Speech #1090064585

We first start by securing the border of the United States for several reasons. and we go from there. I appreciate the gentleman from Arizona making those comments. Not only is health care cost a tremendous issue because of illegal immigration. we have the cost of education. Education happens to be the largest public cost associated with illegal immigration in the United States. and it is going to have longterm consequences. The Supreme Court ruled back in 1982 that all people. all children in the United States are provided a free public school education. It is estimated there are more than 50.000 illegal students in the United States public schools. the Federation for Immigration Reform. total K12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants cost the States $12 billion. So that means it is costing taxpayers $12 billion a year to educate those individuals. The $3.9 billion spent annually educating children of illegal immigrants in Texas could cover the shortfall that the Texas Federation for Teachers has identified for school books and pension contributions. It could even increase the salaries of teachers. And Texas is undergoing a tremendous cost problem with education in our State. trying to make sure that we do it in a fair and equitable way. but part of the problem is taxpayers are having to fund education for those people who are illegally here in the United States.