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1994-02-22
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REPORT ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY 10/8/93
Title: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY: AN ANALYSIS OF COSTS AND
REVENUES
Prepared for: Senator William A. Craven, Chairman, California State Senate
Special Committee on Border Issues
Source: by Richard A. Parker, PhD, Louis M. Rea, PhD, San Diego State
University
Dated: September, 1993
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In August, 1992, the Office of the Auditor General of the State of
California released a report entitled A Fiscal Impact Analysis of
Undocumented Immigrants Residing in San Diego County. The report was authored
by Richard A. Parker, Ph.D. and Louis M. Rea, Ph.D. of Rea & Parker,
Incorporated under commission from the California State Senate Special
Committee on Border Issues (Hon. William A. Craven, Chairman). The report was
the first study of its kind to be conducted in California identifying a
specific fiscal impact for this population group, and it is, furthermore, one
of the first in the United States. This study concluded that the net annual
cost of State and local governments for providing public services to
undocumented immigrants in San Diego County was $145.921,845--a sum of money
sufficient to balance the budgets of San Diego County and all 18 cities
within the County for fiscal year 1991-92. Statewide, the study
conservatively estimated the cost of services to undocumented immigrants to
be ,approximately $3 billion.
Since the release of the Auditor General report, key political figures in
the State and throughout the nation have joined the discussion concerning the
impact of illegal immigration. In the first half of 1993, alone, nearly two
dozen bills have been introduced in the California State legislature
concerning illegal immigration. Another 50 bills dealing with various aspects
of immigration have been introduced in the United States House of
Representatives and Senate. The California general public has also expressed
its disapproval of illegal immigration. The Field Poll, conducted August
12-17, 1993, indicated that 74% of Californians believe that illegal
immigration has an unfavorable impact on the State.
On February 5, 1993, the California State Senate convened its Border Issues
Committee in San Diego in order to receive public and local government input
on the Auditor General study and to identify possible reporting and
verification systems which would facilitate the collection of data and make
the determination of costs considerably easier than was encountered during
the research phase of the Auditor General study. The report received
considerable acclaim from political leaders and state and local government
officials who pledged their support for the Committee's continuing efforts to
secure federal government reimbursement for net State and local costs
accruing from illegal immigration.
Also in February, 1993, Senator William Craven, on behalf of the California
State Senate Special Committee on Border Issues, requested a second study of
the fiscal impact of undocumented immigrants in San Diego County, again to be
prepared by Dr. Parker and Dr. Rea. Funding was authorized and provided by
the California State Senate Rules Committee (Hon. David Roberti, Chairman).
The goal of this new study was to be an expansion and verification of the
fiscal impact analysis provided in the Auditor General study and the
provision of more fully developed demographic information and population,
cost, and revenue estimates. The new study was to also address the magnitude
and impact of the use of false documents by illegal immigrants. Hence, it is
the purpose of this expanded study to estimate the net annual fiscal impact
upon State and local governments in San Diego County of providing public
services to undocumented immigrants who are present in the County either
permanently or temporarily. This report is to provide empirical data with
which the federal government can be petitioned for reimbursement.
In this report, the term `undocumented immigrants' will refer to illegal
entrants into the United States, including all foreign nationals who are in
the United States without lawful permission or who have provided deliberately
misleading information about their resident status to border authorities in
order to gain entry into the United States. The term will further include
those individuals who have violated the conditions of their initial legal
entrant status.
The benefits analyzed in this study consist of those State and local tax
revenues which derive from or are attributable to undocumented immigrants.
The costs analyzed in this study are the public expenditures by State and
local governments in the areas of criminal justice, public health, education,
and social services. A review of existing data sources and current studies
concerning generalized economic impacts of undocumented immigration is also
provided in a discussion of.wage and price effects, job displacement, and
economic activity.
Major Findings
An Estimate of the Number of Undocumented Immigrants in San Diego County
The border between Mexico and the United States at San Diego, California is
the busiest border crossing in the world with 70 million crossings annually
northbound from Mexico into San Diego. San Diego has more than twice as many
legal crossings as the next busiest United States port of entry (El Paso,
Texas). It has been further estimated that 50% of the total United States
undocumented immigrant traffic enters through San Diego. From October 1, 1991
to September 30, 1992, the United States Border Patrol apprehended 565,800
undocumented immigrants seeking to enter the United States through San Diego
County with as many as 1,000,000 others escaping apprehension. San Diego
County, in its unique location along the international border is the primary
receiver of illegal immigrants entering the United States. This location
facilitates a more fluid and temporary population of undocumented immigrants
working and/or utilizing services in the County than is found elsewhere.
The number of permanent and temporary undocumented immigrants in San Diego
County is approximately 220,000.
Undocumented immigrants represent 7.9% of the total County population.
It is noteworthy that this population estimate of undocumented immigrants in
San Diego County impacts the revenues projected in this report to a much
greater degree than it impacts the expenses. The revenues indicated in this
report are directly correlated with the estimated size of the undocumented
immigrant population, whereas the expenses, for the most part, are determined
independently of that population estimate. Therefore, for instance, to the
extent that the undocumented immigrant population estimate might prove to be
high, revenues would necessarily decline without a corresponding decline in
costs. In this ease, the net cost indicated in this report would represent an
underestimate of the true net cost.
Demographic/Economic Profile of Undocumented Immigrants in San Diego County
Based upon a County-wide survey of undocumented immigrants, a profile of
this population is as follows:
The population is relatively young with a median age of 23.7 years.
54.2% of undocumented immigrant adults in San Diego County are married,
40.1% of whom have their spouses with them.
50.0% have children (mean number of children = 2.49)--21.0% have their
children with them.
Undocumented immigrants in San Diego County are employed in private yard
landscaping (29.1%), construction (24.2 %), and agriculture (16.3 %). Nearly
30.0% of this population is employed in factory/shop work, automotive
services, and restaurant/food service.
85.7% of undocumented immigrants do not travel regularly between San Diego
County and their country of origin. Those who do travel regularly are present
in the United States an average of 8.5 months per year.
* Undocumented immigrants work an average of 44.5 hours per week at $5.19 per
hour ($230.96 mean weekly earnings).
* This population spends $64.22 weekly per hou