10 Startling Statistics About Alabama's Immigration Law: CAP

Alabama stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars from the state's anti-immigration law, a new report finds.

Alabama's economy would shrink by $40 million if just 10,000 undocumented immigrants stopped working in the state due to the law out of a total 120,000 undocumented immigrants that live there, according to the Center for American Progress. The state also stands to lose hundreds of millions in tax revenue as undocumented immigrants paid $130 million in taxes to the state in 2010.

The law, which was signed in June, makes it a crime to be undocumented in Alabama and requires law enforcement to check the papers of residents they think are undocumented and public schools to check the status of their students. Hispanic residents fled Alabama towns in droves after a federal judge held up most provisions of the law last month, according to The New York Times, and farmers, contractors and home builders complained of labor shortages.

After many residents fled, farmers who relied heavily on undocumented workers, were left without hands to tend to their crops. Some hired unemployed U.S. citizens Alabama governor Robert Bentley's urging to do the work, but after two weeks, many farmers found the experiment had failed because the new workers didn't lacked the stamina to stay on the job. Some of the new workers showed up late, worked slower than veteran workers and even quit after one day.

Without seasoned workers to handle their farms, some Alabama farmers say they've already lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the wake of the law. Chad Smith, an Alabama farmer, estimates he's lost $300,000 because of labor shortages caused by the law, according to CAP.

But Alabama farmers aren't the only ones standing to lose from an anti-immigration law. Early state reports in Georgia estimate that the state could lose between $300 and $1 billion for the 2011 growing season due to an immigration law that’s pushing undocumented immigrants to seek work in other states instead of on Georgia's farms.

In Arizona, another state famous for its harsh immigration policies, businesses spend money and time using E-Verify -- a database businesses are required to use in the state to confirm their workers' statuses -- instead of focusing on production, according to Alex Nowrasteh, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Here are the 10 numbers you need to know about Alabama's immigration law, according to the Center for American Progress:

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Comments

[brookwood4]

10:17 AM on 11/30/2011

If undocumented immigrant hispanic had the money like other immigrants maybe they could have also became legal. What loss will Alabama have in sales tax? How many stores, apartments, retail suffer from removing hispanic population? Americans will not work as hard, we taught our children to get educations not work fields or construction. The talk of they work cheap is not true, most hispanic workers are paid $15-22 dollars an hour. No cheap labor. Most pay income tax with a fed ID # paying for Social security with no SS # so they will never be able to receive it. Most of the hispancis came here to better their life, work hard and not cause trouble . Some have been here 20 years and yes tried to get legal papers. Jill Hinson

[dearrunfarm]

05:38 AM on 01/20/2012

Ask any white,English speaking Canadian with money about immigration.
If they stay here more than 180 days they are hunted down as criminals and deported.
We fleece them for all kinds of visitor taxes,out of state tuition if they go to our schools,hotel taxes,rental taxes, and...

[MaryfromIL]

02:56 AM on 11/22/2011

Guess as Alabama goes down the tubes economically, they will want more fed money from the Blue States, like many of the Red states do.

Right now, Illinois gets back only $.75 for every dollars we send the fed gov. That's over $20 billion a year. Alabama gets back a whopping $1.66 for every dollar they send the feds.

Personally, I don't want my money going to support this onerous law and the Alabama politicians' poor decisions, as happens today.

[ogelbiz]

05:08 PM on 11/23/2011

If you dig into those numbers deeper, you will find that a great deal of the money sent to Alabama from the feds goes to prop up the overburdened social services in that state. This is why Alabama is having to try to enforce what the feds cannot or won't. It is milking the state resources dry. That is also a large part of the financial problems in California, Georgia, South Carolina and several other states.
So you think that the immigration laws that the U.S. government has had in effect for all these years is onerous? These laws are part of every nation on the planet for multiple reasons; two of which are the safety and longevity of the country. Alabama will survive this through adjustment, just as Illinois and the rest of the nation will survive our current economic downturn by adjustment. If you don't like the laws, get them changed. Until that happens, just like all our other laws, either abide by them or risk the consequences.
If they want to just make money to send back home, get a migrant worker permit like hundreds of thousands of others did. If they want to become a legal citizen, then I (and I'm sure you too) will be happy to sponsor them.

[MaryfromIL]

03:33 AM on 11/24/2011

Can't change Alabama's laws, I'm in Illinois. You really think there are more illegal immigrants in Alabama than Chicago?? Not!! Can't blame excess fed dollars on that, since most illegals cannot get most social services.

The problem in California is the housing plummet, and that proposition years ago that cut their school taxes so low. The rest of the south, it's because you are blue states, where GOP does their best to eliminate the middle class. So you end up with a large poor class.

[chuckest]

11:51 AM on 12/02/2011

After reading ogelbiz's comment, let me ask; If they make Stupid" against the law, will he turn himself in for prosecution?

