illegal aliens in college

A friend is thinking about illegal aliens and higher education:

I'm working with a group of my fellow students on drafting a bill to be introduced in the Missouri legislature next year that will forbid state colleges or universities from admitting aliens illegally present in the US. I am not exactly sure where I even stand on this issue, but that really has nothing to do with anything. And is has nothing to do with in state or out of state tuition; the issue is ADMISSION to college. My part of the project is to write a policy paper that will be useful to the legislator who is sponsoring the bill. So I have to discuss policy reasons
that support the bill, as well as those in opposition (with responses). Do any of you have any good policy reasons either for or against such a law? Pointing me in the direction of any authority that supports your reasoning will also be greatly appreciated.

At the risk of writing a research paper instead of a blog post, here are my thoughts:

• Purpose of the bill
  The reason to enact such a law isn't clearly stated. There are two implied reasons:
  1. Illegal immigrants are a problem and we would be better off if they had no incentive to stay in Missouri.
  2. Each illegal immigrant who is enrolled in a state funded school imposes a marginal cost on the state which is higher than the marginal benefits obtained by educating that immigrant.
  Other possible reasons are pretty nonsensical:
  1. Presumably we aren't trying to protect immigrants from the harm caused by state funded schools.
  2. Presumably the presence of an illegal alien in the classroom is unlikely to significantly disrupt the educational process for natives.
  3. Presumably we aren't proposing to keep non-natives out of our schools because of a racist/nationalistic desire to avoid rubbing elbows with non-Americans.
  4. Presumably we aren't proposing this bill simply for the sake of getting a grade in school.
• Analysis of Outcomes
  To understand the consequences of enacting this bill we would need to know several things:
  
  1. What is the impact (positive or negative) of illegal immigration on our society?
  2. What is the impact (positive or negative) of educating illegal aliens?
  3. What proportion of illegal aliens seek education in state funded universities and colleges?
  4. What impact will this bill have on the decision making process of illegal aliens who are contemplating a move to Missouri?
  I can't answer any of those questions with confidence, but I've got some guesses:
  1. Does illegal immigration harm America?
     • Many say that illegal immigrants are a major source of crime (above and beyond the inherent criminality of their presence in America, that is). Is illegal immigration in Missouri a significant source of crime? I suspect not, but don't have any evidence.
     • Many say that illegal aliens are major consumers of public assistance and therefore constitute a burden on American taxpayers. This seems to be true. Or not.
     • Many immigration opponents argue that immigrants harm our economy by reducing wage rates and taking jobs from natives. Others disagree: example 1, example 2, example 3, example 4 and example 5.
     • Some are afraid to see our society and culture over-run by foreigners. I tend to agree with those who see immigration in general as a good thing.
  2. Does education of illegal aliens have any positive or negative effects on our society? I'm not going to spend any time researching this--as a society we seem to have concluded that education of natives is a good thing. Presumably, the same benefits that accrue from educating a native would also accrue from educating an illegal alien. I'm not the only one thinking this, but I hardly regard that link as conclusive.
  3. Do many illegal aliens seek higher education in Missouri? I seriously doubt it.
  4. Would this bill change the incentives for illegal aliens to settle in Missouri? Possibly, but not to any significant degree. The illegal aliens who presumably cause the most harm and provide the least benefit to society (criminals, welfare recipient and the unskilled) would probably be the least likely to seek higher education. Denying access to higher education to these people will not alter their decision making process.
• Conclusions:
  1. If the purpose of the bill is to limit illegal immigration to Missouri because that immigration is harmful, I suspect that this bill
     1. will not benefit Missouri all that much because the harms of illegal immigration are overstated,
     2. will close off one mechanism (education) by which the most costly of illegal aliens can be turned into more productive illegal aliens, and
     3. will ultimately prove ineffective in limiting illegal immigration because few illegal aliens seek higher education.
  2. If the point of the bill is to limit the direct costs associated with educating illegal aliens at state institutions, I don't think anybody can tell how great the problem is. There probably aren't that many illegal aliens in our schools, but we also need to know what the marginal cost to the state is for educating these people. Whether they pay in-state or out-of-state tuition would be a significant factor in determining this cost. We also would need to know how much benefit to society we can obtain by educating our illegal alien population. I assume that there would be some benefit (economic, cultural or otherwise), but I don't know how to quantify that benefit to compare it to the costs associated with such education.
  3. I REALLY need to get a life.

UPDATE:
There are a lot of good links here and here. Neither set of links is directly applicable to the question of whether to educate our illegals, but they do provide a lot of good background thoughts from a lot of very smart people.