, disruptive and divisive elements in their new hometowns.<\/p>\n