With a stroke of his pen, President Obama recently changed the future of Americans and of our nation – fundamentally transforming America from the greatest nation on earth to a future as a banana republic.

Robert Rector, Senior Research Fellow with the Heritage Foundation, stated that President Obama’s amnesty for four million illegal immigrants will cost Americans about $2 trillion -- approximately $40 billion per year -- over the next five decades.

If all illegal immigrants are granted amnesty, they would receive “.…$9.4 trillion in government benefits and services and pay $3.1 trillion in taxes…They would generate a lifetime fiscal deficit…of $6.3 trillion…This should be considered a minimum estimate.”

Once the wealthiest nation in the world, America has now become a welfare country. At the end of 2012 the U.S. Census Bureau reported out of a population of 309,467,000 there were 109,631,000 people living in households receiving federal welfare benefits.  Yet there were only 103,087,000 full-time year-round workers in the United States with 16,606,000 of those being government employees.

America is a melting pot of immigrants who have brought rich heritages to our shores, become immersed in American culture, and worked hard to achieve the American dream.

Earlier immigrants assimilated and learned the customs and laws of their new land; learned English and worked hard to build a new and better life for themselves and their families; were fiercely independent and took responsibility for their own lives instead of seeking government handouts; were grateful for the unlimited opportunities available in America; and looked forward with great pride to becoming American citizens.

Unlike these earlier immigrants who came to our shores for religious freedom, freedom from political oppression, or for jobs, we now have poorly educated, low-skill immigrants who have chosen to snub their noses at the U.S. immigration laws and come in illegally to receive billions in U.S. entitlements now available.

Thousands of illegal aliens have held demonstrations to demand more handouts and threatened continued violence and shooting of police until their demands are met.   Their signs have demanded “free” healthcare, houses, and food and jobs without taxes.  Some signs even stated, “You owe us.” 

Many are demanding that their Hispanic culture be preserved and that the U.S. change its national language from English. 

They have denounced American capitalism.  However, they have been open about coming to America for the wide range of freebies paid for by the U.S. taxpayer who have prospered under capitalism.  These capitalism haters are certainly not low skilled when it comes to knowing how to use the government entitlement system for maximum benefit. 

Those freebies, according to the Heritage Foundation’s study in 2013, are costing Americans nearly $55 billion a year for the children and families of illegal immigrants. 

Obama’s amnesty plan will expand the cost and provide Medicare, Medicaid, and tax benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. 

Liberals conceal the truth about the real cost of illegal and low-skill immigrants.

Lies, lies, and more lies:

·       If an individual has a job and works diligently, he will pay more in taxes than he receives in benefits;

·       Unlawful immigrants work more than other groups;

·       The employment rate for non-elderly illegal immigrants nearly equals that of the general population;

·       The comparatively young illegals (average age of 34) will relieve the financial burden of America’s graying population;

·       Giving amnesty to illegals can help to make the Social Security system solvent; and

·       The fiscal deficit of $6.3 trillion -- at a minimum -- created by illegals will be made up by their children.

Just the facts, ma’am:

·       Poorly educated households – both immigrant and U.S. born – receive far more in government entitlements than they pay in taxes.  The typical illegal has only a 10th-grade education.

·       In 2010 the average illegal immigrant household received about $24,721 in government entitlements yet paid only $10,334 in taxes.  More benefits will come with amnesty.

·       Yes illegal immigrants do pay FICA taxes and will not likely pay more after amnesty due to their income.  But…during retirement they will draw more than $3 in Social Security and Medicare for every $1 they have paid in FICA taxes!

·       Illegal and low-skill immigrant households always receive more in benefits than they pay in taxes.

• Illegal immigration appears to depress the wages of low-skill U.S. born and legal immigrants by 10% or $2,300 per year.
• Illegal immigration probably drives many of the most vulnerable U.S. born workers out of labor force altogether, making it more difficult for these to achieve the American dream.

·       Only 13 percent are likely to graduate from college so usually do not become net tax contributors, remaining a fiscal burden on U.S. taxpayers.

·        The estimated cost of benefits from Obamacare for previous illegal immigrant households is $24 billion per year.

·       The average household receives $31,584 in government entitlements and pays $30,426 in taxes

·        Households headed by someone without a high school diploma receive $46,582 and pay $11,469 in taxes.

At the state level, the Federation for American Immigration Reform reported in The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on Texas that Texas spent $12.1 billion for illegal aliens in 2013. 

This breaks down to a cost of $1,197 for each Texas household headed by a native born or naturalized citizen. 

Advocates for amnesty argue that legal permanent residence has been earned because the unlawful immigrants have paid taxes.  

This is an idiotic argument because these advocates have chosen to ignore the fact that illegal immigrants have paid only $1.27 billion in annual taxes, leaving Texas taxpayers on the hook for billions.

The breakdown of the $12.1 billion cost to Texans for illegal aliens is as follows:

• education --  $8.5 billion;
• healthcare -- $1.9 billion including the cost for anchor babies;
• justice and law enforcement -- $1.1 billion;
• public assistance -- $47.8 million; and
• general government services -- $577 million.

The truth about the fiscal cost of illegal immigration -- and the cost of amnesty -- is appalling and sends a clear message to American citizens. 

We cannot even consider granting amnesty including back door amnesty to anyone, no matter how much advocates demand that it’s the only option we have or that it is the moral thing to do.

 Neither will not granting amnesty to the 11.4 million illegal aliens solve our financial crisis.

These illegals have come to our nation and remained to seize our financial resources – American taxpayers be damned.  Illegals are fully aware that they are breaking our U.S. immigration laws. They also know that this behavior is not tolerated by their own countries -- nor would their own countries permit the bullying for rights, citizenship, and entitlements that thousands of illegal immigrants have done in America.

The choice is clear.  We must send 11.4 million illegal immigrants home!  Several states have already been successful with encouraging illegal aliens to leave by denying benefits including job opportunities.

If we want to remain a strong prosperous nation that is a beacon for the rest of the world, we must follow a course of importing skilled workers in those specified fields where we need them and limit drastically the number of low-skill immigrants.

If we continue on our current path, America is going to be irreversibly impoverished in its downward slide into the economy of a banana republic.

Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. is a writer and speaker about education, healthcare, and cultural public policy.