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According to the Pew Research Center, Maryland had an estimated illegal [immigrant] population of 120,000 in 2000. As of this writing, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates the current Maryland illegal immigrant population to be 250,000.

FAIR recently released a study that estimates the cost to Maryland taxpayers for illegal immigration to be at least $1.3 billion per year: $1.1 billion per year to educate illegal immigrant children and the U.S. born children of illegal immigrants, $167 million per year in unreimbursed health care and $29 million per year to incarcerate criminal illegal [immigrants].

Assuming these costs to be accurate and knowing that Gov. [Martin] O'Malley is in the unenviable position of facing a $2 billion state budget deficit, is it unreasonable to suggest that all taxpayer-funded programs for illegal [immigrants] be terminated? I don't think so. Moreover, I would suggest that taxpayer funding of services to illegal [immigrants] has been and is looting our state treasury.

The governor is unlikely to receive another federal bailout, and his announced cost-cutting measures announced thus far — furloughs, eliminating 400 or so jobs, closing a few state hospitals — are at best feel-good accounting gimmicks. Even the Department of Budget and Management predicts that with his announced cost-cutting measures, a $1.5 billion deficit is expected in fiscal 2012 with further fiscal deficits to follow. Could higher taxes be on the horizon?

Many Marylanders are struggling. Knowing that any state tax dollars, particularly in these rough times, are going to illegal [immigrants] should be an affront to every taxpayer. It is high time to take care of the taxpayer and not the tax taker.

Tom Slezak, Hyattsville