Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Cato Shreds MAGA Mythology That Immigrants Drain Resources

Immigrants Use Less Welfare at Every Income Level. An astute reader of our recent Cato policy brief on immigrant welfare use suggested stratifying it by income since many welfare programs are intended to help the poor. We do that below and find that immigrants consistently report lower welfare participation than natives for nearly every program across poverty status and the income distribution

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My commentary: I appreciate die-hard racists will say "It doesn't matter if they use less welfare, they shouldn't be here in the first place." Thinking this argument must be economically sound, as zero immigrants can only mean zero cost associated with immigrants, and nothing's cheaper than that.

Cato addresses that as well. In "Immigrants' Recent Effects on Government Budgets: 1994"2023"

For each year from 1994 to 2023, the US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government.

Over that period, immigrants created a cumulative fiscal surplus of $14.5 trillion in real 2024 US dollars, including $3.9 trillion in savings on interest on the debt.

Without immigrants, US government public debt at all levels would be at least 205 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)"nearly twice its 2023 level. https://www.cato.org/white-paper/immigrants-recent-effects-government-budgets-1994-2023

Comments

CATO. Wow.

#1 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-02-10 07:57 PM

geesus frack...

NYC mayor says they are in a 12 billion dollar deficit.

a simple google would prove to even you two losers that the costs of being

a sanctuary city since 2020 has cost the city @ 12 billion dollars.

but sure... just keep wankin your stupid s/t out.

#2 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2026-02-10 08:22 PM

"... immigrants consistently report lower welfare participation than natives for nearly every program across poverty status and the income distribution."

Also much lower crime rates, especially violent crime rate, than US citizens, and for the last 150 years, a Net Plus to the Economy.

No wonder Rwingers want to get rid of them, right?

The Real Reason is, of course, the white nationalist Great Replacement Myth that has been thoroughly debunked, which Trump LIED to them about for years.


en.wikipedia.org

Kudos to the conservative Cato Inst for telling the truth for once.

#3 | Posted by Corky at 2026-02-10 08:27 PM

They use it more. We know they use it more. We just can't see the evidence they do!

-MAGA idiots

#4 | Posted by jpw at 2026-02-10 10:19 PM

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