Illegal Immigration Costs Colorado $1.1 Billion Annually Finds Newly Released FAIR Study

Federation for American Immigration Reform ^ | Dec. 11, '08

[T.L.Sink]

A report prepared by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) finds that illegal immigration costs Colorado about $1.1 billion a year. The report, "The Costs of illegal Immigration to Coloradans," looks at just three essential state services and programs: K-12 education, public health care, and incarceration from criminal illegal aliens. While the state spends more than $1 billion on services for illegal aliens, Colorado is faced with a $101 million budget shortfall for the current fiscal year. EDUCATION K-12: Education for the estimated 84,000 children of illegal aliens attending public schools costs taxpayers $925 million and an additional $68 million per year for the special needs of non-English-speaking kids. HEALTH CARE: Uncompensated health care for illegal aliens costs $78 milion per year. INCARCERATION: IN ADDITION TO the human and economic costs of crimes committed by criminal illegal aliens, incrceration costs are $38 million annually. "The costs of illegal immigration in Colorado are ten times greater than the current fiscal shortfall," said Dan Stein, preseident of FAIR. "Even in the best of economic times,$1.1 billion would be an unnecessary and unjustifiable burden on taxpayers. With Colorado, like nearly every state, forced to cut vital services and programs these costs are simply untenable," he said.

[T.L.Sink]

The social and fiscal catastrophe of Colorado isn't exceptional but typical today of many others. The Center for Immigration Studies recently announced, for example, that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission reported that local hospital districts spent an alarming $677 million to provide health care to illegal immigrants in a year. And this is happening more and more frequently in non-border states and non-urban areas. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies summed up the national crisis proportions of illegal immigration: "A Mexican peasant with a sixth-grade education wouldn't do a whole lot better in the labor market even if we gave him a green card. And what our modern society considers minimum-acceptable livng standards aren't going to change. So we're still going to subsidize such people. The bottom line is that importing 19th century labor into a 21st century society is always a losing proposition."

[relictele]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2147153/posts

[Sefton]

Welcome to my world! My state, California is bankrupt but the Terminator has turned into the Taxinator!

[dreadnought321]

LA county is where my Aunt teaches. The gang activity is just lovely down there in the school. Lots of MS 13 types. It literally is a war zone, even in the schools.
Note to would be teachers in California. DONT teach in LA unified if you value your safety!

[Nea Wood]

DONT teach in LA unified if you value your safety!

Excellent advice. The horror stories I've heard about LA Unified would curl one's hair.

[pallis]

Only $1.1 billion? That’s pocket change in DC. Congress could give that to Colorado without having a meeting. If they won’t, Bush will be glad to help. After all, it’s his legacy.

[BrianE]

Add Missconsin to the list, it can’t be worse than here.

[dadgum]

Add Oregon. OHP is killing us.