Illegal aliens cost Florida taxpayers nearly two billion dollars annually.

Illegal aliens cost Florida taxpayers nearly two billion dollars annually from outlays in the following areas:

• Education. Based on estimates of the illegal immigrant population in Florida and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Floridians spend more than $1.5 billion annually on education for illegal immigrant children and for their U.S.-born siblings. About 8.7 percent of the K-12 public school students in Florida are children of illegal aliens.*
• Health Care. Taxpayer-funded, unreimbursed medical outlays for health care provided to the state's illegal alien population amount to about $165 million a year.*
• Incarceration. The uncompensated cost of incarcerating illegal aliens in Florida's state and county prisons amounts to about $155 million a year (not including local jail detention costs or related law enforcement and judicial expenditures or the monetary costs of the crimes that led to their incarceration).*

State and local taxes paid by the unauthorized immigrant population go toward offsetting these costs, but they do not come near to matching the expenses. The total of such payments can generously be estimated at about $910 million per year.*

The fiscal costs of illegal immigration do not end with these three major cost areas. The total costs of illegal immigration to the state's taxpayers would be considerably higher if other cost areas such as special English instruction, welfare programs used by the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, or welfare benefits for American workers displaced by illegal alien workers were also calculated.*  

Estimated Annual Fiscal Costs to Florida Taxpayers
for Emergency Medical Care, Education and Incarceration Resulting from Illegal or "Guest" Workers and
Projected Costs Based on an Amnesty*
in millions

Current                         2010                          2020

 $1,820                         $3,094                        $5,352

 
*These facts are from COST OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TO FLORIDIANS: EXECUTIVE SUMMERY (Revised 2005).

 To read the entire report go to: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_floridacostsstudy