The U.S. Supreme Court has mandated that state and local governments may not exclude either legal or illegal immigrants from public education, and-perhaps by implication from any other benefits or services available to citizens-7 Thus, federal immigration policy heavily impacts state and local budgets, especially in states with disproportionate numbers of immigrants.
(Although family "sponsors" may have pledged support of immigrant, and immigrant who become a public charge " may be deported legally, these provisions of the law are almost never enforced.)
Indeed, some states have tried unsuccessfully to sue the federal government to recover the costs of providing services to immigrants.