Posted on 08/08/2005 8:20:26 PM PDT by Happy2BMe
Illegal Immigration Costs Florida $4.3 Billion a Year, Report Says
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
August 08, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - A report by an immigration reform group shows that illegal immigration costs the state of Florida at least $4.3 billion a year in health care, education and incarceration costs.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) predicts the state's costs of illegal immigration will increase to nearly $8 billion a year within 10 years unless it is controlled.
"Average Floridians are being asked to pay dearly for the failure of the federal government to control illegal immigration, and for a small number of business interests in the state addicted to low-wage illegal alien labor," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR, in a statement.
"The $4.3 billion being spent on illegal immigrants and their families means those resources are not available to improve and upgrade Florida's woefully overcrowded schools and overburdened public hospitals," said Stein.
"Nor are those funds available for urgent infrastructure repairs needed as a result of the succession of devastating hurricanes that ravaged the state in the last several years," Stein added.
FAIR used Census and other data to estimate the size of Florida's illegal immigrant population to be 630,000, which is larger than the populations of Tampa and St. Petersburg combined.
The costs to Floridians, according to the report, is more than $4 billion a year in providing public education to the children of illegal immigrants, about $165 million a year in non-reimbursed costs for health care, and about $155 million a year to jail illegal aliens in county and state correctional facilities.
"In reality, low-wage illegal alien labor is prohibitively expensive, when the costs of vital public services are factored into the equation," Stein saidd. "Average Floridians are being forced to subsidize illegal immigration and the burden will increase rapidly unless federal, state and local governments begin working together to stem the massive influx."
There's nothing special about illegal alien workers. If American workers and/or legal immigrant workers filled these jobs, they would be contributing this $800 Billion (if accurate) to the GDP.
Without illegal laborers a lot of people in Florida still wouldn't have roofs. With another Hurricane headed their way, I bet the citizens of Florida aren't complaining at all about their illegal laborers.
Given a choice, the majority of the residents of Florida, just like the majority of Americans, would like for these workers to be Amercans and/or legal immigrants.
(I try and stay with the facts as much as I can for decision purposes.)
Considering and going down deeper into your source (BusinessWeek Online):
Q: How is the undocumented immigrant community affecting the U.S. economy?
A: First and foremost, it's a source of value added. The total goods and services that they consume through their paycheck, plus all that they produce for their employers, is close to about $800 billion.
They're also producing at relatively lower costs because the undocumented population typically gets about 20% less in wages than if they were legalized. That leads to lower prices for us and higher profits to employers.
In addition, they're obviously a huge consumer base. We've seen that 90% of the wages that the undocumented population gets are spent inside the U.S. Remittances are sent abroad, but that only represents about 10% of immigrants' income. The numbers are becoming quite huge. We estimate about $50 billion dollars in remittances this year. That means that total consumptive capacity remaining in the U.S. is $400 billion to $450 billion.=========================================
That paints a very rosey picture for the employers of these "undocumented" workers.
You know the arugment on this. It will be a hard sell. I don't think the OBL can do it.
so there goes my damm tax dollars eh?
"Illegal Immigration Costs Florida $4.3 Billion a Year, Report Says"
Expect that figure to double or triple in the coming years. The same goes for California, New York, Texas and other states with high presence of illegal immigrants.
Don't hold your breath waiting for that link. I asked him repeatedly for a link when he mistated a number concerning "hispanics" in the Marine Corp a week or so ago. I am still waiting.
Cannon suffers from a very bad case of White Guilt, and that clouds his mind on this issue.
First of all, its mass immigration that is opposed, not all immigration. Cannon does a very leftist thing in bascially saying that those opposed to mass immigration are really racists, but they hide it behind concerns about the economy, national security, etc. Thanks Rep Cannon! Now I know that such concerns are bogus, as they are simply code for "I hate Mexicans."
Very few voters have had to wait in ERs because of illegals.
Very few voters have been fired because their employer wanted to replace them with an illegal.
Very few voters have caught the black plague from an illegal.
Very few voters have been raped by an illegal.
Very few voters have been disadvantaged in any way because of illegals speaking Spanish or celebrating Cinco de Mayo.
Very few school district tax increases can be directly traced to illegals
Etc....
On the other hand:
A lot of voters have lawn services possibly employing illegals
A lot of voters bought houses built in part by illegals.
A lot of voters have used house cleaning services employimg illegals.
A lot of voters drop their kids off at daycares employing illegals.
