Florida to Sue U.S. Over Illegal Immigrant Costs

Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles said Wednesday that he would sue the federal government to recover millions of dollars spent on social services for illegal immigrants, joining a chorus of complaints from other states burdened by a growing wave of immigration.

Chiles instructed state Atty. Gen. Robert Butterworth to sue both the Immigration and Naturalization Service, for failing to enforce immigration laws, and the federal government, for not reimbursing Florida for health, education and welfare benefits given to illegal immigrants.

Chiles’ action follows recent criticism from him and the governors of California, Texas and Illinois about the federal government’s failure to help defray the costs of illegal immigration or to stem the tide of new arrivals from Mexico, the Caribbean and other Latin and South American countries.

Governors have long regarded their obligation to provide Medicaid, education and other services to undocumented immigrants as one of the scores of unfunded federal mandates that they say cost state and local governments billions of dollars a year and are helping to wreck state budgets.

Spokesmen for Chiles said Florida taxpayers spent at least $739 million last year on illegal immigrants. The governor said these costs range from the salary of a police officer on a beat to the $200 million that Dade County (Miami) spends to teach English as a second language.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy study group in Washington, estimates that public assistance, education and criminal justice services, including incarceration, provided to the 3.3 million illegal immigrants nationwide cost federal and local governments $7.7 billion last year. The foundation calculates that these immigrants contributed $1.2 billion in taxes.

The foundation said education, at $3.9 billion last year, is the most expensive service, followed by public assistance costs of $2 billion.

Pro-immigration analysts, however, counter that many new arrivals quickly become productive citizens and taxpayers, eventually bolstering the economy.

State officials and taxpayers have voiced concern that illegal immigration is eroding the quality of life by overwhelming schools, hospitals and other social services.