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birdwatchercato.org -- Why Immigrants Were Fiscally Positive. The US government spends more than it receives in taxes and other revenue, so many people believe that deporting a person with average characteristics would improve the deficit. They reason that, with fewer US residents, there would be a commensurate decrease in government spending and thus a lower deficit.
However, a significant portion of government spending consists of items that do not causally increase or decrease with population. For instance, the US military, nuclear arsenal, and NASA spaceflight would remain the same regardless of whether the US population grew or shrank by a million people. [...] As we explain in more detail in the Appendix, immigrants may benefit from this spending, but they do not require the government to spend more on these items. Indeed, immigrants may even decrease these costs for the US-born by lowering interest rates and decreasing military recruitment costs. And they certainly ease the fiscal load on the US-born, because immigrant taxpayers help shoulder the fiscal burden of these expenditures.
However, a significant portion of government spending consists of items that do not causally increase or decrease with population. For instance, the US military, nuclear arsenal, and NASA spaceflight would remain the same regardless of whether the US population grew or shrank by a million people. [...] As we explain in more detail in the Appendix, immigrants may benefit from this spending, but they do not require the government to spend more on these items. Indeed, immigrants may even decrease these costs for the US-born by lowering interest rates and decreasing military recruitment costs. And they certainly ease the fiscal load on the US-born, because immigrant taxpayers help shoulder the fiscal burden of these expenditures.