OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A state lawmaker says illegal immigration is costing state governments (m) millions of dollars, including higher crime rates and prison expenses.
State Representative Randy Terrill says that last month there were 420 illegal aliens in Oklahoma prisons. The state Department of Corrections says it costs more than seven (m) million dollars a year to keep them behind bars.
Terrill, a Moore Republican, says anyone who commits a crime in the state should serve time. But, he says, if the federal government was securing the nation's borders, those criminals wouldn't be in Oklahoma in the first place.
Terrill says the state also spends two-point-three (m) million dollars per year on free health care and other medical services for illegal aliens.
Recently, Rep. Terrill
sent a letter to Attorney General Drew Edmondson, requesting an official opinion on the apparent conflict between state law and federal law allowing in state tuition fees for illegal immigrants.
Posted at 8/16/2006 11:10:00 AM
