The Costs of Illegal Immigration to Californians: Executive Summary
Analysis of the latest Census data indicates that California’s illegal immigrant population is costing the state’s taxpayers more than $10.5 billion per year for education, medical care and incarceration. Even if the estimated tax contributions of illegal immigrant workers are subtracted, net outlays still amount to nearly $9 billion per year. The annual fiscal burden from those three areas of state expenditures amounts to about $1,183 per household headed by a native-born resident. This analysis looks specifically at the costs to the state for education, health care and incarceration resulting from illegal immigration. These three are the largest cost areas, and they are the same three areas analyzed in a 1994 study conducted by the Urban Institute, which provides a useful baseline for comparison ten years later. Other studies have been conducted in the interim, showing trends that support the conclusions of this report. Read the story here.
Prosecution Makes Impassioned Plea For Death
After a 2 1/2-hour delay, prosecutors in the Scott Peterson case made an impassioned plea Tuesday to jurors for a death sentence before beginning a parade of Laci Peterson’s family members to the stand as the penalty phase of the double murder case began. Peterson starred stoically at Prosecutor David Harris as he spoke of the pain endured by the Rocha family since Laci Peterson’s disappearance from her Modesto home on Christmas Eve 2002. “The circumstances of this crime are like ripples on water,” Harris said. “When the defendant dumped the bodies of his wife and unborn son into the bay those ripples spread out. They touched many lives.” Meanwhile, defense attorney Mark Geragos chose not to make an opening statement. The judge then recessed the court until 1:30 p.m. for lunch. Read the stoey here.
Peterson Penalty Phase Under Way
The sentencing phase of Scott Peterson’s murder trial got off to a delayed start late Tuesday morning. Earlier in the day, Judge Mark Forcum called a bartender and his lawyer, Ian Loveseth, into chambers. Peterson’s defense attorney, Mark Geragos, subpoenaed the bartender on the grounds that he allegedly overheard at least one juror discussing the case in his bar, according to a defense source. Jurors are forbidden from discussing a case they’re on outside the jury room. It was not clear how many jurors were involved, what they talked about or what further connections the bartender had to the trial. It also wasn’t known what exactly was discussed during the meeting with the judge Tuesday morning, though Forcum said the matter was resolved. Peterson, of Modesto, Calif., was convicted Nov. 12 of killing his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn child. The same jury that convicted Peterson of two counts of murder will hear further testimony before deciding to recommend life in prison or death by lethal injection. Read the story here.
