Thread: New Study by FAIR Shows Illegal Immigration Costs New Jersey

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New Study by FAIR Shows Illegal Immigration Costs New Jersey More Than $2.1 Billion a Year



WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new study by the
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) showing that illegal
aliens cost New Jersey more than $2.1 billion annually may help explain why
the state continues to suffer multi-billion dollar budget deficits, and as
Governor Jon Corzine admitted, "one of the worst tax burdens in the United
States." The Costs of Illegal Immigration to New Jerseyians analyzes public
expenditures for education, medical care, and incarceration for the
estimated 372,000 illegal aliens residing in the state.
At $1.85 billion annually, public education for K-12 represents the
largest fiscal liability. FAIR estimates about 50,000 children are in the
state illegally and an additional 94,000 are children born in the U.S. to
illegal aliens. Combined, these students represent about 10.3 percent of
New Jersey public school enrollment. Publicly funded, unreimbursed medical
outlays for health care cost the state about $200 million a year, while the
personnel cost of incarcerating deportable aliens in state and local
prisons amounts to about $50 million annually.
"New Jersey's financial situation is so bad they furloughed 80,000
workers last year, then immediately increased taxes on average citizens to
pay their way out of a growing $4.5 billion deficit," said Dan Stein,
President of FAIR. "With proof that illegal aliens cost the state at least
$2.1 billon per year, New Jersey can longer ignore the massive burden these
people are placing on the state budget and they certainly should not be
encouraging even more by harboring illegals aliens in sanctuary cities like
Trenton."
FAIR's study follows up on a study done by the Urban Institute in 1994,
which limited its analysis to the same three state funded program areas of
education, health care and incarceration. New Jersey's total cost of
illegal immigration would be considerably higher if other cost areas were
also calculated such as preventative health programs, special English
instruction, welfare programs used by the U.S. born children of illegal
aliens, or welfare benefits for American workers displaced by illegal alien
workers.
"The huge cost of illegal aliens to New Jersey is compounding
longstanding fiscal problems that are plaguing the state. At 372,000 --
about a hundred thousand people more than the population of Newark --
illegal immigrants are filling the schools, hospitals and jails beyond
capacity and capability. The $2.1 billion in costs should convince New
Jersey that it must stop benefits for illegal aliens and focus instead on
reducing the tax burdens of its law- abiding, legal residents," Stein
concluded.