If you are an average payer of federal income taxes, the entire amount of money you have paid and will pay in federal income taxes over your lifetime has been stolen by one illegal alien, with plenty of money left over to pillage from the tax payments of your neighbors.  Kristina Davis of the San Diego Union-Tribune broke a story two days ago that now is rightfully garnering national attention.

Andres Avelino Anduaga – if that's even his real name – admitted to assuming the identity of a U.S. citizen in 1980.  Armed with a fake birth certificate, he developed a seemingly legitimate persona by applying for a California driver's license, Social Security number and U.S. passport.

The official documents identified him as Abraham Riojos, born in Alpine, Texas, in 1958.

The documents allowed him to move freely between Mexico and the U.S., and also to receive nearly $361,000 in government benefits over the years.

On Thursday, Anduaga, 66, pleaded guilty to theft of public property and being a previously removed unauthorized immigrant in the U.S.

He has agreed to pay back to several government agencies what he stole but could face additional fines as well as up to 12 years in prison when sentenced.

Rojos was already a criminal before he started ripping off taxpayers.  CBS adds:

[T]he man claiming to be Riojos had a rap sheet that included 21 different names and six dates of birth, dating back to 1974, the newspaper reported.  They included a firearms violation, forgery, cocaine possession and multiple DUIs, according to prosecutors.

The list of benefits he was able to grab is illustrative of the incredible generosity of American and California taxpayers:

An analysis of Anduaga's benefits showed he first applied for Supplemental Security Income benefits in 1989 and was awarded payments retroactive to 1988. He received monthly payments – $244,441 total – until Aug. 1, 2016, according to his plea agreement.

Almost a quarter-million dollars heisted from the mythical "Social Security Trust Fund" – money that might not be there when you or your family member reaches retirement  age.  That's missing money that will force an increase in Social Security taxes, or a cut to benefits, or both.

The fact is that disability payments often are a racket, a source of plunder for people not really disabled, but pretending to be mentally or physically impaired.  To be sure, there are legitimate claims from people with real impairments.  But the following graphs from NPR demonstrate that unemployment rates are correlated with disability claims and that the named causes of disabilities have moved sharply in the direction of unverifiable complaints like back pain and mental disability:

The perp also ripped off California taxpayers:

He also qualified for Medi-Cal benefits and payments – which he shouldn't have as a unauthorized immigrant [sic] – and received $112,981 total.  Plus, he illegally received more than $3,486 in food stamps under a county program.

And he moved freely between the U.S. and Mexico, thanks to his stolen identity.

Records show he crossed through the pedestrian lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry several times a week.  He was arrested Nov. 28 during one of those crossings.  His arrest warrant bore the name Jose Reyes, and besides Riojos and Riojas the complaint included another aka of Jose Gonzalez-Cardoza.  It wasn't until later, when pressed, that he said his real name was Andres Avelino Anduaga, prosecutors said.

Andagua/Rojos was actually living in Tijuana (where his stolen money went farther) and collecting his checks from a rented mailbox.  This means that the money was a net drain from the U.S. economy not even passing into the hands of American sellers of food, clothing, and other daily necessities.  In this regard, it is identical to the nearly $30 billion a year sent to Mexico by Mexican residents of the U.S., legal and illegal.

The big lesson of this case is that poor people cost taxpayers a lot of money.  Not even mentioned is the cost of the "earned income tax credit," which is available to low-income people, who get a check from taxpayers instead of paying  income tax when they file with the IRS.  It is a welfare payment to low-income people.

This is why the United States must stop the flow of low-skill, low-income immigrants and instead apply a merit-based system that allows only immigrants who can contribute to our economy.

In the old Soviet Union, they used to call people who failed to work and contribute to the economy "social parasites," and they made "parasitism" a criminal offense.  That was never called "socialist realism," a term reserved for propagandistic art.  But it is in fact realistic to evaluate people on the grounds of their ability to make a net contribution to society when deciding to admit a potential immigrant.