Three-quarters of the respondents answered that they oppose illegal immigration. Of those executives, nearly half believed that immigrants should be immediately deported back to their country of origin. About one quarter supported some form of partial amnesty, while only five percent supported full and total amnesty. In the end, most executives believe illegal aliens should not receive special treatment for breaking the law and that they should go through proper channels and apply for citizenship legally. The minority of respondents believed in some type of guest worker program for qualified applicants.
So what accounts for the massive disconnect between the media perception of business executives and their actual, documented opinions? One reason might be the simple fact that business leaders pay attention to the economy and that they are aware of the increasing costs of illegal immigration. As we speak there are between 12 and 24 million illegal immigrants in the country today. Many of these immigrants do not pay taxes and it is estimated that this costs the government $35 billion a year in income taxes. And who do you think has to cover the cost of that discrepancy?
The truth is that business leaders are often subject to the highest tax rates in the land and they know their rates will only increase as the number of tax cheats increase. At the same time they know that illegal immigrants receive in excess of $30 billion a year in government benefits. You don't need a degree in accounting to conclude that people who do not pay taxes while they receive government benefits are costing the country a fortune. In the end, it is the average tax payer who has to cover the cost of benefits that illegal immigrants cannot or will not pay for.
It is also an undeniable fact that illegal immigration is putting a strain on the public school system. Recent reports tell us that over 96 percent of the increase in enrollment in schools is due to immigration, legal or otherwise. The parents of these new students often do not pay any taxes, which means that they are contributing nothing to the education budget. It also means that these costs are passed along to everyone else in the form of higher property and income taxes.
Illegal immigration is also doing a number on hospitals throughout the US. According to their own reports, hospitals paid over $35 billion dollars in uncompensated healthcare last year. The majority of these unpaid bills can be traced back to illegal immigrants. The hard truth is that illegal immigrants don't have healthcare so they use the hospitals as if they were a doctor's office, and hospitals simply cannot deal with the deluge. In fact, many hospitals in high immigrant states like California and Texas have been forced to close their doors because they can no longer afford to cover the unpaid bills.
In the final analysis, the country simply cannot afford the massive influx of tens of millions of foreigners, most of whom do not pay taxes, do not have health insurance and do not speak the language. Business leaders seem to know this and they are finally making their opinion known.