Recent Census Bureau data is certain to ignite further debate over the issue of illegal immigration.   According to The Wall Street Journal, although illegal immigrants make up 4% of the US population, they are reproducing at twice that rate, accounting for 8% of all US births.

“Unauthorized immigrants are younger than the rest of the population, are more likely to be married and have higher fertility rates than the rest of the population,” said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at Pew in Washington, D.C.

The report, based on Census Bureau data and analysis of demographic characteristics of the undocumented population, also found that the lion’s share, or 79%, of the 5.1 million children of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S. in 2009 were born in the U.S. and therefore citizens.

Amid a heated national debate over illegal immigration, some Republican politicians have been calling for changes to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” in order to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to unlawful residents.

Late last month, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham announced his support for reconsidering automatic U.S. citizenship for babies born to undocumented immigrants. He said the status quo enticed people to enter the country illegally and have children to qualify for U.S. benefits.

As the debt of the United States grows to levels that are clearly becoming unsustainable (see US Is Bankrupt And We Don’t Even Know It), the huge cost of providing free education to children of illegal immigrants needs to be reevaluated.

According to WikiAnswers, the national average cost per student in public schools is $9,666.   The cost of educating 5.1 million children of illegal immigrants is costing the nation over $49 billion per year.  The issue is complex since illegal immigrants also produce numerous economic benefits to the nation, which must be taken into account when evaluating the situation.   Nonetheless, with many State governments on the verge of bankruptcy and legal US Citizens suffering economically, the country is no longer financially able to provide free education to an unlimited number of children born of illegal immigrants.

More On This Topic: Cost of Illegal Immigration In California Estimated At Nearly $9 Billion

Deluged by the arrival of nonstop illegal immigrants, Arizona recently passed legislation to deal with the problem.   Arizona was forced to take action after efforts by the Federal government to address illegal immigration were perceived as ineffective and indifferent.

Arizona’s new law quickly became controversial.   The Obama administration immediately condemned Arizona and acted swiftly to block the new law, a move that left many average Americans scratching their heads.  Why would the Federal government be outraged by a State seeking to identify illegal aliens residing within their borders?

According to the Gallup Daily Tracking poll, Washington’s posture diverges widely from the views of a majority of Americans.  The Gallup poll reveals that the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit against the new Arizona immigration law are opposed by Americans by a 50% to 33% margin.

Feelings are running even higher in the State of Arizona as residents consider the Obama administration’s opposition to the new law as an infringement on State’s rights.  As reported by CNS News, many view the Federal Government’s position as counterproductive and in direct opposition to common sense.

(CNSNews.com) – Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu is hopping mad at the federal government.

Babeu told CNSNews.com that rather than help law enforcement in Arizona stop the hundreds of thousands of people who come into the United States illegally, the federal government is targeting the state and its law enforcement personnel.

“Our own government has become our enemy and is taking us to court at a time when we need help,” Babeu said.

“If the president would do his job and secure the border; send 3,000 armed soldiers to the Arizona border and stop the illegal immigration and the drug smuggling and the violence, we wouldn’t even be in this position where we’re forced to take matters into our own hands,” Babeu said.

Given the Government’s strident opposition to identifying illegal aliens in Arizona, one might expect that the national effort by the Feds to capture and deport illegal aliens would be muted or nonexistent, yet the opposite appears to be the case.  Consider the increase in the number of deported illegal immigrants as reported by the Wall Street Journal:

A record number of criminal aliens have been deported so far this year, reflecting a shift in emphasis by the Obama administration, according to an independent analysis released Monday.

In the first nine months of fiscal year 2010, 137,000 illegal immigrants designated as criminal aliens were deported, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, 60% more than in a comparable period of the Bush administration’s last year and about one-third more than in a comparable period in the Obama administration’s first year.

The numbers reflect ICE’s implementation of a policy that targets illegal immigrants the government describes as criminal aliens who have been convicted of offenses since coming to the U.S. ranging from murder and sexual assault to property damage and traffic violations…

About 11 million illegal immigrants reside in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE.

A surge in deportations between fiscal years 2005 and 2009 was accomplished largely by “catching noncitizens who had not committed any crimes” other than sneaking across the border or entering the U.S. legally and overstaying their visas, the TRAC report said.

Despite the new emphasis, fewer than half of those removed, or 49%, were criminal aliens, compared with 51% who were not.

One may certainly wonder what the strategy of the U.S. government is when it comes to dealing with the issue of illegal immigrants.  While attempting to crush the State of Arizona for asserting its right to deal with illegal aliens, the Feds are simultaneously deporting record numbers of illegal aliens.  This Bizarro World strategy of “let them in so we can catch them” is nonsensical.   It is difficult to discern a clear fundamental strategy by the President who daily seems more distant from the mainstream beliefs and values of average Americans.  It is no wonder that Obama’s approval ratings are plunging.