I was shocked by Gov. Schwarzenegger’s draconian proposal of "across the board" state budget cuts in order to remedy the $14 billion deficit.
Rather than distributing the cost of bringing governmental reckless spending under control "evenly", he should at least make an effort to identify the areas where most of the wasteful spending takes place and eliminate it, instead. And it doesn't take an Einstein to figure out that educating Mexican illegal aliens and their Spanish-speaking children in California public schools is one of the biggest ticket items in this category.
In my earlier column "No Mexican Child Left Behind" (see [2]), I estimated that educating non-English speaking students in their native language in public schools cost California taxpayers from 14 billion to 28 billion dollars a year. The lower figure was obtained by multiplying the number of non-English speaking students in California public schools (approx. 1.6 million, see [3]) by the annual education cost per student (approx. 9 thousand dollars on an average). The upper figure was the result of the fact that the cost of "bi-lingual" education (a euphemism for Spanish language centered education of non-English speaking students) cost up to twice as much as education of an English-speaking student.
Since roughly half of all foreign-born residents in the U.S. are illegal aliens from Mexico, it's fair to assume that at least half of the 1.6 million non-English speaking students in California public schools are Mexican illegal aliens or children thereof. (Actually, their number is, most likely, much higher, as in virtually all mostly populated districts in California about half or more students are of Mexican descent.) Hence, the obvious conclusion is: the State of California spends up to $14 billions annually to educate illegal aliens from Mexico and their kids - an expense that we would have never incurred should the America's border and her immigration laws be duly enforced.
And it's not surprising at all that Mexican illegal aliens were able to drive the state budget of the seventh-largest world economy into the red. Taking into account their sheer numbers, their notoriety for reluctance to use birth control (average fertility of a woman of Mexican descent living in the U.S. is about twice the average fertility of a Caucasian woman - see [4]), and the fact that about 40% of State of California general fund goes to K-12 education, it was only a matter of time when the expenses on educating of overwhelming (and growing) number of children of illegal aliens from Mexico, who turned out to be much more difficult to educate than average kids in California, would put a serious dent in otherwise healthy economy.
It is worth noting here that virtually all growth of enrolment in California public schools after 1970 is due to foreign immigration and immigrant's high fertility. In other words, virtually all money spent on new schools built and equipped after that date went to the immigrants, legal and otherwise, and their children. So, we would have quite a sizeable budget surplus today should the mass foreign immigration into California (legal and otherwise), triggered by the disastrous Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, did not begin some 38 years ago.
In addition to the above, illegal Mexicans are bankrupting California public health care system, put serious strain on welfare and subsidies for the domestic poor, and overflow state and local penitentiary (never mind skyrocketing court costs of their prosecution for common crimes like traffic violations and identity theft).
So, here is where Governor Schwarzenegger should be looking for savings in order to balance the California budget.
1. K-12 education of illegal aliens and their children seems like the single most important item to save on. Particular area to cut: "bi-lingual" education (in any form). If a student does not speak English, it's his and his parents' responsibility to bring him up to the level of fluency that would allow for immediate immersion into English-only class. Also, all benefits that are not mandated by federal law (like free meals and subsidies of education costs and parental expenses, just to name two) that illegal aliens collect must be cut.
2. Public health care facilities, particularly, emergency rooms and hospitals, should stop providing free services to illegal aliens, except in the case of genuine emergencies, like, for instance, life-threatening injuries. Oddly enough, medical personnel in the facilities affected by flood of uninsured patients (a vast majority of whom are Mexican illegals and their kids) are quick to blame their fiscal problems on rapidly vanishing money that they get from the government while, at the same time, they seem to have no problems with giving away non-emergency services to illegals and even refuse to verify the immigration status of their prospective patients.
3. Giveaway of public benefits and subsidies to illegal aliens must stop. For instance, it is a criminal negligence on part of the state and local governments to provide illegal aliens with costly housing subsidies and assistance, particularly when there is not enough money in state coffers to pay for legitimate expenditures.
4. Inmates who are not U.S. citizens should be deported to their countries of origin rather than released back on American streets. (Gov. Schwarzenegger calls for release of 35,000 inmates - see [1].) Such a simple measure, in addition to lowering crime rates in California, will save money on prosecuting and incarcerating them again, should they break the law again, which they, quite likely, will.
5. The state should do whatever it legally can to assist federal authorities in deportations of all illegal aliens, as well as to encourage as many of them as possible to voluntarily return to their countries of origin (mostly, to Mexico). The sanctuary policies of cities like San Francisco, Santa Ana, and Los Angeles must end right away, as they are driving, slowly but steadily, the entire State of California into poverty.
The bottom line is that we no longer can afford tolerating and assisting millions of Mexican illegal aliens here. When times get tough and the money is in shortage, they must be the first to go. Once they are no longer here, no other cuts will be necessary.
Please, call Gov. Schwarzenegger at 916-445-2841(or fax him at 916-558-3160) and make him aware of this simple fact.
REFERENCES
[1]
Governor declares fiscal emergency, spells out cuts to schools, Medi-Cal
[2]
No Mexican Child Left Behind ... (Except for Gil Cedillo)
[3]
Tests unfair to non-English speaking students, lawsuit claims
[4]
U.S. Fertility Rate Hits 35-Year High, Stabilizing Population
Mark Andrew Dwyer's latest commentary (updated frequently) is posted at:
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