November 8, 2007

Illegal Immigration Now Costs Tennesseans More Than $285 Million a Year, Finds FAIR Study

Washington DC — A new report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), confirms that mass illegal immigration is no longer isolated to a few states or regions of the country, but has become a nationwide phenomenon. According to the FAIR’s latest state impact study, Tennesseans now spend $285 million a year for illegal alien K-12 education, health care, and incarceration of criminal illegal aliens.

K-12 education for children who are in the country illegally, or are the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, accounts for the greatest share of the costs. According FAIR’s analysis, 29,000 such children in Tennessee public schools cost state taxpayers about $255 million. Another $22.7 million is spent by the state providing health care to illegal aliens, while $5.7 million goes toward incarcerating illegal aliens who have committed a variety of crimes.

“Until relatively recently, people in much of the country could sit on the sidelines, because illegal immigration was somebody else’s problem,” observed Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “As the mounting bills for the costs of illegal immigration in Tennessee attest, the impact of mass illegal immigration is now felt by just about every American, no matter where they happen to live.”

The South has seen exponential growth in illegal immigration during this decade. Another recent report from FAIR, How Many Illegal Aliens?, estimates that the illegal population of Tennessee has grown from about 46,000 in 2000 to about 100,000 today.

“What is happening in Tennessee and many other states that are beginning to experience a large influx of illegal immigration explains why this issue has dominated the national agenda,” said Stein. “People all across the country are demanding federal and local action to rein-in illegal immigration because nearly everyone is paying the price for the long-term neglect of our immigration policies. As evident from the mounting costs in Tennessee, mass illegal immigration affects people’s tax burdens, their jobs, their children’s schools, their access to quality health care, and just about everything that is important to them.”

Given the enormous impact, it is not surprising that eight of Tennessee’s nine House members are co-sponsors of the SAVE Act, new congressional legislation aimed at tightening immigration enforcement. “When people begin to feel the pinch, they demand action,” concluded Stein.