A lot of voters dine at restaurants which employ illegals, including friendly waiters..
A lot of voters see illegals building and maintaining roads.
A lot of voters work in office buildings, hospitals, etc.. with cleaning services employing illegals.
A lot of voters work for companies that directly or indirectly benefit from illegal laborers.
A lot of voters attend churches that have outreach programs for impoverished Hispanic immigrants.
A lot of voters have had body work done on their cars by shops employing illegals.
A lot of voters have their trash collected by illegals.
A lot of voters are Christians who know compassion instead of just hatred, envy and jealousy.
The real macro numbers are also on the side of immigrants. They are replacing the 40 million aborted workers. They are essential to sustain our economy. The phony studies by FAIR and similar ZPG groups will not stand up in Congressional hearings when compared with OMB, Dept of Labor, Census, and other official government statistics.
Add the testimony of the Secretary of Homeland Security that we have to have the immigration reforms in order to secure our borders from terrorists, and the sell isn't going to be very difficult at all.
California pays $9 BILLION - that's for medical care; welfare; food stamps; and educating the illegals' children.
ping
I don't agree with it, but that is your right.
Your echoing of Mexico's President Fox (and you are echoing him almost ver batim) on the rationale that the United States now "needs" the additional labor from Mexico to replace an entire generation (est. 40 million) aborted U.S. citizens . . well . . .
I take that one with a grain of salt. Vincente is basically grasping at straws on that one, even though morally I do agree with him on the reason for it being the 40 million abortions.
Apparently, the majority of those holding public office at the congressional and senate levels agree with you also - evidence being the open border with practically zero enforcement or prosecutions of employers hiring illegal aliens.
Can that be sustained without substantial backlash?
For starters they got married while young, didn't have the pill and didn't abort forty million "mistakes" that the pill didn't prevent.
.
I'm not willing to clean toilets for $3/hr, but I would do it if I was paid enough.
How much would you clean toilets for?
.
"Almost every single illegal receives free health care, free dental care, WIC for their girlfriends and kids, foodstamps,"
Wrong, that's more myths. Immigrants are prohibited by federal law from receiving any type welfare or assistance for the first five years. WIC is an exception because the baby is an American citizen. If your state or city wants to offer illegals welfare not funded with federal dollars that is your local problem. You know there is a reason for winning elections instead of losing them on principle.
"I don't see any mention of the $800 Billion that illegal laborers contribute to the GDP."
What a bunch of hogwash.
your boy "Hinojosa, a fast-talking, pony-tailed graduate of University of Chicago's PhD program, is cashing in on the boom in illegal immigration himself. His startup, No Borders Inc., pedals debit-like cards on which immigrants can store cash, send money home to Mexico, make phone calls, and join medical discount plans." is full of it!
And there is no way in hell that 12 million illegal aliens contribute EIGHT HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS to an 11 trillion dollar economy. Unless your illegals are all drug dealing "Tony Montanas"...which they aren't. More like "Jose no speakie Engli" geniuses making two or 300 a week cleaning toilets, washing cars or cutting yards is their speed!
Take that BS and sell it down in Tijuana 'cause that dog won't hunt around here.
I know EXACTLY what they make working at car washes, grocery stores and landscaping.
Bookmark
==================================
You know about the children of the illegal aliens who were deported last week in Arkansas being left behind due to the parents denying their existence.
How do you feel about that?
I am. I call the cops on them when I see them.
Took down the tag numbers of the last bunch. Texas tag on a van.
What do you know. Next day a car there in use by the workers had the same damn tag it. Van never showed up.
"His startup, No Borders Inc., pedals debit-like cards on which immigrants can store cash, send money home to Mexico, make phone calls, and join medical discount plans."===============================
News to me . .
"join medical discount plans"
that's another piece of BS
We've had TWENTY EIGHT HOSPITALS CLOSE IN LOS ANGELES alone in the past year because they couldn't recover the costs of illegals coming in their facilities for medical care!!!!
Illegal Immigration Costs Florida $4,333,000,000 a Year, Report Says ^
The population of Florida is 15,982,378
Roughly they cost every Floridian $270 a year. So if you are married with three kids, (five persons total in the house) that's only $1,350.00)
Hey Dad, who is going to get upset about paying an extra thirteen hundred a year for some criminals. I mean that's not even $120 a month, Poppa. Big deal, so somebody steals $4.00 a day from your wallet. That's not even that's cost of two gallons of gas.
Just calm down Man, open your damn wallet, will ya?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.