US Government 101

Proponents of illegal immigration try to claim that it is not an issue and the problem is overblown. Critics claim otherwise, but concrete support is hard to come by.

Here are some of the facts and calculations for my home state of California:

• In 2010, there were an estimated 2.57 million illegal immigrants in California.
• Assuming that the majority of immigrants are from Central or South America and based on the 2009 fertility rate of Hispanics in California (2.43/woman) and assuming an equal mother/father ratio, 55% of these illegal immigrants would be children (1.41 million).
• With 51.4% of California's K-12 school population being Hispanic (3.2 million) in 2011, this may be a conservative figure.
• For 2009-2010, California paid $8,452 per student/year for K-12 schooling. This figure will be higher for illegal immigrants, due to the added costs from subsidized low cost lunches and English as a second language (ESL) classes.
• Based on this, California's cost for funding the schooling of illegal immigrants' children is at least $11.9 billion per year - 13.5% of the state's total tax revenue.
• If we consider the worst case scenario - that all 3.2 million hispanic children are illegal immigrants or are the children of illegal immigrants (anchor babies), California spends more than $27 billion per year - 31% of the state's tax revenue!

What impact has this had on California?

• California's Democrat-controlled legislature cut $17 billion from K-12 education during 2008-2010, $330 million in 2011 and plans to cut another $5 billion in 2012.
• State ranks 4th to last in nation on K-12 per pupil funding during 2010-2011. 
• State ranks next to last in nation on K-12 student to teacher ratio during 2010-2011.
• 69% of the state's 2011 revenue comes from income tax and corporate tax - illegal immigrants contribute nothing to this. The remaining 31% comes from sales, insurance and miscellaneous taxes. Making up only 6.9% of the state's population, they at best contribute 2.1% to total tax revenue ($1.9 billion).

California's education system has steadily eroded as illegal immigrants use up our economic resources. Students are crammed into classrooms with diminishing access to resources and new technology. American citizens and legal immigrants suffer as illegal immigrants are given funding for special ESL classes and subsidized lunches - subsidized by your tax dollars.

On top of the financial drain from education, illegal immigrants also dramatically increase healthcare, welfare and imprisonment costs. Money is taken directly out of the American economy and spent in their home countries. It adds up...

The next time someone claims that illegal immigration does no harm - send them here.