COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

My research indicates the following:

1. Over sixty-six (66) percent of the cocaine and methamphetamines are smuggled across the Mexican border. The impact that these drugs have on our children can be devastating and is especially costly in the poorest neighborhoods where drug related violence is not uncommon. As someone who has experienced loved ones and friends struggle with these drugs, it is personally embarrassing and frustrating that our government refuses to address this issue at the border. I just don’t understand the effectiveness of our government issuing "arrest warrants" for 50 Colombian drug lords (who are not only hard to locate, but easily replaceable).

The drug issue is the main one that I am concerned about and the fact that the government has continued to ignore the quantities of drugs that come across the Mexican border makes me wonder if there is a different agenda (e.g., big business). In my neck of the woods, there are so many illegal drugs, and they are so readily available, that most parents have no clue that their children are frequent users of “speed” or other relatively inexpensive designer drugs. During law school, I had the opportunity to investigate and give an account on the availability of certain drugs in the South Bay. I was very surprised to discover that some local restaurants in Hermosa Beach actually sold certain drugs as off menu items.

Fortunately, our bodies are very resilient and can generally bounce back from minor drug abuse. However, drugs such as “speed” contain so many chemicals, and have track records of materially impacting brain activity, that the consequences of using such “cheap” designer drug alternatives can be devastating and last for one’s life. Moreover, children that are not supervised by a parent all day (which is probably most children these days) are uniquely susceptible to these cheap designer drugs; especially given the fact that their own decision-making abilities are still developing and are very susceptible to peer pressures or just idol curiosity. AGAIN, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY OUR GOVERNMENT HAS NOT MADE A SIGNIFICANT EFFORT TO REDUCE THE IMPORTATION OF SUCH DRUGS AT THE MEXICAN BORDER. I KNOW IT WON’T TOTALLY REMOVE SUCH DRUGS, BUT IT WILL ELIMINATE A PORTION OF THEM WHILE DRIVING UP THE PRICES; AND THEREFORE, MAKING SUCH MUCH LESS ACCESSIBLE TO OUR CHILDREN.

2. Illegal immigration helps the immigrants.

3. Illegal immigration helps the businesses that use such immigrants, but such savings are generally not passed on to the end customer as other competing businesses have already determined the market price.

There are also "local" businesses in the United States that are put out of business because their owners are unwilling to break the law and hire illegals; notwithstanding the fact that their local competitors are hiring such illegals. It basically creates an environment in which honest Americans are punished, while those that break the law are encouraged to do so. It is unclear how much of such "benefit" if any is actually transferred to the consumer if there is non-local competition. In such circumstances, non-local competition usually helps determine the market price. To the extent there is zero "non-local" competition, them some of the benefit is initially passed on to the consumer.

My research also indicates that the detriment that our poorest communities suffer (in the forms of severely stressed health care facilities and classrooms that almost double in size from 20 to 35 students per teacher) is significant. As one can image, to the extent that the education of existing students suffer (or prevents them from graduating or going to college, as they miss the individual attention that could have made a difference), the impact on such students will not only change the very nature of their entire lives, but it could also change the nature of their children’s lives.

This is why permitting illegal immigration (as our politicians have done) is no more than turning one’s back on the most vulnerable of our citizens. It is turning one’s back on the future and hopes of young poor children, and is nothing more than a cruel form of ignored oppression that not only stifles dreams but also grows resentment and hatred towards those that have access to a different set of rules or laws. This will be felt for generations.

4. Illegal immigration is especially devastating to the poorest Americans. As summarized above, it has significantly strained health care and education systems across the country.

5. Illegal immigration is against the law, but this doesn’t seem very relevant to a majority of our politicians. Instead, the focus continues to be our economy. This is a little confusing. The preference that not enforcing the law creates for some is more than offset by resentment that will continue for years.

6. There are several states that grant illegal immigrants “in state” tuition while denying such to out of state citizens. Congress is currently contemplating eliminating the federal law that makes these state laws illegal. This seems unfair to me.

7. Illegal immigration is a modest cost to middle and upper middle class citizens ranging from 500 to 1100 dollars a year in additional taxes depending on which state, etc., one lives. THIS NUMBER EXCLUDES THE “COSTS” OF THE HUGE AMOUNT OF DRUGS THAT ARE SMUGGLED IN ACROSS THE MEXICAN BORDER.

8. Approximately 50 percent of the illegal immigrants are not paying taxes.


FAIR reports:

Analysis of the latest Census data indicates that California's illegal immigrant population is costing the state's taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden from those three areas of state expenditures amounts to about $1,183 per household headed by a native-born resident.

This analysis looks specifically at the costs to the state for education, health care and incarceration resulting from illegal immigration. These three are the largest cost areas, and they are the same three areas analyzed in a 1994 study conducted by the Urban Institute, which provides a useful baseline for comparison ten years later. Other studies have been conducted in the interim, showing trends that support the conclusions of this report.

As this report will note, other significant costs associated with illegal immigration exist and should be taken into account by federal and state officials. But, even without accounting for all of the numerous areas in which costs associated with illegal immigration are being incurred by California taxpayers, the programs analyzed in this study indicate that the burden is substantial and that the costs are rapidly increasing.

