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Source: denverpost

Colo. immigration law falls short of goal
State agencies: $2 million cost and no savings

Colorado's new law banning state spending on illegal immigrants has cost more than $2 million to enforce - and has saved the state nothing.

Less than a year after politically charged debates on illegal immigration, officials are reporting high costs, no savings and unexpected problems with the new laws.

Once touted by statehouse Republicans and Democrats as the toughest anti-immigration package in the nation, the Colorado crackdown is falling apart.

"We're finding very few of the departments where these bills have a major effect," said state Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, chairman of the legislature's Joint Budget Committee.

The centerpiece of the get-tough effort was House Bill 1023, which

prohibits spending taxpayer money on illegal immigrants except in cases required by the federal government.

Okay, have you got the basic narrative? Mean spirited Rethuglicans have taken away life giving sustenance from our "poor migrant" invaders. But the joke's on them as there are no savings to be found. Or are there?

Colorado's Welfare Rolls Drop By Nearly 23 Percent

(AP) DENVER Colorado's welfare rolls dropped 23 percent last year, the first year-over-year drop since 2002. Colorado Department of Human Services reports some large counties, such as Adams County, experienced drops of up to 27 percent. At the end of last year, there were 11,368 people served by the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. The program's $154 million budget is mostly federal money. Kevin Richards of the human service department's office of self sufficiency said they didn't anticipate the drop and believe part of it is that people are actively getting employment. Richards said the state has not received any reports from counties that part of the drop is from people leaving the rolls because of immigration reform laws passed last year.

Somebody needs to get their story straight!

Okay, I'm no math whiz but my trusty calculator suggests that a 25% or so drop, if that correlates directly to dollars (and it may not) would be an almost $40 million dollar difference. Are we really to believe that reducing the rolls by this amount would not recoup a 2 million dollar outlay? And yes folks they really think we're this stupid.

Also, just as a fun aside, I used to have a co-worker in a restaurant who's day job was as a social worker here in Chicago. Know why they don't see the illegal immigrants in these stats? Well, if these offices are anything like my friends? They hand out false SS #'s to the immigrants they service, so no, I suppose it wouldn't appear that they were losing illegal immigrants, would it?

Of course they were breaking the law in the first place, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised they would lie about it as well.

I would subtitle this exercise: Public officials desperate to shower your hard earned money on our charming invader class!
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