Congress could save Americans up to $1.44 billion just by taking one simple step – by ensuring that immigration reform legislation incorporates more intelligent policies for the detention of undocumented immigrants. Broad immigration could be very good for the bottom line of the United States for a variety of reasons.
Immigrants are crucial to the ingenuity and competitiveness of America, while new citizens are more likely to take risks and help in the creation of jobs. Immigrants even help to strengthen the housing market of the United States. Many experts believe that the current immigration detention policies are not only locking up the financial contributions that can be made by immigrants, but also cost the country as much as $5 million per day.
Those who feel that the US government should make smarter choices with their money are pointing to the fact that immigration reform could save huge amounts of money when it comes to the cost of detentions. Fewer immigrants would end up having to go into detention with a legal immigration policy that is more streamlined and the dollar amounts involved could certainly not be described as small change.
Almost 80% of the current cost of $1.44 billion could be saved right now if the country changed to more effective alternatives to the detention of immigrants who have not committed any serious crimes – yet the House of Representatives apparently plans to continue with the exact opposite approach.