As domestic security has tightened and the economy has weakened, Americans have focused on solving the issue of illegal immigration and recovering the costs associated with it. Fortunately, Massachusetts has suffered decreased negative impact from the cost of illegal immigration in recent years due to a falling undocumented population.
An estimated 150,000 illegal immigrants lived in Massachusetts in 2012,
according to data from the Pew Research Center. They made up 2.3 percent of the state's population.
The annual costs to Massachusetts taxpayers were estimated at $1.9 billion,
according to data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform. This deficit was calculated before state revenue from illegal immigrants, totaling $66 million, was counted.
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FAIR reported the following costs associated with illegal immigration in Massachusetts, broken down as such:
- $1.01 billion went to education
- $214 million to healthcare
- $152 million to justice and law enforcement
- $175 million to public assistance
- $312 million to general government services
Nationally, according to the Pew Research Center, the undocumented immigrant population had "leveled off" after dipping some during the Great Recession.
In 2012, "an estimated 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the U.S., down from a peak of 12.2 million in 2007 but unchanged since 2009," Pew noted.
In Massachusetts, that pattern somewhat reflected that reality as
population trends there indicated a steep decline in unauthorized immigrants to 150,000 in 2012 from 180,000 in 2009.
Massachusetts' estimated illegal immigration population also peaked in 2007, accounting for as many as 220,000 unlawful residents.
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