0830-arizonaimmigration.jpg_full_380

From the Christian Science Monitor:


Suppose the US Supreme Court largely upholds Arizona’s tough immigration law and, as a result, Arizona police pick up an extra 5,000 or 10,000 unlawful immigrants next year. Then what?

Arizona could slap illegal aliens with a $100 fine. It could arrest them. Or it could turn them over to federal officials, supposedly to be deported. The latter two options turn out to be expensive.

[…]

Beside the moral, humanitarian, and legal issues surrounding illegal immigrants, their apprehension poses a sizable financial cost. In Arizona, police could arrest them under the new state law, but keeping them in already crowded jails costs roughly $100 a day per person. For 5,000 people, imprisonment costs could add up to $182.5 million a year. That’s a hefty charge for a state struggling with a budget deficit of at least $368 million.


Read more here.