The immigration crisis is more costly than Americans realize.
Last year, U.S. taxpayers spent about $150 billion on government services and assistance to support the country's 20 million undocumented immigrants, the research organization reported. A survey by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (impartial).
And most of that cost is borne by state and local governments.
In Massachusetts, Republican leaders say there is a $1 billion hole in the state's finances and accuse the Democratic-controlled government of secretly diverting taxpayer money to address the migrant crisis.
On Tuesday, the state's Republican Party filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding that Gov. Maura Healey release the full amount of the state's immigration budget, arguing that the true costs are being hidden from the public.
“The Healey-Driscoll Administration secretly hid nearly $1 billion in spending, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark,” said Rep. Amy Carnevale, R-Massachusetts. He told Fox News.
“It suppressed vital information about 600 cases involving police, fire and emergency services. By blocking journalists at every turn, the government disrupted the flow of information to the public.”
But FAIR estimates that in 2023 alone, the cost to state governments of services to accommodate undocumented immigrants and their children in the Bay State will be nearly $3 billion.
In New York, the comptroller estimated that the migrant crisis will cost state taxpayers $4.3 billion through 2025 and New York City taxpayers $3 billion in 2024 alone.
But the estimated 1.45 million undocumented immigrants and children in the state are already costing taxpayers nearly $10 billion in 2023, according to FAIR estimates.
While most state immigrant expense reports focus on emergency housing and assistance, FAIR's assessment takes into account the full range of state services immigrants use while in the United States.
Services such as education, health care costs, law enforcement, legal costs and welfare were key factors FAIR looked at in its study.
These, combined with differences in tax revenues and spending, contributed to the discrepancy between state reports and the actual estimated costs of accepting immigrants.
FAIR also included costs for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants, something not considered in many reports.
“Clearly, costs will continue to rise as long as we continue to allow millions of people to enter the country illegally each year,” FAIR spokesman Ira Mellman told The Post.
“This seems like basic common sense. If you employ so many people, many of whom are casual and working at very low wages, there's going to be huge social costs,” he added.
And without exception, West Virginia spends the least across the nation, with FAIR projecting the costs of caring for migrants and their children would still total more than $33 million.
But it's just one of seven states that have spent less than $100 million on the crisis.
Half of U.S. states are estimated to have spent more than $100 million, with 19 spending well over $1 billion.
According to FAIR's research, California leads the nation in spending about $31 billion on caring for undocumented immigrants and their children.
This was followed by Texas with more than $13 billion, Florida with more than $8 billion, New York and New Jersey.
FAIR estimates that the total cost to American taxpayers is even higher: $182 billion.
But illegal immigrants do pay taxes, and FAIR estimates they contribute about $32 billion to local, state and federal coffers.
But FAIR estimates that this would still leave the cost to American taxpayers at $150 billion.
“The assertion that illegal immigrants pay more in taxes than they spend in services is completely misleading,” Mellman said.
The enormous costs to taxpayers have ballooned since around 2017, when the true cost of illegal immigration was estimated at about $116 billion, according to FAIR.
That translates into an increased cost to U.S. taxpayers of roughly $35 billion in just five years, FAIR found in its study.
More than 1.3 million people were released into the U.S. by Customs and Border Protection between March 2023 and July 2024, not including dozens of people who sneaked into the country undetected, known as “go-aways.”
“It's cruel to use taxpayer money to support and assist people who don't even have a right to be here legally because the federal government has policies that allow this to happen,” said Chris Klemm, a former Border Patrol chief in Arizona's Yuma Sector.
“That's another draw, because all they have to do is get arrested, turn themselves in and get released. They have an opportunity that you and I don't have.”
