Expect low-skilled aliens to cost taxpayers $1 million each

Increasing the number of low-skilled workers entering the United States would impose a high cost of taxpayers, says a Heritage Foundation study, which calculates that for every $1 that unskilled workers pay in taxes, there are about $3 in government benefits that they receive.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, which handles immigration bills, said the results of the study should serve as a warning to President Bush and lawmakers who are proposing to give illegal aliens a so-called path to citizenship, better known as amnesty.

"We need to make sure any legislation does not further strain government services and taxpayers' wallets," said Smith, who announced the results of the study for the Washington think tank.

Bush has called for legalizing the estimated 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the United States, and for allowing more foreign workers in the future. Many Congressional Republicans disagree, and want Bush to focus on better immigration enforcement.