Thread: IL: Maybe there’s something to this immigration bill

Maybe there’s something to this immigration bill
Jerry Moore


Suburban Life Publications
Posted Jan 11, 2011 @ 02:43 PM


Western suburbs — I was pleased that a local legislator responded to my recent criticism of a proposed law and addressed my concerns.

State Rep. Randy Ramey, R-55th District, of Carol Stream called me after I wrote a column last month questioning the figures he used in justifying House Bill 6937. It’s patterned after a law passed in Arizona authorizing law enforcement agents to question suspects about their immigration status.

When introducing the bill in November, he said there were about 800,000 illegal immigrants in Illinois who have cost taxpayers about $4.2 billion. Given that the state faces a budget deficit of about $13 billion, it’s vital we recoup these expenses by curtailing illegal immigration, he said.

However, he couldn’t answer how these costs were mitigated by what illegal immigrants pay in property, self-employment and income taxes. I urged him to research this issue further and conduct a cost/benefit analysis to determine a more accurate figure for how much the state spends as a result of illegal immigration.

To my surprise, this is exactly what Ramey did. I previously claimed he was proposing this bill to score political points. But he has taken this issue seriously enough to counter the questions I raised.

Revising his figures, Ramey told me that Illinois taxpayers spend about $3 billion a year as a result of illegal immigrants. This takes into account the projected revenue illegal immigrants pay in various taxes.

These estimates are based on a study conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform. The costs incurred by taxpayers pertain to education, health care and incarceration expenses for illegal immigrants paid by the state. In addition, Ramey said, he’s been in contact with the Illinois Department of Revenue to obtain any updated figures regarding taxes paid by illegal immigrants.

I was skeptical about such legislation because some people appear more motivated by their bias against certain immigrant groups than they are by fiscal accountability. Ramey, however, based his rationale for this bill on two incontrovertible facts: Illegal immigration costs the state an extraordinary amount of money each year and Illinois has a fiscal crisis.

Those are realities we can’t afford to overlook. Ramey deserves credit for backing up his position with reliable statistics.

www.mysuburbanlife.com

This is encouraging; I live in the Western suburbs. Not as far West as Carol Stream, but we are all in Cook County (sanctuary Cook County), so any immigration outcomes in the 55th District can have an effect on all of us in sanctuary Cook County. Not to mention that with the last election we have a new County President, the idiot Stroger is gone, who made Cook County a sanctuary. (I am hopeful that we can reverse the sanctuary status with this new County President.)

And the Illinois legislature just raised our income tax to pay for all this.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

And the Illinois legislature just raised our income tax to pay for all this.

I guess so!

Hope this action does not spread to Minnesota.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=570_1294828543