Welfare Tab for Children of Illegal Immigrants Estimated at $600M in L.A. County

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Welfare Tab for Children of Illegal Immigrants Estimated at $600M in L.A. County
Welfare benefits for the children of illegal immigrants cost America's largest county more than $600 million last year, according to a local official keeping tabs on the cost.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich released new statistics this week showing social spending for those families in his county rose to $53 million in November, putting the county government on track to spend more than $600 million on related costs for the year -- up from $570 million in 2009.
Antonovich arrived at the estimate by factoring in the cost of food stamps and welfare-style benefits through a state program known as CalWORKS. Combined with public safety costs and health care costs, the official claimed the "total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers" was more than $1.6 billion in 2010.
"Not including the hundreds of millions of dollars for education," he said in a statement.
Antonovich's figures, though, center on costs generated by American-born children of illegal immigrants. Isabel Alegria, communications director at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said it's "unfair" to roll together costs associated with both illegal immigrants and U.S.-born citizens.
"Those children are U.S. citizens, children eligible for those programs," Alegria said.
She also questioned the authenticity of Antonovich's numbers regarding health care and public safety -- though for the welfare program statistics, Antonovich cited numbers from the county's Department of Public Social Services.
Antonovich acknowledges that the children whose benefits he's focusing on are U.S.-born. But he argues that the money is collected by the illegal immigrant parents, putting a painful burden on taxpayers, including those who are legal immigrants.
"The problem is illegal immigration. ... Their parents evidently immigrated here in order to get on social services," Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell said. "We can no longer afford to be HMO to the world."
He said the state should cut back on these social benefits. According to the November statistics, that cost accounted for 22 percent of all food stamp and CalWORKS spending in the county.
Over the summer, the Federation for American Immigration Reform also looked at these kinds of costs nationwide to get an idea of the burden to local governments at a time when many are grappling with budget deficits.
The organization reported that the cost of illegal immigration stands at about $113 billion a year. Nearly half of that amount went toward education costs, according to the study. Costs were naturally higher in states with large illegal immigrant populations -- in California, the total annual cost was pegged at $21.8 billion.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...#ixzz1BcBcyct4

[REWHBLCAIN]

This is only one county!! No wonder Cal is going to have to be bailed out by the government.........I mean us.



Whats a few billion dollars here and there.
The Govt will just print up so more.

[Patriotic Army Mom]

Many of us have known this for the last 5 or 6 years. Maybe we were the only ones born with brains.

[ilbegone]

I have proposed to my legislators that California should have a flat tax with no minimum or maximum income cut off. Everyone from welfare Annie to Bill Gates would pay their fair share.

The state would then pass a flat percentage of that person's involuntary "contributions" back to the local governments - county and city - where that person resides. Those localities would have the decision on how the money is utilized.

Will it be spent on infrastructure, make work projects ("redevelopment"), fire and police, education, social services, etc. etc, their choice.

This would have the effect of forcing local governments, such as the city and county of Los Angeles, to have a fresh look at what they have wrought and maybe deal with out of sheer desperation.Los Angeles drives out business and imports poverty, which is then subsidized by taxpayers from other localities. The tax distribution method I propose is not a redistribution of the other guy's income, and maybe localities such as Villaraigosa's Aztlan might take a fresh new look at how to bring in wealth which is not taxpayer derived.

Of course that would provide more revenue to localities with higher income brackets, but that's the point. The tax cow has dried up - live with your local resources and past decisions.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

"Illegal Immigration Takes Toll on Taxpayers"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHn_c...&feature=email