[dearrunfarm]

05:48 AM on 01/20/2012

You must be in a state not burdened with thousands of ILLEGAL ALIENS and watched as your children's education has suffered being in a classroom with several children that speak no or limited English, paid more in taxes to build schools and hospitals that are over burdened with non paying customers....

And wait until a tax paying American citizen tells you that by the time she finishes paying the bills for her baby she will be too old to have another AND THEN watch an illegal walk around the Mall with her 5-6 American children that we pay for.

If you had more life experiences you would feel differently.

[MaryfromIL]

08:16 PM on 01/20/2012

I'm 61, spent half my life in a large city, Chicago. And worked full time most of my life. I'm sick of life experiences, I've had enough.

Chicago, not enough Illegal aliens?? (Swallowing insult). 29% of Chicago is Hispanic. 21% of the population is foreign born. 35% speak a language other than English at home.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI705210.htm

Illinois has nearly the same number of Hispanics and undocumented as Arizona. In Illinois, 40 % were born in the U.S. and 60 percent were foreign born. (per census)

http://www.chicagonow.com/chicanisima-latino-politics-news-and-culture/2010/05/illinois-has-nearly-the-same-number-of-hispanics-and-undocumented-as-arizona/

As for the illegals 5-6 children, read the census. Average Hispanic family in US has 1.19 children living with them.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2011.html Click on table AVG1

My daughter works in an inner city school, 95% Hispanic. 87% of Chicago Public school students are low income.

By the way, here are ALABAMA's figures. Hispanics are a measley 3%. 2.9% are foreign born, compared to 60% in Chicago (Cook County).

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/01000.html

The whole state of Alabama has 186,400 Hispanics. Chicago ALONE has 780,000 Hispanics. (multiply total population by rate of Hispanics)

Seems to me like Alabama is the one with limited experience.

[sfsunst]

11:30 PM on 11/20/2011

It's amazing...they are willing to spend money in order to lose money! I wonder if it was ever fully realized the cost to so many innocent people (including the farmers!) to make sure undocumented workers were erased from their state.

[MaryfromIL]

02:57 AM on 11/22/2011

This is not the first region to do this, so the repercussions are well known.

[sfsunst]

01:03 AM on 11/23/2011

I guess it will be felt throughout the country as I have seen the prices in fruits and vegetables rise. I really felt it today...paid $15 for three red bell peppers! Talk about sticker shock! : )

[atexasdem]

09:35 AM on 11/20/2011

One only has to look to Alabama's history to realize, Alabama doesn't care. Alabama was willing to enforce public segregation no matter the cost. Alabama was willing to be demonized and boycotted because of their beliefs no matter the cost. Underneath that thin veneer of civility, Alabama hasn't really changed. Brown is the new black and "illegal" is the new ******.

[JohnDurlak]

07:39 PM on 11/19/2011

You don't mention the cost of educating the hundreds of thousands of children of illegal immigrants. You don't mention the cost of health care for illegal immigrants. You don't mention the loss of construction jobs which millions of Americans are eager to do.

[TggerJen]

08:02 PM on 11/19/2011

The people who support the dishonest foreign nationals who are here illegally are rarely honest about any of the facts or the true costs. The facts and total costs are detrimental to their agenda of pushing for amnesty. The simple literal fact is that illegal aliens are a net drain on us, as you point out. They take all sorts of jobs that Americans want and need, as you point out.

As for the farm field jobs, there is a program that allows the farmers/growers to get temporary legal migrant workers when they need them. The farmers who already had legal workers lined up are doing just fine. The ones who used illegal labor are having problems that are entirely appropriate for those who have an illegal business model.

Fanned and faved!!

[alpina]

04:39 PM on 11/19/2011

This is la raza propaganda posing as faux science. Alabama isn't losing money at all. Some farmers who were employing illegal labor will have to actually pay a decent wage to get someone to pick crops, so wahh wahhh if their profit goes down for a year or two. Also, agricultural jobs only represent about 4% of illegal immigrant employment, which means 96% are doing something else or nothing at all.

You will notice they never say what kind of tax revenue will be lost. In this case, its sales tax because illegals pay next to nothing or nothing in most cases when it comes to income or property tax.

Lastly, you don't look at cost just on one side of a balance sheet without taking into consideration how much Alabama tax payers will SAVE by having illegals leave their state. Not burdening the residents of Alabama with the costs associated with healthcare, housing, education, crime and punishment, welfare and food stamps is saving the state far more than the lost revenues of a handful of farmers who expected everyone else to subsidize their workforce.

[TggerJen]

08:06 PM on 11/19/2011

Faved by a fan!

You're exactly right. The people who defend and support the dishonest foreign nationals here illegally are rarely if ever honest about the true and total costs. They are pushing a dishonest agenda in support of a dishonest special interest group (at our expense).

