Study: Illegal immigration costs state billions
By ELAINE AYALA San Antonio Express-News
April 24, 2009, 9:35AM

A new study by the Austin-based Immigration Reform Coalition of Texas estimates that illegal immigration costs the state $4.5 billion to $6 billion a year, an amount mostly spent on educating their children.

But the study’s methodology was called flawed by the liberal Migration Policy Institute and the Center for Public Policy Priorities, as well as the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

Written by consultant James Bernsen — who did a similar study in 2006 for the conservative Lone Star Foundation — the report found that the costs of educating children of unauthorized immigrants aren’t offset by the estimated $1 billion a year in tax revenues the state collects from their parents, making such families a burden to the state.

“A perfect picture will continue to be impossible as long as state bureaucrats intentionally refuse to collect appropriate data on the numbers of illegal immigrants using Texas government services, particularly education,â€