Illegal Immigration Costs to the U.S. Criminal Justice System

Introduction

The illegal immigration debate in the United States has taken center stage in recent years as the President and Congress have decided that it is finally time to deal with the situation. Although many solutions have been proposed, no one has been able to reach a conclusion satisfactory to all parties. In the past year, the President signed an executive order allowing young undocumented individuals of a certain age — who were brought to the United States as children and thus had no illegal intent of their own — to be eligible for an amnesty program that would set them on the road to citizenship. This seemed reasonable to a majority of the American public, since it is difficult to punish a child for what its parents did. However, it does nothing to address the crux of the debate, which centers on cost.

The cost issue becomes significant when one considers that most illegal immigrants do not pay taxes, yet they benefit from programs that are funded by tax dollars. There is also a cost to the court system because the incidence of crime tends to increase in districts with a high number of illegal immigrants. The solution could be either to make these individuals legal residents and ensure they pay their fair share of taxes, or to deport them — yet very little is being discussed between these two extremes. Deportation is popular with many taxpayers because of the increased burden and crowded conditions in schools, healthcare centers, and jails. To examine this issue fully, this paper looks at crime statistics, the total costs associated with illegal immigration, and what is being done about the problem.

Crime and Illegal Immigration

The criminal costs of illegal immigration are most visible in the expense of holding and trying an undocumented immigrant in a court of law, but a complete picture requires examining all the factors involved. Because there are more illegal immigrants in California than in any other state, more law enforcement officers are required to police the actions of this additional population. That means more vehicles must be purchased, county jails with greater capacity must be built, more money is spent on food and clothing for inmates, and there are costs to other citizens from robberies and other crimes — considerations that go far beyond a simple court-cost analysis. This would be true of any large influx of people, legal or otherwise. However, research indicates that illegal immigration to the United States carries an additional cost because it is accompanied by an increase in crime.

In the 1980s, large numbers of emigrants from Cuba sought refuge in Southern Florida. Because this seemed to be a trend that could not be stopped, Fidel Castro supported the effort by releasing hardened criminals from jail and providing them with rickety transportation to Florida. The United States and Florida initially considered these individuals refugees and were more than willing to rescue them from Castro's communist regime. The problem was that many of these individuals had been released from prisons — some for lesser crimes or political offenses — and sent to the United States so that Castro and the Cuban people could be rid of them. When the U.S. discovered this, many of the boats were rerouted, and all passengers were subjected to extensive criminal background checks to ensure they had not been sent as part of Castro's program.

The Cuban refugees were, in most cases, relatively easy to identify and reroute or divert to a temporary holding facility pending investigation. It is far more difficult to do this with immigrants from South and Central America who cross overland. The border with Mexico is very long, and people have a much better chance of evading capture. Those who enter the United States illegally into California are therefore less likely to be screened for prior criminal affiliation — a problem made more acute by the dramatic rise in drug-associated criminal activity currently occurring in Mexico.

California has a greater financial stake in illegal immigration than any other state by a wide margin. The total state cost is estimated at more than $21 billion per year (FAIR, 2012). This means that every non-illegal-immigrant resident of the state pays an additional $1,183 per year as a result of the illegal immigrant population (Longley, 2004). While this may not seem like a large number at first glance, it amounts to roughly $100 per month — money that could be directed toward a family's needs or toward growing the economy. Furthermore, this figure is not even fully accurate, because it accounts for every non-illegal-immigrant resident, including children, who make up roughly one third of the population and cannot be counted as taxpayers. When recalculated using only taxpayers, the cost rises to almost $2,000 per year, or approximately $170 per month. Compounding the concern is that these figures come from a 2003 FAIR study (Longley, 2004), which means the costs have almost certainly increased significantly since then.

While the costs described above account for all expenses tied to increased services, it is important to isolate the crime-related expenditures. The act of an undocumented worker crossing the border into the United States is itself a federal crime, carrying associated costs such as border patrol operations, court proceedings, and the housing and feeding of those who are caught. However, these costs are modest compared to the broader impact on crime. The most common offenses include "working, faking identity, using fake or stolen social security numbers, carrying fraudulent driver's licenses or driving without a license and/or insurance, and evading income taxes" (Blondell, 2008). In terms of employment, the industry most cited for hiring illegal workers is agriculture — specifically, undocumented workers picking fruits and vegetables in California's central valley. Many have argued that this workforce is necessary because these workers accept very low wages and perform jobs that most Americans are unwilling to do. However, a recent study found that:

"The average household spends just $357 a year on fruits and vegetables. For every dollar spent, just 18 cents go to the farmer and one third of that cost goes to the migrant laborer. Even if costs for farm workers increased 40%, the total increase in cost per household would be about $8 a year. A $1.80 head of lettuce would increase in price by, at most, 10 cents" (Blondell, 2008).

This finding demonstrates the weakness of the argument that illegal workers are indispensable to the agricultural supply chain. It is also more plausible, since the onset of the financial crisis, that more Americans would be willing to work in the fields if it meant having a job at all. Moreover, the crime involved is not committed solely by the worker; the farmer or business owner who knowingly hires an undocumented worker is also breaking the law. Many advocacy groups have argued that addressing employer behavior is where reform needs to begin (FAIR, 2012).

