… is from page 65 of GMU Econ alum Alex Nowrasteh’s excellent paper “The Fiscal Impact of Immigration,” which is Chapter 3 of the 2015 collection, edited by Ben Powell, The Economics of Immigration:
A worldview that seeks to judge whether immigrants are beneficial based on their fiscal impact, where the chief value of an additional American is determined by the size of his net tax contribution, is fundamentally flawed and a testament to how dehumanizing a large welfare state can be. The fiscal impact of immigration is neither a proper evaluating metric, nor a particularly meaningful one upon which to base support for or opposition to immigration.