Illegal Immigration Costs Florida $4.3 Billion a Year, Report Says
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
copyright 1998-2005 Cybercast News Service.
August 08, 2005
www.CNSNews.com

Excerpt

A report by an immigration reform group shows that illegal immigration costs the state of Florida at least $4.3 billion a year in health care, education and incarceration costs.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) predicts the state's costs of illegal immigration will increase to nearly $8 billion a year within 10 years unless it is controlled.

"Average Floridians are being asked to pay dearly for the failure of the federal government to control illegal immigration, and for a small number of business interests in the state addicted to low-wage illegal alien labor," said Dan Stein, president of FAIR, in a statement.

"The $4.3 billion being spent on illegal immigrants and their families means those resources are not available to improve and upgrade Florida's woefully overcrowded schools and overburdened public hospitals," said Stein.

"Nor are those funds available for urgent infrastructure repairs needed as a result of the succession of devastating hurricanes that ravaged the state in the last several years," Stein added.