Powell: How much do illegal immigrants cost? And limit state treasurer's power

By CHRIS POWELL

The open borders catastrophe the Biden administration inflicted on the United States has caused enormous pain -- to the legal residents who have been victims of crime committed by illegal immigrants as well as to the illegal immigrants themselves, millions of whom now face overdue enforcement of immigration law and possible deportation.

The catastrophe also has caused enormous expense in public health, education, criminal justice, and housing, and soon will cost much in democracy as well as illegal immigration skews congressional and state legislative redistricting in favor of the Democratic Party, which will gain legislators even though more of the people in their districts will not be eligible to vote.

Yet in Connecticut it seems impossible to address the costs of illegal immigration honestly. Right up to Governor Lamont, Democrats seem to favor unlimited illegal immigration into the state. They refuse to distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants though the distinction is at the heart of the issue.

The governor and Democratic mayors say they want "everyone" in Connecticut to feel safe. The signs and chants used by people rallying for government medical insurance for illegal immigrants omit the "illegal" part.

Anyone who asks them to acknowledge the distinction is swatted away contemptuously with a few epithets of "Trump! Trump! Trump!" This is presumed to refute any argument.

The Democrats get away with this in part because most news organizations lean to the political left or just lack courage. They won't ask critical questions, like: How much does illegal immigration cost and how much can Connecticut afford?

But the costs can be calculated. For starters, state government says has spent at least $80 million in the last two years just for medical insurance for a few thousand illegal immigrant mothers and children even as state medical insurance for poor citizens is underfunded and incurring big budget overruns.

State legislators say they want to figure out how to reduce Connecticut's high cost of living, since half the state's households are said to be living paycheck to paycheck. Legislators aren't likely to get far with that if they can't examine how much state government spends because of illegal immigration and can't be clear about how much the state can afford.

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By casually endorsing the purchase by state pension funds of a minority interest in the Connecticut Sun women's basketball team, state Treasurer Erick Russell inadvertently has reminded the state that he has virtually unlimited discretion over pension investments. Taxpayers may hope that nobody tries to interest him in the proverbial bridge in Brooklyn or introduces him to Bernie Madoff wannabes.

High finance is full of swindlers, and some have fooled money managers more experienced and sophisticated than Russell, who came to the treasurer's office three years ago after only a few years of work as a lawyer, winning the Democratic nomination largely because of his minority racial status and sexual orientation, about which Democrats care much, and not because of relevant job experience, about which they care little.

Russell hasn't done anything disastrous, but the basketball team purchase is a risk Connecticut doesn't need to take and Russell's endorsement of it shows he could use some adult supervision to protect the billions of dollars under his authority. As a matter of form his successors could use more supervision as well.

Legislation proposed by Republican state senators would accomplish that. It would establish a pension investment review board with the final say over investments. While Connecticut already has an Investment Advisory Council, it can only advise even though it was created 25 years ago after a corruption scandal involving pension fund investments, a scandal for which the state treasurer, his assistant, and some associates were convicted.

Despite marginal improvement in recent years, the state pension funds are still far short of the money needed to keep up with their huge liabilities. Meanwhile pension funds are full of opportunities for political patronage. So Connecticut can't be too careful about the people it lets its treasurer play ball with.

Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years. (CPowell@cox.net) His other columns are here.