[lbo-talk] Slinging California mud onto Wetbacks?

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

>     Comrades,
> 
> 
>    I have noticed in the conservative press a line of argument that
suggests
> it is illegal aliens and their children who are responsible for
California's
> deficit.  Now obviously this is an abonimable argument and the back of
my
> envelope says it cannot be true.  However, my fear is that the
argument
> comes from some piece of data or some article or paper that I can't
find.
> Does anybody know what this line of "reasoning" might be based on?
> 
>    Please, no analysis of the motives behind the argument.  Those are
> obvious enough.  I am searching for the pieces of data that are being
> twisted.
> 
> 
>    thanks,
> 
>       boddi

See:
The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of
Immigration
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309063566/html/index.html

-
> From the summary:

"Responding to these concerns, Congress in 1990 appointed a bipartisan
Commission on Immigration Reform to review the nation's policies and
laws and to recommend changes. In turn, the commission in 1995 asked the
National Research Council to convene a panel of experts to assess the
demographic, economic, and fiscal consequences of immigration. The panel
was not asked to answer all the current questions about immigration, let
alone to set out alternative policies or to make recommendations among
them. Rather, it was asked to lay a scientific foundation for
policymaking on some specific issues, to provide as rich a background as
possible against which the commission could do its work.

The panel's charge was to address three key questions:

What is the effect of immigration on the future size and composition of
the U.S. population? 
What is the influence of immigration on the overall economy? 
What is the fiscal impact of immigration on federal, state, and local
governments? 
This report summarizes the panel's work."

Wojtek