Bill Keller reported in the New York Times columns, on may the 12th, that the Heritage Foundation released a very controversial study about the effects of an immigration reform, alleging a cost of 6.3 trillion dollars... The study was denounced by both progressive and conservative economists.

Keller argue that althought Heritage scholarship was known to make serious contributions to the public debate, something else seems to go on with the immigration issue. Heritage’s controversial conclusions of the study became "a puzzle to many conservatives, including some within the Heritage family".