Officials in border states see the matter as far more than a scholarly legal debate. Pam Slater, a San Diego County supervisor, called the current system "a travesty" that is bankrupting state and local governments. Educating 355,000 citizen-children of illegal aliens cost California taxpayers $1.7 billion in fiscal 1995-96, for example.

An offer of financial support to children born in the United States is far too great a lure," she said. "This loophole must be closed (p. 5)."

Educating illegal immigrants' children is reflected in the test scores of the border state public schools, and other school systems with a large population of illegal immigrants. While federal and state law prohibits the collecting of information that would specifically target Hispanic children as the problem behind low test scores, one might conclude that for some school districts the language barrier might contribute to those low test scores.

However, while we cannot...
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