Res Judicata: Who Pays for the Immigrants in Texas?

Illegal immigrants cost the State of Texas (including its local governments) $8.8 billion per year. This is a staggering sum of money brought about by a steady flow of illegals obtaining public education, criminal justice, and medical care. It amounts to nearly 10% of the State’s total annual expenditures of approximately $90 billion. And 60,000 children of illegal immigrants are born in Texas each year.

Gov. Rick Perry has never said a word in public about this drag on his state’s finances. And given his comments at the last Republican presidential debate we know why. He does not see it as a drag on his state’s finances. He seems to believe the presence of illegal immigrants is a net plus to Texas, particularly if they attend its state universities.

According to the FAIR study, the costs of illegal immigrants outweigh their payment of taxes by 3-1. So why does the governor believe subsidizing tuition for illegal immigrants at Texas state universities is good public policy? He did not say. He merely dismissed those who oppose such subsidizes as heartless. {snip}

{snip} The more we learn about the “job growth” in Texas, the more we see who the beneficiaries of the Governor’s policies are. Fully 81% of the jobs created in the state since 2007 are held by immigrants, and half of them are illegally in the country. Immigrants tend to work in low-pay jobs including fast food, poultry processing, and construction.

If these are the jobs the Texas economy is producing, then this is not a model for the rest of the country to emulate. The economy’s very low demand for new workers is felt across the board, not just in these industries. So the expansion of employment by low-wage workers is not the sign of a healthy economy. {snip}

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