Immigrants in Arkansas use only a fraction in state resources of what they contribute back

Please not the original headline as printed...

Immigrants use $170M in Ark. services

By Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Writer | August 13, 2007

LITTLE ROCK --A report prepared for legislators says Arkansas pays about $170 million a year to educate, imprison and provide services to immigrants. A separate report earlier this year found that was a fraction of the amount that immigrants contribute to the state's economy.

The bulk of the money spent on immigrants goes toward education, about $154 million. State agencies said it is sometimes impossible to tell whether legal or illegal immigrants are benefiting from state services.

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The idea of tax dollars paying to educate the children of illegal immigrants drew criticism from several lawmakers during the joint House and Senate meeting of their Committees on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs. State Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, suggested requiring incoming students to furnish a Social Security number; Guerrero said that would be "chilling."

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State Rep. Jon Woods said the statistics offered by the state counterbalance those from the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. A foundation's study earlier this year concluded that state manufacturers and other companies would lose about $1.4 billion in production a year and pay $95 million more for higher wages if illegal immigrants left Arkansas' work force.

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http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/08/13/immigrants_use_170m_in_ark_services/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+News