Cost of illegal immigration in California estimated at nearly $9 billion
By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer
California's nearly 3 million illegal immigrants cost taxpayers nearly $9 billion each year, according to a new report released last week by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group that promotes stricter immigration policies.
Educating the children of illegal immigrants is the largest cost, estimated at $7.7 billion each year, according to the report. Medical care for illegal immigrants and incarceration of those who have committed crimes are the next two largest expenses measured in the study, the author said.
Pro-immigrant groups and Latino researchers dispute the federation's findings, calling them biased and incomplete.
Jack Martin, who wrote the report, said Thursday that the $9 billion figure does not include other expenses that are difficult to measure, such as special English instruction, school lunch programs, and welfare benefits for American workers displaced by illegal immigrant workers.
"It's a bottom of the range number," Martin said.
The federation is one of the nation's leading lobbying groups aimed at curbing immigration into the country.
Authors of the report say it culls information from the U.S. Census and other studies addressing the cost of illegal immigration into the country to draw its conclusions.
Gerardo Gonzalez, director of Cal State San Marcos' National Latino Research Center, which compiles data on Latinos, criticized the report. He said it does not measure some of the contributions that immigrants make to the state's economy.
"Beyond taxes, these workers' production and spending contribute to California's economy, especially the agricultural sector," Gonzalez said.
Immigrants, both legal and illegal, are the backbone of the state's nearly $28 billion-a-year agricultural industry, Gonzalez and other researchers say.
More than two-thirds of the estimated 340,000 agriculture workers in California are noncitizens, most of whom are believed to be illegal immigrants, according to a 1998 study on farmworkers prepared for the state Legislature.
Local farmers say migrant farmworkers are critical to their businesses, and without them they would have to close their farms or move their operations overseas.
Martin disagrees. He said illegal immigrants displace American workers by taking low-skilled jobs, keep wages low by creating an overabundance of workers and stifle innovation by reducing the need for mechanized labor.
"The product of the illegal immigrant is not included (in the report) because if that is an essential product it will get done one way or another," Martin said. Employers "would have to pay better wages or invest money on mechanization."
Martin's study looks specifically at the costs of educating illegal immigrants' children, providing medical care to illegal immigrants and jailing those convicted of committing crimes. The report estimates the total cost at $10.5 billion each year, but that is offset by about $1.7 billion in taxes that illegal immigrants pay.
The study assumes that there are about 1 million children of illegal immigrant parents in California, or about 15 percent of the state's K-12 school enrolled population. The estimate is based on a 1994 study by the Urban Institute that concluded there were 307,000 illegal immigrant children enrolled in the state's public schools.
Martin also added an estimate of 597,000 U.S.-born children whose parents are illegal immigrants arriving at a total of 1,022,000 children. Multiplying the number of children by the estimated $7,577 the state spends on average per pupil, the study arrived at the $7.7 billion figure.
Including the number of U.S.-born children in the study is one of the reasons pro-immigrant groups said the study is biased.
"I think FAIR is without doubt an extremist organization that tries to portray itself as a mainstream group," said Christian Ramirez, director of the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee, an advocate group for legal and illegal immigrants.
The study's author defended the report, saying that the children were born in the United States as a result of their parents' illegal entry into the country.
"In no way does the report identify them as different kinds of citizens, because they would not have been born in the U.S. had their parents not come into the country illegally," Martin said.
To arrive at the cost of providing health care to illegal immigrants, the federation's study used an earlier 2000 analysis of health expenses paid by border counties that concluded the state spent $908 million on medical care for immigrants.
Martin said he adjusted the 2000 figure for increases in the population and inflation on the cost of providing health care and estimated that the state will spend about $1.4 billion in 2004.
The report also estimated that the state will spend another $1.4 billion to jail the 48,000 illegal immigrants in state prisons. California is compensated by the federal government to offset the cost of housing this population, but the federal payments were a fraction, about $111 million, of the total cost, Martin said.
To figure out the contributions that this immigrant population makes in taxes, the federation's study said it adjusted the Urban Institute's study estimates of $732 million for population increases and concluded that they contribute about $1.7 billion in sales, income and property taxes.
A similar study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., and released in August, said that illegal immigrants cost the federal government $10 billion more than they pay in taxes.
The federal government pays about $2.2 billion in medical treatment for uninsured immigrants, according to the report. It pays $1.9 billion in food assistance programs, such as food stamps and school lunches, for low-income families. And it pays $1.4 billion in aid to schools that educate illegal immigrant children.
Martin said states bear most of the cost of illegal immigration.
"State costs are much higher on a per capita basis because of the fact that the largest expenses are medical care and education and those are borne at the local level, not the federal," Martin said.
