In plain Spanish, no - economic impact of illegal immigration; includes assessment of Orange County, California Grand Jury report on the demand for public assistance - Editorial

National Review, July 19, 1993

IN THE 1980s, economists were inclined to believe that illegal immigrants contributed more in taxes than they took in government services. But evidence is mounting that this is no longer true--if it ever was.

The enterprising Orange County Grand Jury has just issued a report on the impact of illegal immigration in its part of southern California. Among other startling details: Children born to illegal aliens account for 30 per cent of all Orange County births and 20 per cent of Orange County's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) caseload. Immigrant families make up half of Orange County's public-assistance program caseloads. The burden has been increasing "exponentially"--AFDC cases grew by 76 per cent from 1986 to 1991. Over three-quarters of elementary-school students in the county seat, Santa Ana, are now classed as Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and by Supreme Court decree must be taught in their native languages, increasing per-pupil costs by half. Overcrowding is threatening the sewer system--average occupancy in one city is 18 to a room. Illegal-alien felons make up 15 per cent of California's prison population.

The Orange County Grand Jury's conclusion: there should be a three-year moratorium on all immigration.

Reaction of the locally dominant Los Angeles Times: a gigantic story headed "O.C. Grand Jury Lacks Diversity, Critics Say."

The news from Orange County supports Rice University economist Donald Huddle's conclusion in his recent report for the enviromentalist organization Carrying Capacity Network: in 1982, immigration was a net cost to the various levels of government of some $45 billion a year.

Immigration boosters will now fall back on another line of defense: what's a few billion in a $5-trillion economy? The key question about the economics of immigration is not the government book-keeping cost, but the overall benefit--is it an economic necessity? Since all the technical accounting-for-growth literature shows the contribution of labor to be trivial, the answer must "no." By a happy bilingual coincidence, this is one of the few English words that can still be understood in Santa Ana's schools.