Costs of Incarceration of Illegal Immigrants

It has been reported that 33 percent of the US prison population is mostly made up of non-citizens, i.e. immigrants (legal or illegal) now. It is also estimated that one of every five-prison inmates are immigrants who committed felony crimes after entering the US illegally.

The U.S. Justice Department estimated that 270,000 illegal immigrants were incarcerated (in jails and prisons) in 2003. The Center for Immigration Studies stated, "Roughly 17 percent of the prison population at the federal level are illegal aliens.” in a 2004 published report.

Housing an illegal immigrant in prison costs upwards of $31k annually per inmate. The costs come from the taxes the citizens pay. With the increasingly high costs of housing an individual prisoner, and the overcrowding of prisons, some leaders have suggested building a jail in Mexico and sending these illegal immigrants convicted of other crimes, to that prison.

Option 1: Continuing Support for Illegal Immigrants In Prisons:

Basically, there are not really options for a solution of the increasing prison costs of illegal aliens who have committed crimes and been incarcerated, other than prevention, the suggestion of building a large prison in Mexico, for Mexican illegal immigrants inside of USA, would be costly. However, the annual costs of housing and supporting these prison inmates would shift and become the responsibility of their country of origin. Permitting them permanent residence would potentially lower the economic costs in some areas, but would not prove successful in lowering the prison costs incurred.

Option 2: Immediate Deportation Of These Incarcerated Illegal Immigrants:

Deportation costs are high, and monitoring of illegal aliens for deportation purposes would, inevitable, result in higher costs. The INS does not currently have the personnel it would take to track ad monitor all illegal immigrants. In some areas of the United States, Illegal immigrants represent nearly 24% of the prison population, a substantial strain on taxpayers.  Ultimately, deporting these criminals, to their country of origin, would be more rewarding to US economy, as their own country would incur the costs of supporting them. In the event of a crackdown and a ‘mass deportation’, the costs are predicted to be $41.2 billion annually over a five year period.

There’s an estimated 630,000 illegal immigrants who are booked into our nation's jails and prisons on criminal charges each year. The Federal prisons hold only about 77,000 of these at an annual cost of $1.2 billion. Annually, illegal immigrants are more likely to commit serious crimes, possibly due to the low wages they are earning, the low level of education they have, and their inability to obtain higher paying employment. Many who were deported return to the US, a felony that goes unprosecuted most often.

Perhaps, as stated by many leaders of the country, zero tolerance of illegal immigration should be implemented. Maybe the costs of tracking, monitoring, and deporting illegal aliens will in fact increase the economy. Wouldn’t it be less of a strain than supporting the illegal immigrants in the prison system currently and in the future?