By the governments own calculation there are 12 million illegal aliens in the United States. That is a lot of people even if they are here illegal. How does 12 million people impact our economy? Well lets do some simple math. If each illegal alien spends one dollar per day that’s 12 million dollars going into our economy daily. It takes about five dollars a day to eat, so each alien spending five dollars per day just on food equals 60 million per day going into our economy or 21 billion 900 million per year. That’s money that is being spent at grocery stores and fast food places. All this without going into other living expense such as rent, utilities, clothing, etc.

Logic says that if they spend it, they must be earning it. If they earn it then someone must be paying taxes on it. The social security tax amounts to 15.3%, half paid by the employee and half paid by the employer. Of the 21 billion 900 million paid in wages 3 billion 350 million 700 thousand is paid into social security. Of that sum half comes out of the gross wages paid to the alien. Individual income tax varies according to size of family, however most illegal aliens do not file for a refund.

Furthermore, remember that there are a lot of other taxes that are paid in the normal course of living in the United State. Almost all purchases carry a sales tax cost. Gasoline has an excise tax. Two taxes are included in buying a set of tires for a car, an excise tax and a sales tax.

If by some magic course of events we could deport all 12 million aliens at once, what would happen to the economy? Some growers in California are now paying pickers 10 and 12 dollars an hour to pick vegetables. With less workers and higher wages the cost of produce could reach a point were it would become unaffordable. How many of us are willing to pay $5.00 for an apple. How about $3.00 for a cucumber. Cucumbers are now $1.25 each at Wal Mart. Other industries will also suffer. How many of us are willing to kill and pluck a chicken for minimum wage?

Yes, we should not be having an illegal alien problem. Our borders should be secure. But it goes without say that we are a prosperous nation. We are the envy of many a nation. Our economy, our standard of living is dependent on many variables, including the sweat of illegal aliens. Any solution should be well thought out. The consequences could be more than we bargain for. Let us remember the old adage “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it”.