Mass immigration costs govt. $296 billion a year: National Academy of Sciences

Immigration drains the government, sapping as much as $296 billion a year from federal, state and local taxpayers while depressing wages, at least in the short run, according to an authoritative study released Wednesday by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

The 500-page academic tome is supposed to be the final word about the fiscal and economic effects of mass immigration, and its findings challenge some long-held assumptions of Washington policymakers that immigration is an unqualified benefit.

The data show that immigrants take more in benefits than they pay in taxes. Although immigrants do boost the size of the economy, the gains are heavily skewed toward the immigrants themselves and to wealthy investors — not to native-born workers who end up competing with the new arrivals.

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