U.S. Study Fuels Debate on Illegal Immigrants’ Impact

Adding new fuel to the debate over the impact of illegal immigration, a study released by the Clinton Administration on Wednesday finds that it costs California $1.28 billion annually to pay for the education of illegal immigrant children.

The report also estimates that the state pays $368 million to incarcerate illegal immigrants and between $113 million and $166 million for emergency Medicaid services to illegal immigrants.

The study, commissioned by the White House as a source of objective data in a dispute with seven states that contend they are burdened by illegal immigration, confirms that California has the largest population of illegal immigrants and the greatest costs, including a disproportionate number of imprisoned illegal immigrants.

The numbers arrived at in the study, while large, were substantially smaller than those claimed by California Gov. Pete Wilson in a series of high-profile challenges to the Clinton Administration’s handling of immigration policy.

Conducted by the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank with recognized immigration expertise, the study is expected to be injected into California’s debate over Proposition 187, the November ballot measure that would deny most government services to illegal immigrants.

It also may put more pressure on the federal government to aid the seven affected states.

Both the White House and the Urban Institute emphasized that the study was limited in its scope and offered no specific recommendations. It studied only the seven states most heavily affected by illegal immigration: California, Florida, Texas, New York, Illinois, Arizona and New Jersey.

Wilson, who has seized the illegal immigration issue as a key part of his reelection campaign, said the report “validates my key point--the federal failure to control the border is creating a multibillion-dollar problem for California.”

Although the Urban Institute study reached no comprehensive conclusion on the question, statistics strongly suggest that California and the other six states studied spend more dollars on federally mandated programs than they collect in taxes from the overwhelmingly young and poor population of illegal immigrants, estimated by the study to number 3.4 million nationwide as of October, 1992.

“The share of tax revenues paid by undocumented aliens is far less than their share of the population in each state, largely because of the lower-than-average incomes of undocumented aliens,” a report summary said.

In California, illegal immigrants paid an estimated $732 million in taxes--about 1.7% of all taxes collected. But they represent 4.6% of the state’s population, the Urban Institute said.

In other findings, the report:

* Estimated California’s illegal immigration population at 1.4 million as of October, 1992, and said it has risen to 1.7 million this year.

* Found that California has a disproportionate share of the incarcerated illegal immigrants in the seven states studied--71%--while having only 43% of the illegal immigrant population nationwide.

* Found that California’s annual incarceration costs of $368 million dwarf those of the next-highest state--New York, with $45 million.

At a briefing, White House officials criticized Wilson’s handling of the state’s immigration data.

“California has substantially exaggerated its costs,” said Christopher Edley Jr., associate director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The study found that California estimates for education and Medicaid costs were much larger than the Urban Institute’s calculations.

The state estimate for schooling illegal immigrant children is $2.15 billion; the Urban Institute arrived at a figure of $1.28 billion.

Likewise, state emergency Medicaid costs for illegal immigrants were estimated at $350 million; the White House study offered two Medicaid “benchmarks,” ranging from $113 million to $165 million.

Philip Romero, chief economist in the governor’s Office of Planning and Research, said the discrepancies were caused by differing methodologies. He said the Urban Institute used older data in some instances and had to use only national data in order to achieve consistency among the seven states studied. He contended that the White House study omitted some cost categories that are unique to California.

The study was commissioned in January after Wilson and other governors beset by immigration problems met with then-Budget Director Leon Panetta to plead for more federal money.

Panetta, doubtful of some of the states’ cost estimates, commissioned the Urban Institute to provide credible statistics.

The study cost $76,000 and was paid for by a grant from the Justice Department.

The White House made clear that, while the study pointed out serious problems, no shower of federal assistance was likely.

“The magnitude (of the problem) is large and serious,” Edley said. “But we do not have a stack of blank checks in Washington to mail to governors for purposes of fiscal relief.”

Edley said the Administration’s highest priority is improved border security and a new federal program to reimburse states for a portion of their costs for jailing illegal immigrant criminals. “There are no policy recommendations (in the report),” Edley said. “This is grist for the policy debate.”

Also Wednesday, the Wilson Administration put out its own updated report on the cost of illegal immigrants. It takes a decidedly sterner stance than the Urban Institute, saying that illegal immigrants cost the state $3.4 billion annually but pay only $739 million in taxes.

The Wilson study concluded that the average illegal immigrant household receives $7,760 in government services each year. “To cover the cost of services they receive in California, the average illegal immigrant household would have to earn $100,000 a year,” Romero said.

State Treasurer Kathleen Brown, Wilson’s Democratic challenger for the governorship, paid little attention to the numbers imbroglio and instead criticized Wilson for his support--while in the U.S. Senate--of an agriculture program that allowed 1 million illegal immigrant workers to enter the country.

“Wilson’s political hypocrisy has cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and voters can see through his election-year finger-pointing,” said Steven Glazer, a Brown spokesman.