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Texas officials tally costs of illegal immigration
By Zahira Torres \ Austin Bureau
Posted: 08/19/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

AUSTIN -- Undocumented immigrants cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars each year, executives of state agencies said Wednesday.

They delivered that message to state legislators during a meeting of the House Committee on State Affairs.

It is a message that is likely to be a sticking point as the state looks for ways to make up a budget deficit of up to $18 billion.

And it is one that could become a point of contention as some Republican legislators push a state immigration law that mimics one in Arizona.

The state spends an estimated $96 million on medical services for undocumented immigrants, according to figures from the Health and Human Services Commission.

Other state workers said about 9,800 inmates with federal immigration "holds" were in state prisons. Their care cost an estimated $153 million after a $17.9 million federal reimbursement.

Several lawmakers said Texas was being saddled with costs that should be the responsibility of the federal government.

"It's kind of up to the feds if they want to create programs to reimburse state costs in connection with undocumented workers," said committee Chairman Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton.

State Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, said he was happy that talks centered on facts and figures, but he said no one provided any information about how much undocumented immigrants contribute to the state's economy. That, he said, will have to be considered before lawmakers start making decisions that affect millions of people.

About 1.4 million undocumented immigrants bolstered Texas' economy by an estimated $17.7 billion in 2005, according to a 2006 report from the state comptroller.

Back then, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn estimated that state revenues from undocumented immigrants exceeded what the state spent on services for them by nearly $425 million.

But, she said, it was the reverse for local governments and hospitals, which had an estimated loss of nearly $929 million in 2005.

Members of the comptroller's staff said they had not received a request for an updated report on the effects of undocumented immigrants.

The next legislative session will deal with issues that include a budget deficit, redistricting and federal health-care reform. Immigration probably will be added to that list.

"If you throw in Arizona law approaches to these problems, it will be a very ugly, painful session," Oliveira said.

An Arizona-type law in Texas could bring additional costs and mean a loss of manpower if state and local law officers are pulled away their duties to act as de facto border patrol agents, Democratic legislators said.

Arizona also recently mandated the implementation of the "E-verify system," which is supposed to determine whether a person can legally work in the U.S.

But Michael Golden, a labor lawyer, told lawmakers that the program could be costly for Texas and said questions remain about its effectiveness. He said the system sometimes counts undocumented immigrants as if they were in the country legally and at other times gives the opposite information.

Steve McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety, told lawmakers that a law like Arizona's would create additional costs. But, he said, he did not have any estimates readily available. "The challenge is how many times will a trooper, during the course of his or her day, run into and be required to detain," McCraw said.

An exchange between Oliveira and Denton County Judge Mary Horn, a Republican, demonstrated some of the back-and-forth that lawmakers will face on the issue next session.

Horn said undocumented immigrants have driven up healthcare and prison costs in her county.

When Oliveira asked Horn to consider the additional costs that an Arizona-type law may place on counties, she agreed and responded: "It would fill up our jail, and really the only solution is to close the border."

Oliveira retorted, "Well that's your suggestion. That could also destroy the Texas economy in other ways."