The Cost of Illegal Immigration

1070. This used to be any 'ol number; now it's known for demonizing many in Arizona for wanting to enforce federal laws in regard to illegal immigration. I've been meaning to blog for weeks about this whole topic but I keep getting side tracked. If I'm not sidetracked, I tend to get a little overwhelmed with the enormity of the whole thing. But I need to eat this elephant one bite at a time, so here goes nothing. I am a proud American agriculturalist and I have heard enough. I plan on sharing my opinion and heart on topics ranging from securing the border to illegal immigration in the coming weeks. You may not agree with me on everything, but I pray you'll consider the opposing argument. I will do my best to verify my arguements and supplement them with facts.

To start with, let's talk about the cost of illegal immigration. The facts below speak for themselves:

1. $11 - $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments. Verify at: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=iic_immigrationissuecenters7fd8

2. $2.2 billion a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

3. $2.5 billion a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. Verify at: http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.HTML

4. $12 billion a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English. Verify at: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANscriptS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML

This link did not work for me. I did find information on Factcheck.org that pooh-poohed th entire report on cost to taxpayers to support illegals. The following link places the actual yearly education cost for illegals at more than $28 billion per year. Verify at: http://www.mnforsustain.org/immg_costs_of_educating_legal_illegals_fair.htm

5. During 2005 there were 4-10 million illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border with as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from terrorist countries. Millions of pounds of narcotics crossed into the United States through the Southern Border. Verify at: Homeland Security report.

6. The National Policy Institute estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion. This is an average of $41-$46 billion annually over a five year period. Verify at: http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/PDF/deportation.PDF

I couldn't find the link...but you should check out the website anyway. They have some good stuff.