Figures lie and ...

In math class you were always told to show your work , not just give an answer.

The League of United Latin American Citizens cited a study last week, reported in the Ragister, at an immigration forum...

Iowa's economy would lose $4.4 billion in annual spending if all undocumented workers were exported from the state...

That amount is based on almost 25,200 undocumented workers in Iowa, according to the report.

Reader George Davey did the math and found...

this indicates that each of the 25,200 is spending a whopping $174,603. If these numbers were true, it would also mean that illegals are taking high-paying American jobs, which the article denies.

Furthermore, the article fails to even acknowledge the fact that illegal aliens also have a definite negative drain to society, which may not even be fully offset by what they produce.

...It is not fair to talk about what illegals produce without looking at their toll on Iowa society. We all know it is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The problem is it that is hard to assess the negative impact of free health care, including free baby delivery, the negative impact of free Spanish translators in schools and the unknown cost of such things as Spanish signage in mega corporations such as Lowe’s which has full Spanish and English signage in their Iowa stores. Also, please consider the cost of crimes by illegals.

State Representative Kraig Paulsen sums it up best...

"At the end of the day, these people are either here legally or illegally. How much money they spend doesn't all of a sudden legitimize that they're here illegally."

And the scientific community is united in that fact.