Prince William Lawmaker Asks U.S. to Pay Costs

Providing local services to illegal immigrants in Prince William County last year cost at least $3 million, and a county lawmaker yesterday decided to send the bill to Congress.

Supervisor W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville) wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Vice President Cheney -- in his role as Senate president -- citing the county's severe budget crunch and politely asking for reimbursement.

Covington made the letter public yesterday, a day after the county released a study he had requested to determine how much money illegal immigration is costing county government.

The $3 million estimate is probably low. "We cannot give you an accurate or dependable answer . . . regarding the total cost to serve the illegal population," concluded the study, written by County Executive Craig S. Gerhart.

Prince William, where about 20 percent of residents are foreign-born, is one of several areas in Northern Virginia grappling with a wave of new residents, many of them illegal immigrants. Local government officials, frustrated that the federal government has not been aggressive in curbing the problem, have begun taking action.

Last week, Prince William became the first county in the area to propose allowing its jail to take on the federal task of screening undocumented immigrants for deportation. Yesterday in Richmond, a House committee approved a bill that would ban taxpayer money going to religious and charitable groups that provide assistance to illegal immigrants.

The legislation was sponsored by Jackson Miller, the newly elected Republican delegate from Manassas, who said he was upset that taxpayers' money was used to fund a day-laborer center in Herndon in 2005.

The county government study was able to determine only the specific costs of illegal immigration at the county jail and juvenile detention center and the administrative costs of processing emergency Medicaid applications at hospitals and clinics.

Most of the $3 million was spent housing illegal immigrants at the jail, according to the study.

Gerhart said the county could not determine how much the school system spends on illegal immigrants, because students are not required to provide proof of legal status.

Prince William's study was unusual because it was the first attempt by a local government in the region to determine the price tag of funding local services for illegal immigrants, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the National Council of La Raza, a leading Hispanic civil rights group.

"What I learned from this," Covington told the Prince William Board of County Supervisors yesterday, "is that it is going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and the ultimate burden is going to be on local governments." He invited the board to sign the letter with him.

In his message to Pelosi and Cheney, Covington asked that Congress conduct a study of its own.

"We need functioning immigration laws that protect the quality of life for local taxpayers," he wrote. "We believe that the U.S. Congress is in charge of determining the number of illegal immigrants. We respectfully request that the U.S. Congress determine the cost that illegal immigration places on localities. In particular, we ask that Congress commence a federal study to determine the effect of illegal immigration upon our public education system."

Covington noted that although the county could not determine the impact on the school system, the number of non-English-speaking students has risen dramatically in the last five years. "While the finite effect on this local jurisdiction is not completely known . . . our schools and other public programs have been greatly undermined," Covington said.

Prince William is facing a revenue shortfall of $18 million this year and has determined that it must cut about $22 million from next year's budget, a process that is just beginning. The study noted that county analysts also could not determine how much economic benefit illegal immigrants -- or any residents, for that matter -- bring to the county.

"I think there is a reason why there is a dearth of these studies," said Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research for the National Council of La Raza. "I think it is really difficult to do. I am very glad that they recognized that the total immigrant population is not an approximation for illegal immigrants."