Thread: Guy W. Farmer: The high cost of illegal immigration

Guy W. Farmer: The high cost of illegal immigration

By Guy W. Farmer
For the Nevada Appeal
April, 23 2011 11:15 pm

Nevada Appeal
During a recent family visit to Seattle, I came across some startling statistics about the high cost of illegal immigration. According to the Seattle Times, the state of Washington will spend more than $300 million on illegal immigrants over the next two years as the state is attempting to close a $5 billion budget deficit. Does any of this sound familiar?

Although Washington state has a much higher population, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that Nevada is home to almost as many illegal immigrants — approximately 200,000 for Washington compared to our 180,000. So the costs are probably comparable when we examine how much we're spending on illegals in the midst of a state budget crisis. But is the Democrat-dominated Nevada Legislature paying attention to this key fiscal issue? Probably not.

Extrapolating the numbers, I think it's safe to say that Nevada spends at least $135 million per year on services for illegal immigrants, not counting k-12 education (which the Times survey didn't cover). The most expensive categories for Nevada taxpayers are some $90 million worth of health care benefits including aid to pregnant women who are ineligible for Medicaid, medical and dental aid for low-income children, expensive kidney dialysis and cancer treatments for indigents, and nursing home care for illegal seniors.

The most startling fact about these statistics is that they don't include the cost of public education or what the states spend on law enforcement and court costs, including defense attorneys and bilingual interpreters. So the annual cost of providing free services to illegal immigrants could well approach $200 million in the Silver State.

If Nevada lawmakers had the courage to address this issue, the debate would probably sound like it does in Olympia, Wash. “Some Republicans have proposed limiting services to people who can't prove that they're here legally,â€

"The cost of illegal aliens to the state of Nevada is $1.2 billion dollars a year!"
http://twg2a.files.wordpress.com/2010/1 ... ystate.jpg

The truth should be admitted, illegal aliens is the reason this Country is falling apart and going broke. Any person with a bit of common sense should know this is a true statement.

Originally Posted by Pisces_2010

The truth should be admitted, illegal aliens is the reason this Country is falling apart and going broke. Any person with a bit of common sense should know this is a true statement.

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