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Paraphrase.docxUNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS
IN TEXAS:
A Financial Analysis of the Impact to the State Budget and Economy “This is the first time any state has done a comprehensive financial analysis of the impact of undocumented immigrants on a state’s budget and economy, looking at gross state product, revenues generated, taxes paid and the cost of state services.
“The absence of the estimated 1.4 million undocumented immigrants in Texas in fiscal 2005 would have been a loss to our gross state product of $17.7 billion. Undocumented immigrants produced $1.58 billion in state revenues, which exceeded the $1.16 billion in state services they received. However, local governments bore the burden of $1.44 billion in uncompensated health care costs and local law enforcement costs not paid for by the state.”
This financial report focuses on the costs to the state of Texas; that is, services paid for with state revenue, including education, healthcare and incarceration.
In education, FAIR’s report included the costs of legal children to undocumented parents. The inclusion of these children dramatically increased the costs reported.
The Comptroller’s report focuses its attention on the costs directly attributed to undocumented persons.
Colorado’s report differed from the Comptroller’s report in identifying which undocumented children should be included in any estimates. Colorado assumed all undocumented children between the ages of 5 and 17 were in public schools, and therefore did not account for children that did not attend school or were enrolled in private schools.
Any estimate of state costs associated with undocumented immigrants is imprecise due to the difficulties involved in determining their numbers. In public education, federal guidelines prohibit questions of legal status.
In higher education, state residency for tuition purposes is defined by the length of time an individual has lived in the state, regardless of legal status.
Public Education Costs
Until 1982, Texas law prohibited local school districts from using state funds to educate undocumented immigrant children; furthermore, districts were allowed to
deny enrollment to such children. In 1982, however, the Texas law was deemed unconstitutional. In Plyler v. Doe, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas law violated the equal protection provisions of the 14th Amendment. As a result of Plyler v. Doe, states may not deny access to public education to immigrant children residing within their boundaries, regardless of their legal status.10 Subsequent court cases resulted in prohibitions against attempts to identify undocumented children because of the perception that they could then be discriminated against.
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Higher Education Costs
The number of undocumented immigrants attending college in Texas also is unknown, as is the number of those paying in-state tuition rates, and thus the relevant costs to the state are difficult to estimate.
Prior to fall 2006, students who were not citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. (whether documented or not) still could become classified as Texas residents and
thus be entitled to in-state college tuition rates under the provisions of Section 54.052(j) of the Texas Education Code, originally enacted by the 2001 Legislature as House Bill (H.B.) 1403. Prior to H.B. 1403 being signed into law in 2001, these students would have been considered international students, and therefore would have paid the more costly out-of-state tuition.
The same state law that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at Texas universities also allows some to be given publicly funded grants to pay for their education.
Illegal immigrants who do well in high school are not only eligible for lower-cost, in-state tuition rates at Texas universities and colleges. Thanks to legislation signed by Gov. Rick Perry in 2001, many are also receiving publicly funded grants to pay for their education.
The in-state tuition policy, which was broadened in 2005 and again signed by Perry, has become a major flashpoint in the 2012 presidential race. Perry has taken repeated fire from his conservative base — and from his chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — for supporting the lower residency tuition rates for students in the country illegally. What isn't as well known is that the very same law also allows some of these students to access the state's limited amount of financial aid.
TEXAS Grants, a need-based grant program that covers tuition and fees at most institutions, is only available to Texas residents. Students unable to prove U.S. citizenship may establish residency if they graduated from a Texas high school, have lived in the state for three years before applying and sign an affidavit indicating their intent to apply for permanent residency status as soon as possible.
