A new report puts a price tag on how much illegal immigrants cost Tennessee taxpayers.
It is close to $300 million every year, according to the study conducted the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a nonprofit research group.
It contradicts a report by the state comptroller’s office released in August that indicated undocumented immigrants boosted the economy and did not take jobs from any Tennessee workers.
Jack Martin’s team of researchers at FAIR investigated the cost of illegal immigration in Tennessee.
“The largest category of expenses to the taxpayers is for the education of the children of illegal immigrants,” Martin said.
The cost is $255 million each year for education from kindergarten through the twelfth grade and ESL programs. Martin estimates an additional $30 million is spent on healthcare and incarceration, bringing the total to $285 million.
How does this report differ from the state comptroller’s report?
“One of the main differences the comptroller’s report was also trying to calculate the value of goods and services provided by the illegal immigrants,” Martin said. “And that doesn’t really make any sense unless you’re working on the assumption that those jobs wouldn’t be done by Americans if the illegal immigrants were not taking those jobs.”