A new study released this week shows that the 24 counties along the U.S.-Mexican border from California to Texas are being shortchanged millions of dollars a year in costs related to prosecuting and jailing illegal immigrants, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Together the counties spent a total of $1.23 billion from 1999 to 2006 to put illegal immigrants through the justice system, and federal programs have offset only a fraction of those costs, the Times reported.

"This is a huge problem because we can't keep up with fixing roads, the other costs of law enforcement, keeping up health agencies," Paul Newman, a member of the Cochise County (Ariz.) board of supervisors told the Times. "It is a big hit on counties that per capita are unable to meet other needs."

The study was commissioned by the U.S./Mexico Border Counties Coalition, a nonprofit organization composed of county officials concerned about border issues, and was carried out by researchers at the University of Arizona and San Diego State University, according to an article in the Arizona Republic.

"The study is important because, for the most part, these border counties are small, they're rural, they're very poor, and this is a tremendous hit to their county budgets," Tanis Salant, a University of Arizona public-policy lecturer and the study's main author, told the Republic.

In New Mexico, Dona Ana County spent about $6 million in 2006 to catch and prosecute illegal immigrants, according to a report on the study on KFOX-TV in El Paso, where the cost was even higher (nearly $35 million spent in 2006).

And according to KOB-TV, the study shows that New Mexico's three border counties have spent a total of $293 million over the past eight years on illegal immigrants.

The study puts the per-taxpayer cost of prosecuting and jailing illegal immigrants is $33 in Dona Ana County, $25 in Luna County and $88 in sparsely populated Hidalgo County, according to Eyewitness News 4.

New Mexico counties, in particular, pay a larger per-person share than some of the more urban counties along the border because of the scarcity of people, smaller county budgets and short-staffed police departments, according to the study. 

"It's a tremendous burden," Dona Ana County Commissioner Kent Evans told KOB-TV. "But if we have to do it, we'll do it. But, by gosh, the (federal) government should reimburse us for that."

To access the entire 155-page study, go here (pdf download). 

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