Florida Budget Crisis Would Be Lessened by Ending Illegal Immigration Costs

(Washington, D.C. January 29, 2009) Florida’s lawmakers now grappling with a budget deficit estimated at $2.3 billion, were advised three years ago of the mounting costs of illegal immigration in the state. In 2006 The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) issued a study of the fiscal cost of illegal immigration to Floridians. At that time, the cost to the state’s taxpayers was $1.735 billion dollars a year. That estimate included the cost of educating the children of illegal aliens both those illegally in the country and those born here in K-12 public schools, emergency medical care, and incarceration of criminal aliens.

While these annual costs for illegal immigration have been steadily eroding Florida’s budget, a new estimate for 2009 would be even higher and represent even greater strain on the state’s resources. The 2006 cost estimate was based on an illegal alien population estimated at 630,000 persons. Today, FAIR estimates Florida’s illegal alien population has risen to 950,000 persons, a fifty percent increase. As a result, the current fiscal cost outlays for the illegal alien population in Florida now amount to more than $2.8 billion annually.

“Fixing the Florida economy means acknowledging the real cost of illegal immigration” said Dan Stein, President of FAIR. “A big chunk of the state deficit could be lessened over time if the state adopted measures that effectively complemented federal efforts to deter new illegal immigration.”

“During a period when Floridians are losing jobs and scrambling for limited state services, it is fundamentally unfair to Floridians to fail to deter illegal aliens from seeking employment, residence and benefits in the state. Florida’s policymakers have a clear obligation to not ignore the budget-busting costs of illegal immigration and make policy adjustments that get the state fiscally healthy,” observed Stein.