They cost Cal alone BILLIONS a year-
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/02/local/me-cap2

.... Add them all up and the state spends well over $5 billion a year on illegal immigrants and their families.
Of course, illegal immigrants do pay state taxes. But no way do they pay enough to replenish what they're drawing in services. Their main revenue contribution would be the sales tax, but they can't afford to be big consumers, and food and prescription drugs are exempt.
.... Meanwhile, California should be honest about the costs. Illegal immigrants are not the sole cause of the state's deficit. But they are a drain.

[Oma]

02:11 PM on 11/26/2011

Nothing is exempt from sales taxes, the most regressive of all taxes, in ALABAMA.

[MaryfromIL]

03:02 AM on 11/22/2011

There are many illegals working in the fast food industry, paying Fed & State taxes, social security and Medicare.

Anyway, if you think this is working for y'all, keep at it. Let us know how it works out.

Oh, and let us know if you are able to unload your houses without taking a bath, as many of the LEGAL immigrants also leave, as they have done in similar situations. Also how many small businesses that sell to them close as well.

[alpina]

09:04 AM on 11/23/2011

Tell me, how are things working out in Reading, PA. or Maywood, CA?

[ogelbiz]

04:27 PM on 11/23/2011

If any LEGAL citizen chooses to leave due to enforcement of the immigration laws, I would be very surprised. In talking to several LEGAL Mexican immigrants that are good friends, I find that they feel just as strongly about illegals being here because they have worked hard at learning the English language and our history, and went the LEGAL way of entering the U.S. So your theory of the legal immigrants leaving is just a theory, not the actual thoughts of fully legal Mexican immigrants. Two of my friends have also been stopped at road checks multiple times and had no problem with proudly proving their legal status. Chances are very great that your own ancestors got their citizenship the legal way too.
If illegal immigrants in the U.S. want to only earn money here and return to Mexico to live, apply for migrant work visas like many others do. If they want to become an American citizen, then go through the correct channels like millions of others have done since the U.S. had immigration laws. I'm sure you or I will have no problem sponsoring them.
If any of us went to Mexico illegally, we would be immediately jailed; and if we survived their prisons we would be eventually deported. I suggest you read up on Mexican immigration law. Immigration laws are a part of every country in the world for multiple reasons, one of which is to insure the safety and sustainability of the nation.

[Raccoon1]

11:10 AM on 11/17/2011

Alabamians like to complain that illegals are using up the state's money for healthcare.

Signed into law by RONALD REAGAN.. "The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA)[1­] is a U.S. Act of Congress passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidat­ed Omnibus Budget Reconcilia­tion Act (COBRA). It requires hospitals to provide care to anyone needing emergency healthcare treatment regardless of citizenshi­p, legal status or ability to pay."

Yep, Ronald Reagan.

[RWinTenn]

08:28 AM on 11/20/2011

Good law I wouldn't want anybody not to recieve emergency medical treatment legal or not.

[pbr56]

03:03 PM on 11/21/2011

A good reason to have single payer health care and government run hospitals.

[bk1]

07:18 AM on 11/17/2011

There is one other number that Alabama needs to realize about their immigration law.....ZERO. That is the number of benefits that their states have seen for its citizens and economy since they passed this foolish law. Immigration in America is essential for growth in our economy, that is a statistical certainty.

[Mark Lindley]

02:44 PM on 11/17/2011

Does that include "illegal" immigration? I don't think so! We allow in over a million legal immigrants a year and that is already based on our needs.

[bk1]

10:23 PM on 11/17/2011

Mark Lindley--The biggest cause of illegal immigration in the country is the failure of Congress to enact an effective legal immigration policy for our country, as well as wage standards and regulatory accountability for businesses that employee workers illegally. We waste our time talking about "completing the dang fence" instead of creating a national immigration strategy for our country.

[RWinTenn]

08:37 AM on 11/20/2011

ZERO Man you need to get out of the house more. Who pays for these people when they don't have a job? I think somebody has to pay for schools and all the government programs that hand money and housing to people who need help.Is Mexico sending money nobody knows about?

[phatemu]

06:32 AM on 11/17/2011

Another 'how to lie with statistics' propaganda argument for subsidizing agribusiness with marginalized labor. Surely, they're will be a period of upset but in the end, legal Americans will be reemployed while demanding a living wage and benefits fitting of a dignified life.

[atexasdem]

02:49 AM on 11/17/2011

Alabamians have a long history of hate and persecution towards minorities. Brown is the new black. Alabamians have repeatedly proven they will pay any price, make any sacrifice to perpetuate their hate. Some things never change. How long will it be until there is another Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham? You'd think these names would invoke a sense of shame, instead it seems they invoke a sense of pride.

[alpina]

04:45 PM on 11/19/2011

What color is illegal?

