Big money an argument for immigration fix

No shortage of reasons exists to root for a solution to America's illegal immigration problem. Nonetheless, the arrest last week by Pasco County deputies of Alberto Rodriguez Gonzalez and Pedro Ferrat provides yet one more.

Not only were the pair sought by the U.S. Border Patrol on suspicion of trafficking in illegal immigrants, when they were at last pulled over, they were - authorities say - packing 13 pounds of marijuana.

The episode was the second in 10 weeks involving illegal aliens and drug charges, prompting Sheriff Bob White's second rant on the need for an Arizona-style immigration law in Florida, matched by financial resources.

Sound collision

This all comes as the sheriff and Pasco County commissioners surge toward a collision of epic proportions. The board wants White's office to survive on another round of current-year dollars. White says that's impossible; crime spikes in Holiday and Embassy Hills demand a surge in patrol deputies exceeding $3 million.

Should the board remain resolute, White's option as a constitutional officer is to seek a ruling ordering an adjustment from the governor's cabinet.

What does this have to do with illegal immigration?

According to a study released in early July by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, accommodating illegal immigrants places a net strain on local, state and federal budgets of about $100 billion a year.

Wanted: Immigration dividend

FAIR puts the net outlay for Florida's state and local governments at more than $5.4 billion, No. 4 among the states. Critics note that education accounts for about half the $100 billion, but FAIR gets to this number by including the legal-resident children of illegal immigrant parents - about three-quarters of the "illegal" student population.

This is less an argument against how to calculate the costs of illegal immigration run amok than it is an argument for addressing unanticipated problems created by the so-called "anchor baby" portion of the 14th Amendment.

But even if the critics are granted their complaint and we subtract 75 percent of the education component, the net cost to Florida taxpayers still hovers around $3.4 billion.

This is not a bugle rallying the troops for a massive deportation scheme, which has the potential for becoming violent, cruel, hopelessly expensive and counterproductive.

Nor is it an attempt to ignore the rubber-stamping of a Department of Justice brief in a federal court in a jurisdiction far, far away, except to say the last legal opinion has not been written on that subject.

Meanwhile, better to encourage those illegally in the country to self-deport, which is much of what lies behind White's plea. When police and deputies are required to ascertain the immigration status of suspicious characters encountered in legal stops, the result is almost certainly to be fewer encounters with suspicious characters of murky immigration status.

What we do with our immigration dividend - more libraries, anyone? - will be a debate for a happier day.