The more than $10.1 billion in costs incurred by California taxpayers is composed of outlays in the following areas:

Education. Based on estimates of the illegal immigrant population in California and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Californians spend approximately $7.7 billion annually on education for illegal immigrant children and for their U.S.-born siblings. Nearly 15 percent of the K-12 public school students in California are children of illegal aliens. [SEE BELOW.]

Health care. Uncompensated medical outlays for health care provided to the state's illegal alien population amount to about $1.4 billion a year. [SEE BELOW.]

Incarceration. The cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in California's prisons and jails amounts to about $1.4 billion a year (not including related law enforcement and judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of the crimes that led to their incarceration).

State and local taxes paid by the unauthorized immigrant population go toward offsetting these costs, but they do not come near to matching the expenses. The total of such payments can generously be estimated at about $1.6 billion per year.

The fiscal costs of illegal immigration do not end with these three major cost areas. The total costs of illegal immigration to the state's taxpayers would be considerably higher if other cost areas such as special English instruction, school feeding programs, or welfare benefits for American workers displaced by illegal alien workers were added into the equation.

While the primary responsibility for combating illegal immigration rests with the federal government, there are many measures that state and local governments can take to combat the problem. Californians should not be expected to assume this already large and growing burden from illegal immigration simply because businesses or other special interests benefit from being able to employ lower cost workers. The state must adopt measures to systematically collect information on illegal alien use of taxpayer-funded services and on where they are employed. Policies could then be pursued to hold employers financially accountable.

The state could also enter into a cooperative agreement with the federal government for training local law enforcement personnel in immigration law so that illegal immigrants apprehended for criminal activities may be turned over to immigration authorities for removal from the country. Similarly, local officials who have adopted "sanctuary" measures that shield illegal aliens from being reported to the immigration authorities should be urged to repeal them.

Health Care:

In 1994’s Proposition 187, California voters banned the use of tax money to provide non-emergency care to illegal aliens, but a U.S. District Judge overturned the ballot proposition in 1999. California now provides both legal and illegal aliens with Emergency Medicaid, pre-natal care, and nursing home care.

As the state cuts its health care budget to try to make ends meet, the increase in uncompensated care for immigrants has forced some hospitals to reduce staff, increase rates, cut back services, and close maternity wards and trauma centers. In the last decade, 60 California emergency rooms have closed. California hospital losses totaled $390 million in 2001, up from $325 million in 2000 and $316 million in 1999. The crisis reaches throughout the state, with 80 percent of emergency departments reporting losses.

One-third of the patients treated by the Los Angeles county health system each year are illegal aliens, according to county health officials. In 2002, the county spent $350 million providing health care to illegal aliens, according to the Department of Health Services. Officials said that if that money had been available, the county could have avoided the closure of 16 health clinics and possibly two hospitals, as well as cuts in services.

Scripps Memorial Hospital in Chula Vista estimates that about one quarter of patients who are uninsured and don’t pay their bills are illegal aliens. The hospital loses $7 million to $10 million in uncompensated costs. Regional Medical Center and Pioneers Memorial Hospital in El Centro, California lost over $1.5 million treating illegal immigrants in 2001.

Education:

Half of all children in California have at least one immigrant parent. Nearly one in ten are foreign-born themselves. California spends almost $2.2 billion annually to educate illegal immigrant students in grades K-12—enough to pay the salaries of 41,764 teachers, or 14 percent of California's teachers.

California schools are the most crowded in the nation, and classes often exceed 35 students per teacher (18 is considered ideal). And they will continue to grow: While school enrollment is projected to increase by only four percent nationally between 2001 and 2013, California is expecting a 16 percent increase.

Lack of space forces some students to attend class on school stages or in the gym. Yet the state is still adding 100,000 new students each year. The state Department of Education estimates that 19 new classrooms will need to be built every day, seven days a week, for the next five years. The number of teachers will need to be doubled within ten years, meaning that 300,000 new educators will need to be hired.

In Los Angeles, where schools are so crowded that some have lengthened the time between classes to give students time to make their way through packed halls, crowding in the next decade is projected to become so severe that some schools will have to hold double sessions (one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and Saturday classes. Even if the district builds 86 new schools, all 49 existing high schools will still have to adopt year-round schedules to keep pace with enrollment increases.

California’s Class Size Reduction program calls for adding thousands of new K-3 teachers, but finding classroom space has proved impossible in some areas. Many schools have had to give up libraries, art and music classrooms, and science and computer labs to create additional space. The West Contra Costa school district is eliminating all sports, libraries, and counselors from its high schools to save money.


See California.

See States.

The referenced immigration sites could be considered a little intense. As a result, none of my “numerical research” relied on these sites for substantiation. They were included nonetheless, as I found them interesting. My numerical research generally relied on 3 to 5 independent sources.

In the end, my conclusions in this blog are based on (1) numerical research, (2) other stories and research (some of which are alluded to in this blog), (3) my limited understanding of certain theories of psychology (and how such theories are used to “predict” or explain the impact of significant events or a series of events), and (4) my general understanding of history (and particularly legal history). Some of the abstract beliefs are either my “thoughts” (instincts) on a matter or the result of creating fanciful hypotheticals in order to establish “boundaries” for a topic; followed by reverse engineering to approximate a center more germane to today’s world. I often find that the “truths” associated with real situations can often more easily be understood by theorizing about the truths associated with impractical, extreme, or unlikely situations.