AZ Star and George Borjas keep sloppy accounts.

Is there anyone who can tell me how much Wal-Mart "loses" every year because Target is allowed to be its competitor?

According to the Arizona Daily Star, one George Borjas of Harvard University has not only determined the obvious: that the presence of illegal aliens lowers the employment rate and the wages of Arizonans, but even quantified the loss: $1.4 billion per anuum.

What neither he nor the Star have mentioned is that there is no net loss to the community. Considering that the lower wage is a savings to the entrepreneur and consumer, the net effect is at least $0. Take into account the dead-weight loss that 100% effective enforcement would bring by diverting more productive workers to the current less productive (and thus low-wage) occupations, and we have illegal immigration bringing a net benefit to the economy.

Go one step further, throwing in to the account the opportunity the presence of the illegals affords to the businessman, and the net benefit increases further. Now imagine what the benefit would be were illegal immigrants legalized!