Immigrants a Boon to Texas

blogging from the Corpus Christi "International" Airport ...


Texas benefited by over $17 billion from undocumented immigrants according to the State Comptrollers office. I found it interesting that we spend more to incarcerate undocumented immigrants than to provide them health services. In some ways that sounds like a big negative for the pro-immigrant side - immigrants are costing our health system a lot, but they just commit so many crimes, the drain on our prison/jail system is worse. But I wonder how many of these incarcerated immigrants are there for nonviolent crimes, like drug possession - crimes that result in punishments which burden this State anyway. Also crimes that probably result in more prosecutions for people of color and immigrants than Anglos.