Undocumented Migration Boosts Texas Economy

A report from the Texas Comprollers Office, released this week, concludes that undocumented migrants contribute $17 billion to the Texas economy and that they produce more in state revenues than they use in state services.  The losers appear to be local governments.  “Local governments bore the burden of $1.44 billion in uncompensated health care costs and local law enforcement costs not paid for by the state,” said Carole Keeton Strayhorn, the Comptroller.

More on the report can be found in today’s El Paso Times, here.

The full report is Download TX.comptroller.report.pdf , and can also be found on the Comptroller’s website.

Once again, the numbers show not that immigrants create an overall economic drain — quite the contrary — but that our nonsensical legal regime ensures continuous misallocation of the costs and benefits of migration.  And, although it is not discussed in the report, the numbers on incarceration, etc., certainly suggest that the increasing criminalization of migration is hugely costly and counterproductive.

-jmc