Speech #1040191155

State. and local governments. It recognizes the inability of government to pay for many public services. Illegal Immigrants have been Identified as major contributors to the demands placed on these public programs. and thus to the budget deficits facing several States and localities. In the 1982 court case of. Plyler versus Doe. the Supreme Court ruled against the State of Texas. saying that there was nothing in Federal law authorizing denial of educational benefits to illegal immigrants. The Gallegly amendment would overtum this Supreme Court decision and permit States to mirror Federal law. denying illegal aliens a free public education. It would eliminate one of the more egregious of border magnets: free public education. The Issue. Mr. Chairman. is whether States have the right to decide for themselves whether or not to provide a free public education to illegal aliens. Those in this country without the knowledge of or permission from our Federal. State of local governments. take advantage of our public assistance programs. Illegal immigrants defraud our own taxpaying citizens of critical education. health and welfare assistance. Our amendment would provide Federal affirmation of the States right to deny a free public education. It would authorize States to put the needs of its own citizens above those of illegal aliens. We must end the free lunch for illegal immigrants. Unlike citizens or legal aliens. they do not pay into the tax base and. therefore. have no right to claim any public education benefits. States which are already struggling with tight budgets. are forced. by Federal mandate. to spend billions of dollars each year educating illegal aliens while basic services for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants are being reduced or eliminated. It is time that this Federal Government removes this huge unfunded mandate on the States. In the seven States most heavily impacted. education benefits for illegal immigrants are costing taxpayers over $3.5 billion annuallynot including the cost of higher education or adult education. California alone is home to 1.7 million illegal immigrants43 percent of the Nations total. It will cost California over $2.9 billion to provide federally mandated services to these illegal immigrants: including $563 million for incarceration costs. $395 million for health cost. and $1.8 billion for fiscal year 1996 for education. Imagine the cost to our taxpayers by the year To illustrate my point. lets look at what we. in the State of California. could do for our own students with $2.9 billion. We could hire 80.555 more teachers at an average annual salary of $36.000. We could significantly reduce class sizes. and we could infuse our public education system with more text books. computers and desperately needed classroom supplies. By removing this mandate. we are ending a longstanding policy that encourages illegal immigration. bankrupts States and results in a less than quality education for our own children. Lets remember. every dollar spent on educating illegal aliens is a dollar we dont spend on our own children. Every teaching hour spent on instruction for illegal immigrants is an hour lost to our own students. A child must have access to a comprehensive basic education to give children a fighting chance at life. We must guarantee that right for our own children.