Thread: Educating illegal immigrants is costly

Tuesday, August 17th By Lance T. Izumi

As the debate on illegal immigration rages in Washington and state capitals, it’s troubling to see both sides rely on emotional rhetoric to the detriment of facts. The impact of illegal immigration on public education is a case in point.

No one can deny that increasing numbers of children of illegal immigrants attend public schools in the United States and that U.S. taxpayers pay the costs. Those sympathetic to illegal immigration tend to remain silent about these costs, while illegal-immigration opponents often fall short on specifics. In the interest of more informed discourse, here are the numbers.

According to a study released last year by the Pew Hispanic Center, as of 2008, 11.9 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States, more than triple the 3.5 million who lived in the country in 1990.

Among the states, California has the largest number of illegal immigrants with 2.7 million, nearly double the 1.4 million in Texas. California’s illegal-immigrant population has swelled by 1.2 million since 1990, while Texas has added a million. A large proportion of illegal-immigrant households are families.

Nearly half, 47 percent, of illegal-immigrant households consist of parents with children. This proportion is more than double that of U.S.-born households, where just 21 percent are parents with children. Over the years, the number of children of illegal immigrants has increased significantly.

In 2003, there were 4.3 million children of illegal immigrants. By 2008 that number had climbed to 5.5 million, more than the entire population of Colorado. The large number of children of illegal immigrants greatly impacts public schools and education-funding costs.

The Pew study found that in 2008, “Children of unauthorized immigrants are 6.8 percent of students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12,â€

And why are the pro-illegal immigration people ok with this? Im NOT OK WITH THIS!!! Every time i read just how much of my tax money is going to take care of illegal immigrants i get so angry. Its wrong! Do most American families just not know how much this is costing them? They couldn't possibly be so ignorant!

The tremendous number of anchor babies in this country dispels the myth that "hardworking" illegal aliens only come here to work to support their families; most bring their families with them, add some more to the bunch after arriving, and expect taxpayers to support them all. Restore some financial stability to the states: end birthright citizenship!

It's not just the monetary cost. The mere presence of these illegal students in our schools reduces the quality of education available to our own citizen children. The time spent with non-English speaking students takes teacher time away from others and the attitude of non-citizen students toward education negatively impacts the atmosphere of learning in our schools. American parents who want a good education for their children need to turn to private schools - except Catholic schools which have the same problems as public schools.

I'd like to know why our government thinks it's OK for an illegal to PURPOSELY cross over the border just for the purpose of having a baby. I'm talking about illegals who don't live in the US. It's not like they cross over for a "legitimate" reason and then "accidentally" have a baby on US soil.

Every time I read an article like this one I'm disappointed that it only mentions "the average cost" of educating students. They're leaving out the FACT that WE are spending MORE to educate the IA kids than WE spend educating our OWN KIDS! I've read articles stating how some schools had to cut out funding for advanced classes so they could pay for more ESL classes.

Why aren't more CITIZENS getting fighting mad over this?

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

Every time I read an article like this one I'm disappointed that it only mentions "the average cost" of educating students. They're leaving out the FACT that WE are spending MORE to educate the IA kids than WE spend educating our OWN KIDS! I've read articles stating how some schools had to cut out funding for advanced classes so they could pay for more ESL classes.

Why aren't more CITIZENS getting fighting mad over this?

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I know a professional speech therapist who works in the public education system. She told me that the average length of time for children of illegal immigrants to ASSIMILATE into the public education system is SIX YEARS!

That means that for those BEGINNING IN THE FIRST GRADE, they are only beginning to fully assimilate IN THE SEVENTH GRADE!!!

It takes that long for the children to assimilate because they don't have to speak English in the primary grades. At least not here in El Paso. Those children who do not speak English are placed in the "holy" Bilingual classes where they spend pretty much the entire time they are there each day speaking only Spanish. I don't even know why they bother to call it "bilingual" because it's not. The illegal parents of those kids also quite frankly....don't give a damn about school. School for them means free babysitting.

Originally Posted by elpasoborn

It takes that long for the children to assimilate because they don't have to speak English in the primary grades. At least not here in El Paso. Those children who do not speak English are placed in the "holy" Bilingual classes where they spend pretty much the entire time they are there each day speaking only Spanish. I don't even know why they bother to call it "bilingual" because it's not. The illegal parents of those kids also quite frankly....don't give a damn about school. School for them means free babysitting.

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ALL OF THE ABOVE IS FACT

Take it and apply it to EVERY COUNTY in the country and there is your reality.

The TWO LARGEST enablers of the illegal alien invasion from Mexico are:

#1 - Organized Religion

#2 - Public Education

Proponents of "bilingual" education say that children who do not speak English must first be proficient in their own native language first in order to be able to learn English....hence, "bilingual education".
Why is it our job to teach them their own language? Shouldn't they have learned their own language in their own damn country?