ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION - FLORIDA FACTS

Updated Estimate of the Number of Illegal Aliens in Florida

• The illegal alien population in Florida is now 950,000 persons. This represents 7.3 percent of the national total illegal alien population, and it is the nation’s fourth largest concentration of illegal aliens after California, Texas and New York. It is also about 5.2 percent of Florida’s overall population.

Costs of Illegal Immigration to Floridians

• $3.4 billion a year to educate illegal immigrant children and the U.S. born children of illegal immigrants.
• $290 million a year on unreimbursed health care for illegal aliens.
• $90 million a year to incarcerate criminal illegal aliens.
• The total represents an annual cost to each of Florida’s native-born headed households of $678.

New Zogby Poll finds that:

• 71.3% of Florida voters say illegal immigration has a negative impact on the state. Only 14.4% believe it has a positive impact on Florida.
• 83.5% of Florida voters believe illegal aliens have a negative impact on the state budget, versus only 7.9% who believe their impact is positive.
• 57.5% believe illegal immigration should be reduced through better enforcement of immigration laws. Only 36% of Florida voters favor amnesty or legalization for current illegal aliens.
• 68.6% of Florida voters want worksite immigration enforcement to continue. Only 21.1% support the Obama administration’s decision to curtail worksite enforcement.

Florida Budget Deficit

• The Legislature is facing a budget deficit of about $3 billion next year, even after using federal stimulus money.

Florida Unemployment

• 9.4% as of February 2009 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 860,700 Floridians are without work.  Several Florida Communities are very hard hit, including:

Miami, Ft. Lauderdale & Pompano metro area  8.2% unemployment rate

Jacksonville metro-area  9.2% unemployment rate

Orlando metro-area  9.7% unemployment rate           

             Tampa/St. Petersburg  10.2% unemployment rate

Cape Coral/Ft. Myers  12% unemployment rate

What We Believe and Want

• Voters in Florida want their elected officials in Washington and Tallahassee to protect their interests, their jobs, and their tax dollars from the impact of mass illegal immigration. At a time when the Obama administration is intent on systematically dismantling immigration enforcement, and congressional leaders are considering a new round of amnesty legislation, voters are saying unequivocally that it is time political leaders stopped pandering to the illegal immigration lobby, and started enforcing laws that serve the interests of ordinary Americans.