Thread: Illegal immigration costs Delaware $65.83 million a year

http://www.matt.org/english/immigration ... tions.html

Illegal Immigration Study Raises Questions
J.L. Miller
DOVER -- Illegal immigration costs Delaware $65.83 million annually in expenditures for social services, education and other costs, according to a report prepared for the state House of Representatives.

That translates to $79.50 for every man, woman and child legally residing in Delaware, the study found.

But the validity of that report, released late Thursday, is hotly disputed -- and even the sponsor of the House resolution ordering the study is questioning its conclusions.

The study was prepared by Steven Hicks, a Delaware Economic Development Office employee, in response to a June directive from the house for DEDO to study the impact of illegal immigration on Delaware's financial picture. But even in the report, DEDO indicated the House request was too broad to produce an accurate report: "Federal law often limits collection of information, and accurate data is either non-existent or collected in so many different ways as to be incomparable without detailed assessment," the report stated.

Word of the study's completion -- but not the findings themselves -- was tucked into a presentation that DEDO officials delivered Thursday to the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee.

But even that one-sentence mention of the study's completion irked some lawmakers, particularly Rep. Joseph E. Miro, R-Pike Creek Valley.

Miro, who was born in Cuba, told DEDO officials that he "take(s) offense at the fact that you included the minority study" in the presentation.

By doing so, he said, "It's out in the public, out to the press."

"This report carries no weight, it carries no water," Miro said, adding that it is "very difficult to assess the positive side of illegal immigrants."

The report also takes much of its data from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that in December was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center's list of hate groups operating in the United States.

Guillermina Gonzalez, executive director of Voices Without Borders, had not read the report, but said any report, in order to be balanced, needs to include both costs and contributions of undocumented immigrants.

The report was released publicly about two hours after the JFC hearing.

Controller General Russ Larson cautioned that the conclusion that illegal immigration costs each legal Delaware resident $79.50 could easily be taken by the public as fact, even when the conclusion is suspect.

"Throwing a number out like $79.50, it becomes gospel, and this number isn't even close to gospel. It could be anything," Larson said.

According to the report, that dollar figure was generated by dividing the state's annual budget by the number of people in the state, and then multiplied by 25,000 -- the estimated number of undocumented immigrants living in Delaware.

Rep. Deborah D. Hudson, R-Fairthorne, who sponsored the resolution ordering the study, distanced herself from its findings Thursday.

In an interview, Hudson said it is not the conclusions -- which could be politically difficult in an election year -- that trouble her.

"Many people avoid the issue. I don't think it's an issue to be avoided," Hudson said.

"Back in June, I thought there was an urgent need for information on the cost illegal immigrants cost Delaware taxpayers. I thought that would be good for just good, general public policy information and for planning in the future," she said. "Now, I get the information six months later and I'm presented the information and it's not as complete as I expected."

Hudson said she plans to introduce another resolution calling for further study because "the complexity of it is obvious, but nevertheless I feel it's important to get this information, so I will pursue this."

Hicks' 84-page study, which also served as his doctoral dissertation at Wilmington University's Dover campus, uses an estimate of 25,000 undocumented immigrants in Delaware who pay about $32.17 million in taxes.

He calculated that these same immigrants cost $98 million in taxpayer expenditures, leaving a drain on the system of $65.83 million. Dividing that number by Delaware's population -- minus the estimated 25,000 illegal immigrants -- yields the $79.50 per-person cost.

But Hicks also found that the influx of immigrants into Delaware is not taking jobs from legal residents. Delaware's unemployment rate fluctuates around 3.5 percent, with 3 percent being considered "full employment."

And Hicks himself acknowledged that the topic needs more study, urging the General Assembly "to assemble experts from the individual agencies and programs mentioned in the language of the resolution to collect the pertinent funding and expenditure information along with demographic statistics from each of the service segments, and reassess Delaware's economic impact with that more detailed information."

Maria Matos, executive director of the Latin American Community Center, said she's disappointed.

"This is just going to create more hatred, add fuel to the fire," she said, adding that the Latin American Community Center is inviting the report's author and DEDO to an open forum 7 p.m. Thursday at the center to respond to community questions.

Miro said that without acknowledging the potential benefits of the undocumented community, the report has no value.

"The other consequence of something like this is it may very well antagonize and politicize different communities," he said. "This unintended consequence will have a significant impact for everybody."

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs ... /802080351

They lost all credibility when the IA hugger says the report isn't complete if illegal alien advocates and the National Counicl of La RAZA (the race) weren't consulted.