[RWinTenn]

08:54 AM on 11/20/2011

Lets give Texas back to them.Texas has long history of persecution against brown people.

[atexasdem]

09:25 AM on 11/20/2011

Actually Kharma is even better. As of last US census Texas is nearly 40% Hispanic and by the next census is predicted to be majority Hispanic. The four new congressional seats are a direct result of our increasing Hispanic population. Texas republicans are panicking as they see the writing on the wall.

[atexasdem]

11:42 AM on 11/20/2011

I generally find that children discard the "Bubba did it too" defense by age ten. It seems some people are dumber than a ten year old.

[al92lt1]

02:23 AM on 11/17/2011

Adios

[dothework]

12:31 AM on 11/17/2011

I'm just fine with those details. Illegal is illegal. Good bye.

[Michelle Greenawalt]

09:09 PM on 11/16/2011

"Chop off the hand that picks your food." So true. I don't understand how people can blatantly ignore statistics like these and still say "deport, deport". These jobs are not simply going to be filled magically by Americans. It doesn't work that way. These states have lost billions in less than a year and as much as $100,000 in a month. It's true, we will see the prices of fresh produce and probably even processed food rise and then we will be sorry. If we multiply this loss plus the cost to deport on a national level it is a breathtaking amount of money that we could lose. I would rather my tax dollars go toward funding for schools, which is being cut, or programs to feed starving children in the country. I feel we have larger priorities than "sticking it to" these people. Revenge is not the answer here.

I'd love to share my petition with those of you who also don't believe that mass deportation is the answer. Please sign and share to anyone who you feel would like to sign as well. They ask for your email, but are a legitimate site and will not spam you.

https://www.change.org/petitions/the-us-senate-reform-immigration-laws-and-provide-a-path-to-citizenship

[NWBrunette]

02:07 AM on 11/17/2011

Pay a living wage, provide benefits and enforce worker safety protections in the fields and Americans will flock to the jobs. The idea that this country can't afford to put food on it's table without what amounts to slave labor is both false and despicable.

[carolina919]

06:12 PM on 11/21/2011

Amen. THIS is the real travesty. We have such an unrealistic view of the world of work. Manual labor deserves a fair reckoning. Why is it that the so called free market is only supposed to work for investment scammers. Even Adam Smith advocated for a fair wage for labor and a fair wage is what it costs to get the job done. We don't need desperate illegal immigrants in this country. We need better working conditions for ALL jobs. As Jim Hightower always says, "the issue isn't jobs- the issue is wages. Even slaves had jobs"

[Viper1st]

10:01 AM on 11/17/2011

Does fruits & vegetables produced by illegal means taste better?

Cause, I haven't found them to be cheaper in the grocery store, than produce grown by legal means

[Michelle Greenawalt]

08:10 PM on 11/17/2011

How do you know what is produced by legal means? I've never seen it on a label.

[MyOwnPerson172]

04:29 PM on 11/16/2011

It's okay for Senator Shelby to give billions of our tax dollars to foreign corporations for air tankers but not to give a million or two to undocumented workers to keep his state afloat.

[Mark Lindley]

05:33 PM on 11/16/2011

No state needs illegal aliens to keep them afloat. How about those dollars going to American citizens instead?

[webwzrd]

01:16 AM on 11/17/2011

Tell that to the farmers who lost millions of dollars in unharvested crops.

[Raccoon1]

11:06 AM on 11/17/2011

While in Alabama earning money they eat, buy clothing, buy gasoline, and otherwise spend a lot of money in the local economy.

[SinCityFinancier]

03:34 PM on 11/16/2011

What tax-revenue do you loose from a work-force with no social security number and thus works for cash which in turn only suppresses the prevailing wage for everyone else who is a citizen and does have a SSN?

[MyOwnPerson172]

04:30 PM on 11/16/2011

If they aren't using an SS#, then the hiring company is CHEATING the US, not the worker.

[F7]

06:31 PM on 11/16/2011

The hiring company is probably cheating the worker too, by withholding and putting the money back into his/her own pocket. Those using 'fake' SSN's are paying taxes, if their employer is honest, and are denied the ability to apply for refunds on their income tax money so the treasury actually benefits.

[carolina919]

06:26 PM on 11/21/2011

A distinction without a difference and farmers are complicit in this knowingly illegal practice. The "corporate" influence on farming and agriculture in this country has been as poisonous there as it is anywhere its greedy tenacles reach.

[webwzrd]

01:16 AM on 11/17/2011

Payroll isn't the only tax people pay.

[Mark Lindley]

02:51 PM on 11/17/2011

If they weren't taking American jobs then Americans in turn would be contributing to our tax base and our economy by working those jobs. Crop picking might be the only job that most Americans won't do for a living but for that the farmers have at their disposable unlimited visas for legal, immigrant crop pickers. Next lame argument........