Immigration Reform News 2013: Republicans Divided Over Study That Says Reform Will Cost $6.3 Trillion

Even many Republicans are challenging a controversial study from the conservative Heritage Foundation claiming immigration reform will cost $6.3 trillion.

Many other economists and policy experts say immigration is a net benefit to the economy, as newcomers begin paying income taxes and working in industries that can make use of their skills, rather than just whatever businesses will hire people without papers.

The Heritage study is a rehash of a similar study done in 2007. Both estimated costs to the economy from an influx of new citizens over the next 50 years, far longer than most economic projections extend or are considered reliable.

In addition, the authors themselves admit that immigration will boost the economy in the short term over the next 13 years. The bipartisan immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate provides a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country. But that path takes 13 years before applicants are eligible for citizenship, and in the meantime they are unable to collect government benefits like food stamps or in-state tuition at universities.

That means for more than a decade, immigrants will be paying into the system but getting nothing back, however, they will be allowed to stay in the United States and work here legally.

The study also ignores everything about immigration except the cost in government services likely to be required by immigrants seeking citizenship. It's a bit like saying a new job will cost more in the long run because it costs more in gas to drive there, while ignoring the increase in pay.

"These are individuals who, if they are here unlawfully, have no leverage, no ability to start up their own business, none of the usual bootstraps for getting ahead in the American system. To the extent that you leave that out entirely, you're going to understate the upward mobility," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and a prominent conservative.

Even more traditional Republicans are dismissing the paper. "This study is designed to try to scare conservative Republicans into thinking the cost here is goin1g to be so gigantic that you can't possibly be for it," said former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, a conservative Republican who supports immigration reform.

But opponents counter that they are raising questions other conservatives don't want to hear. "No sensible thinking person could read this study and conclude that over 50 years that it could possibly have a positive economic impact," said Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint.

And Republicans will continue to face similar rhetoric in the House as they try to push through immigration reform against the will of the far-right of the party.