Kerby Anderson
What is the annual cost of immigration to American taxpayers? The US House Committee on Homeland Security has calculated the cost, and we are in for significant “sticker shock.” Their new report reveals that taxpayers are losing nearly a half trillion dollars to the border crisis.
The staggering amount taxpayers lose to funding illegal aliens comes from nearly every sector of society. We pay more for healthcare, education, and housing to individuals and families here in this country illegally. We also must bear the brunt of extra costs for law enforcement.
In case you are wondering, only a small fraction of those costs is ever recouped from taxes paid by illegal aliens. The rest of those costs are what we must pay. In the past, many mayors of sanctuary cities have argued these costs are insignificant when we consider the benefits we enjoy from migrants coming to this country. You might ask the mayors of New York City and Chicago if they still feel that way.
When I discussed this latest report on my radio program, one guest suggested that the government figure was probably low. That seems likely when you add to the millions who have illegally crossed the border another 1.7 million “gotaways” who escaped federal custody. We can assume some of them are involved in drugs and human trafficking. A few might even be terrorists, who deliberately avoided capture.
A second guest also reminded us that millions of illegals harm Americans in another way. They are competing for jobs with US citizens thus keeping wages low and making it harder for some to get jobs.
Every poll I have seen shows that voters consider border security and immigration to be one of their top issues. Wait until they find out how much it costs. This will certainly be an election issue.

Kerby Anderson
Earlier this month, Jim Geraghty wondered if the killing of Paul Kessler would start a national conversation. You probably don’t even understand his question, which is an illustration of the fact that the media usually determines what event should spark a national conversation.
Paul Kessler is the 69-year-old Jewish man who died of a head injury at an event in Thousand Oaks, California. The Los Angeles Times reported the incident that occurred when pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protestors were in the street. The editors could have reported it as the first time a Jewish death occurred at a time of rising antisemitism. Instead, it was just a story of a clash in a suburb outside of Los Angeles.
Jim Geraghty reminds us that “this wasn’t random violence. Paul Kessler went to a demonstration seeking to exercise his God-given, constitutionally protected rights to assemble and speak, and somebody on the other side felt entitled to knock him around and ended up killing him. This should horrify and outrage us.”
In the past, we have seen the media take a local incident and turn it into a national story followed by calls for a national conversation on a controversial social issue. A mass shooting, an anti-gay comment, racist graffiti, and a threat to an abortion clinic are local stories that became national stories because the media decided to use the incident to spark a national conversation. “If newsrooms wanted to make the name Paul Kessler famous, they could. He could be depicted as a martyr to free speech and the First Amendment.”
Once again this is a reminder that we should use discernment when watching the news and reading news stories. The media elite still work to determine what is important enough for a national conversation.