California's price tag for its 2.55 million illegals, FAIR reports, is $21.8 billion annually. As FAIR concludes, the cost of illegals accounts for all of the budget deficits California and New York now face in 2011: "With many state budgets in deficit, policymakers have an obligation to look for ways to reduce the fiscal burden of illegal migration. California, facing a budget deficit of $14.4 billion in 2010-2011, is hit with an estimated $21.8 billion in annual expenditures on illegal aliens. New York's $6.8 billion deficit is smaller than its $9.5 billion in yearly illegal alien costs." Conclusion for these two states? Get rid of the illegals, the deficits disappear.
Why did Arizonans pass their controversial law that permitted police to check the immigration status of those with whom they have a lawful contact? It wasn't just because illegals murder ranchers and are conducting what amounts to open warfare on these beleaguered Southwestern Americans. They are breaking the state financially. According to FAIR, illegals cost Arizonans $2.57 billion annually.
To some, these estimates might seem high, but that is because FAIR calculates the cost by including every program for which illegals are eligible, and importantly, includes the cost of their U.S.-born children. Most calculations leave them out because those children are, they say, U.S. citizens. "We include these U.S. citizen children of illegal aliens because the fiscal outlays for them are a direct result of the illegal migration that led to their U.S. birth," FAIR reports. "We do so as well in the assumption that if the parents leave voluntarily or involuntarily they will take these children with them. The birth of these children and their subsequent medical care represent a large share of the estimated Medicaid and Child Health Insurance program expenditures associated with illegal aliens."
As well, FAIR also includes, for instance, the cost that states create by giving aliens in-state college tuition or other forms of tuition assistance. About 60,000 illegals attend college in the 11 states that offer in-state tuition rates, at a cost of $244 million annually.
California: A Case Study
With the most illegal aliens, California is an excellent example of the distorted picture created when legislators and the media misreport the truth. Last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that illegals cost the state about $4 billion to $6 billion annually in three major areas: education, healthcare, and crime.
According to the Times, illegals in the public school system cost just $2.3 billion. But the paper likely didn't count the U.S.-born children of illegals, also known as anchor babies. The real cost of illegals in California's public school system, kindergarten through high school, FAIR reports, is $11.1 billion annually.
The Times claimed that 19,000 illegals in the state's justice system cost taxpayers $834 million. Not so, according to FAIR. The real figure is about $3.2 billion.
The newspaper's estimate for healthcare was even further off: "The expected state tab for healthcare in fiscal 2009-10 is $703 million for as many as 780,000 illegal immigrants." Possibly, the paper is claiming that only 780,000 of California's 2.55 million illegals partake of state healthcare programs and use state healthcare facilities. Even then, the figure would be way off. According to FAIR, medical care for illegals costs Californians nearly $3 billion annually.
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Granted, the Times figures are older, but an article published this year would likely show the same major discrepancies.
Figures from L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich sharpen FAIR's point. According to Antonovich, "In July 2010, $52 million in welfare benefits ($22 million CalWORKs + $30 million in Food Stamps) were issued to parents who reside in the United States illegally and collect benefits for their native-born children in Los Angeles County--representing an increase of $3.7 million from July 2009. This amounts to approximately 23 percent of all CalWORKs and Food Stamp issuances in the County. In 2009, CalWORKs and Food Stamp issuances to illegals totaled nearly $570 million. Based on the monthly figures in 2010, the total cost for the year will exceed $600 million."
According to Eric Ruark, the lead researcher on the FAIR study, the explanation for the discrepancy between what FAIR and the Times reported, and likely figures most other sources would report, is that public officials "don't want to count the real costs."