$7.4 billion expense hurting American kids, group says

$7.4 billion expense hurting American kids, group says

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=34232

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Posted: August 24, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Jon Dougherty
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

An immigration reform group says in a new study it costs states more
than $7.4 billion a year to educate illegal aliens, with budget-busted
California spending more than any other.

Worse, warns the Federation for American Immigration Reform report,
the extra expenditures are taking funds away from American children at
a time when "public schools throughout the country are facing some of
the most significant decreases in state education funding in decades."

"With state budgets in crisis and children taking the hit,
communities' limited tax dollars are being diverted to accommodate
mass illegal immigration," said the report. "In some states, the
amount of money spent to educate illegal alien children accounts for a
substantial portion of the state budget shortfall; in New Jersey, for
instance, it accounts for 28 percent of the total state budget
deficit."

FAIR says almost two-thirds of states either have cut back or proposed
reductions in their child care and early childhood programs.

"In some states, drastic cuts mean lay-offs for teachers, larger class
sizes, fewer textbooks, and eliminating sports, language programs and
after-school activities," the report noted.

The total cost, FAIR says, is "enough to buy a computer for every
junior high student nationwide."

Other immigration reformists have said the cost of providing education
and other public services to illegals has steadily been on the rise.

Adding to those costs, says Jim Boulet, Jr., head of English First, a
group pushing English as the nation's official language, are
translation costs to schools that must hire interpreters for
Spanish-only immigrant students.

Plus, Boulet told WorldNetDaily, "Cuban Spanish, Puerto Rican Spanish,
Chicano Spanish, and additional forms of Spanish all exist within the
borders of the U.S., creating vast potential for cross-cultural
confusion" and, of course, extra expense, despite "California being an
official English state."

According to the FAIR report, California spends the most - $2.2
billion - to educate illegal immigrant children. Ranking second and
third, respectively, are Texas and New York.

FAIR analysts said each state's per-pupil expenditure was reported by
the U.S. Department of Education. The group said it based its figures
on the Urban Institute's estimate of 1.1 million school-aged illegal
immigrant children currently residing in the U.S.

The report also says there are efforts underway in several states and
Congress to allow illegal aliens to pay deeply discounted, in-state
tuition rates at public colleges and universities - rates not
available to American citizens from out of state.

"As states cut school funding left and right, all of our children -
native-born and immigrants alike - are receiving a poorer education as
a result of the federal government passing its immigration law
enforcement failures on to the states," the report concluded. "The
implications for the coming generations of workers, our future economy
and our long-term competitiveness in the world cannot be ignored."

Supporters of immigration say the cost to educate immigrant children -
legal or otherwise - is a non-issue.

"Regardless of what the dollar figure is, these children have a right
to an education," Jim Ferg-Cadima, legislative staff lawyer at the
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, told The Washington
Times. "The issue was litigated all the way to the Supreme Court, and
the Supreme Court decided on the issue."

In the high court's 1982 decision, Plyler v. Doe, justices said in a
5-4 decision the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment forbade
public schools from prohibiting any children, regardless of
citizenship status, an education.

Other supporters say the cost of educating illegals is minimal
compared to the overall $700 billion annual cost of public education.
And, they say it is the nation's best interests to educate illegal
alien children rather than ignore them.

Still, the costs are continuing to rise and they come at a time when
more Americans have become fed up with providing benefits to illegal
immigrants.

An Aug. 30, 2001, Harris Interactive poll found 60 percent of
Americans opposed a new plan to grant illegals amnesty.

"By decisive margins, the American public believes that illegal
immigration is a net drain on public resources and that granting
amnesty to illegal immigrants will encourage even more people to
migrate illegally," the survey said.

A RoperASW poll in March found three in four Americans would reduce
the number of immigrants allowed into the country annually.
Fifty-eight percent would limit legal immigration to 300,000 a year,
and 85 percent viewed illegal immigration as a "serious" problem.

"Illegal immigration is no free lunch," Dan Stein, executive director
of FAIR, told the Times. "It's about shifting burdens - lowering labor
costs at a tremendous cost not only to American taxpayers but to
American kids."

Mark Krikorian, head of the Center for Immigration Studies, said U.S.
and state governments could reduce costs by enforcing laws on the
books.

"The solution is to start enforcing the law - not just at the border,
which is politically easy, but also inside the country," he told
WorldNetDaily.

Added FAIR spokesman David Ray: "If illegal immigration is not stopped
at the border, its negative consequences, including bankrupt emergency
rooms and overcrowded schools, quickly become everyone's financial
burden."