The federation's full report is at: www.fairus.org.
Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com. SOURCE:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/12/... Also did you know that the white people of California are now the minority, and Latinos are the majority. do you think we could get special benefits and handouts now that we are the minorities, I think not in fact we (the minority) are still carrying the weight of what is now the majority. Get off your soap box and grow the f-ck up. Report It
And...? How much have we wasted on the war? In fact, how much money do we spend on private transportation for the president (car rides, plane rides, etc.)? How much money have YOU used and how much have YOU gained from the work of "illegals"? It is often said, where Californian goes, the rest of the country folllows, and this is a bad omen. so whats the question? are we playing JEOPARDY?
this is for craig a couple answers below me: history repeats itself: years ago the native americans used to be the majority. now they are a minority. ....and on and on.... NO THEY DO NOT! All that information is bias. Grow some brains. illegals get out!!!!!!!! and That doesn't include the 60 billion sent back to Mexico every year.
that's why V. Fox won't stop them from coming over. unfortunately the information is biased - legislation sponsored from every Governor from Ronald Reagan to Arnold has looked at ways to better integrate and process guest workers as California found in the early 70's that few citizens will do the work they do at a price that allows for an economic trade advantage- when in the 1971 Chavez organized a strike to get the attention of growers to allow unionization of the United Farm Works it cost California 19.7 billion in one year which is roughly equal to 110 billion US today - there contribution to California's economy in the agriculture was according to state comptrollers office nearly 167 billion dollars- much greater than they used in local governmental services - there are problems though with the system - first state budgets must zero out each year - even though over their life time they will contribute more in taxes and social security - many do not have the opportunity to become legal - and are at risk and pose problems for education and health income which is derived from local taxes -there are no easy answers - but all the facts need to presented - not sound bites - or political rhetoric - on a global market paying better of buy more technology will close out markets currently enjoyed by the US/California for its produce- subsidies help in the short term - but hurt in the long term - by creating a culture and systems that will never motivate itself to be competative the answer is ..deport.
if you are an illegal, go home. B..............................l S............................t.!
Just another typical propaganda from desperate losers.
You dummies war has cost this country 1 Trillion dollars.
That is a 1 with 12 zero's, and you are s*****g with peanuts?
Get a job, stop being a kiss a*s.
Jose R: Senior don worry maan you already have your
papers,no more brown nosing is needed maan.
Love all people.
Edit: Dear American neglected, thank U for the advise and comments. I looked at your very unique profile, well in the last few weeks U asked 8 or 9 questions, which all are pretty much in this line, IO specially liked the one about Mexicans taking over US. Now your questions attract lots of paranoid morons, and makes them very exited, but all you have brought to this forum is hatred specially of Mexicans, and you are really a waste of time and space. Now it is very interesting that you answered 30 questions, but none about Immigration? What's up with U. R U OK. It is good to get a an eval from a psychologist every once a while U NO. And finally why do hate folks from Mexico so much? I like to NO.
Good Luck on your Eval. why you use illegals as a scapgoat for falling economy, its leaders are to blame look at the moron that we have right now and becuase of Retards who voted for him thank god i didnt , and now yall complain on his crappy work well you voted for him DEE-Dee-dee and as i see it workers who are here illegally make allot of money for the state and country they dont report taxes so the government keeps all theyre money. well at these times illegals are hated allot and theyre to blame for the countrys fallng economy and system WOW!
I didn't know store owners where checking people for the identity, and saying,"hey, you don't have pay taxes because I know your a wet back".
C'mon give me a break. Illegal or unillegal they still pay taxes when they go out to public stores. I think that each country that forces their citizens to flee to the U.S.A. must pay a fee per person. Any financial assistance we give that country should have a $10,000.00 deduction for every illegal immigrant caught. While some of this information is a bit biased, there is truth at the core. One of the real "awakening" realities for me is the word, "illegal." Last time I checked, that means forbidden by law. For any of us who have roots from another country, especially if we are first or even second generation Americans, our parents and grandparents more than likely came over and were forced to learn the language and either become citizens or get legal permission to work. I do not have any issue with a foreigner participating in that. America has been built on that, but I do believe what is going on in California, and other parts of the USA is just wrong! I have had family who have worked for the state in California, and the stories that they have shared with me about the incredible amounts of immigrants abusing the welfare/medical system is nothing short of staggering. In Calfiornia, even our schools cater to this. If an immigrant is going to utilize the benefits of living in America, they should know the language and be able to function in our society. Not to mention, the human cost in lost jobs and the 4000+ US Citizens killed by Illegal immigrants each year |
