NYT and Fareed on Costs of Immigration Policing

On Fareed Zakaia’s CNN show last Sunday he devoted a section to the costs of the Trump anti-immigration program, drawing on a New York Times editorial.  I found two problems with Fareed’s and the NYT’s analysis.  

First, the reason police actions against immigrants by ICE is so expensive because the problem is so big.  Fareed believes uncontrolled immigration is good; therefore, any money spent on holding immigration to legal limits is wasted money.  If you believe 11 million illegal immigrants are a problem, then enforcement actions involving many millions of people are going to be expensive.  Does Fareed believe we should stop arresting speeders, thieves, murderers, just because it’s expensive to apprehend them?  

Second, he and the NYT ignore the costs of illegal immigration, including such items as educating their children , treating them in emergency rooms, policing the crimes they commit, providing various social services, particularly in sanctuary cities.  Neither Fareed nor the NYT looks at how these costs and benefits balance out.  Does the money they pay into Social Security cover the costs of their education or medical treatment?  I say we don’t need some big cost/benefit analysis, just enforce the law, but if Fareed argues that the law is an economic disaster, he should support his claim.    

Fareed also asked whether Canada is the new home  of the American dream?  My question is how does the population make-up compare between the two countries?  It’s interesting that the Canadian is afraid to say Eskimo; he uses half a dozen other “politically correct” names before he says that the social situation of Eskimos is terrible in Canada.  Here is a description of ethnicity in Canada by the Canadian government:

In 2011, 13 different ethnic origins had surpassed the 1-million mark. People reported these origins either alone or in combination with other ethnic origins.  The ethnic origin most often reported in the NHS was Canadian. Just over 10,563,800 people reported Canadian as their ethnic origin, either alone or with other origins.  Canadian was followed by English, reported by 6,509,500 people; French (5,065,700); Scottish (4,715,000); Irish (4,544,900); and German (3,203,300).  The other ethnic origins that surpassed the 1-million mark were: Italian, Chinese, First Nations (North American Indian), Ukrainian, East Indian, Dutch and Polish.  Just over 1,369,100 people reported having First Nations (North American Indian) ancestry, while 447,700 reported Métis and 72,600 reported Inuit.  

Except for Eskimos (whom the guest described as living in terrible conditions), very few Canadians are non-white.  Fareed and his guest ignored this fact in their discussion of why Canada is so much more of a pleasant place to live than America.