I’m an immigrant and I’ve done the math. Here’s how to fix our immigration system

The immigration debate can't just be about money, but that's a big part of it. As an immigrant, I ran the numbers and they can be very good for the US or cost us over $1 trillion.

Illegal immigrants who have already been in the U.S. for a while are older, on average, and are expected to impose a net cost of $196,000 on taxpayers. My research suggests the current border crisis will increase the federal deficit by over $1.1 trillion over the next 70 years — the lifetime of most illegal immigrants arriving today.   Daniel Di Martino is a PhD candidate in Economics at Columbia University and a graduate fellow at the Manhattan Institute. 

My research shows that rather than harm the economy, the average new college-educated immigrant would reduce the budget deficit by over $300,000 over their lifetime. Immigrants who arrive without a college education, however, as well as all those who arrive after age 55, are net fiscal burdens on the federal government.