Across the United States, the cost of housing criminals is staggering — and illegal immigration makes it considerably worse. "In 2003, there were approximately 46,000 criminal aliens in federal prisons, at a cost of $1.3 billion. That same year, approximately 74,000 illegal aliens resided in state prisons at a cost of $880 million, with approximately 147,000 individuals in local jails" (Blair, 2011). This number increases every year with no end in sight. Many of these individuals are in detention facilities awaiting deportation, but a significant number have committed crimes in the United States and must serve their sentences before deportation is possible. Additionally, there is no certainty that after serving time in a U.S. prison, they will be permitted to return to their country of origin (Blair, 2011). This leaves the U.S. with three options: allow the person to stay, pay the expenses of repatriation, or continue housing them in jail indefinitely. Unfortunately, the latter outcome has occurred for some individuals who have nowhere else to go.

The reason some individuals are simply kept in jail is also tied to the high likelihood of reoffending. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted a study to determine how often illegal immigrants returned to custody — essentially measuring recidivism rates for those who had previously been convicted of a crime (Blair, 2011). The GAO found that the average number of re-incarcerations was eight. The study also found that "approximately fifteen percent of these crimes were 'property-related offenses,' including 'burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and property damage.' Twelve percent of these crimes were 'violent offenses such as murder, robbery, assault, and sex-related crimes'" (Blair, 2011). This was based on a sample of over 55,000 illegal immigrants who had at some point been through the American justice system. The alarming detail is that despite being arrested an average of eight times, these individuals were not once referred to immigration services for return to their home country — though this may partly reflect the expectation that they would return very quickly regardless.

Current nationwide estimates paint an even more sobering picture. FAIR places the federal illegal immigrant prison population at 55,000, with an additional 297,000 in state and local jails (FAIR, 2012). The estimated total cost to taxpayers across federal, state, and local agencies is approximately $16.5 billion per year (FAIR, 2012). The following table, provided by FAIR (2012), shows prison populations in the states with the largest estimated illegal immigrant populations:

Shares of Illegal Alien and Prison Populations

Nevada — Population: 2,700,551 | Estimated Illegal: 200,000 | Share Illegal: 7.4% | Share Prison: 8.5%
Texas — Population: 25,145,561 | Estimated Illegal: 1,810,000 | Share Illegal: 7.2% | Share Prison: 5.5%
California — Population: 37,253,956 | Estimated Illegal: 2,635,000 | Share Illegal: 7.1% | Share Prison: 12.7%
Arizona — Population: 6,392,017 | Estimated Illegal: 390,000 | Share Illegal: 6.1% | Share Prison: 11.7%
New Mexico — Population: 2,059,179 | Estimated Illegal: 100,000 | Share Illegal: 4.9% | Share Prison: 5.4%
New Jersey — Population: 8,791,894 | Estimated Illegal: 410,000 | Share Illegal: 4.7% | Share Prison: 5.5%
Oregon — Population: 3,831,074 | Estimated Illegal: 170,000 | Share Illegal: 4.4% | Share Prison: 8.8%
Florida — Population: 18,801,310 | Estimated Illegal: 820,000 | Share Illegal: 4.4% | Share Prison: 5.1%
North Carolina — Population: 9,535,483 | Estimated Illegal: 410,000 | Share Illegal: 4.3% | Share Prison: 4.8%
Illinois — Population: 12,830,632 | Estimated Illegal: 550,000 | Share Illegal: 4.3% | Share Prison: 5.2%

This table shows that California has both the highest overall illegal immigrant population and the highest percentage of illegal aliens in its prisons relative to that population. With an estimated 334,645 illegal aliens currently in California jails, the cost to taxpayers is enormous. It is little wonder that citizens and policymakers are demanding a solution. But crime is not the only dimension of the problem.

Conclusion

Whatever happens, this is a complex problem to which there are no simple solutions. However, the President and Congress need to continue working on the problem because the present system is very problematic. It should be the goal of elected officials to set aside political gain and do what is best for the country — though that outcome is far from certain. Legal citizens of the United States need to make their voices heard clearly enough that politicians are compelled to reach some form of workable solution. The fiscal and social costs documented here — across criminal justice, education, and healthcare — are too significant to be left unaddressed by ongoing political gridlock.

References

Blair, N. A. (2011). Illegal immigration overstays its welcome: How the criminalization of unlawful presence in America would help relieve inadequacies in federal immigration law. Ave Maria Law Review, 10(1), 203–234.

Blondell, J. (2008). Adverse impacts of massive and illegal immigration in the United States. The Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, 33(3), 328–350.

Chowdhury, M., & Pedace, R. (2007). Ethnic enclaves and labor markets: An analysis of immigrant outcomes in California. Contemporary Economic Policy, 25(2), 238–253.

Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). (2012). California: Immigration impact. Retrieved from http://www.fairus.org/states/california

Longley, R. (2004). Illegal immigration costs California over $10 billion annually. Retrieved from