The open borders policies of the Biden-Harris Administration have caused chaos and encouraged a dramatic increase in illegal immigration.
A Costly Surge
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recorded 10.8 million encounters with illegal aliens between fiscal years 2021 and 2024. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that net immigration of illegal aliens totaled 7.3 million between FY 2021 and 2024. In the four years prior to this, net migration of illegal aliens was negative.
This surge has imposed a significant human cost, with communities across the United States grappling with the consequences of human and drug trafficking.
A substantial financial price has also been paid by American taxpayers. Many illegal aliens become eligible for taxpayer-funded welfare programs, costing billions of dollars annually.
These benefits – some of which are outright cash payments through the Tax Code or other direct checks – are a significant pull factor for illegal immigration.
Loopholes Expand Eligibility for Welfare Benefits
Illegal aliens are not supposed to be eligible for welfare programs. The 1996 welfare reform law restricted immigrant eligibility for many public assistance programs to only “qualified aliens.”
However, the Biden-Harris Administration has abused loopholes to confer “status” to millions of illegal aliens, qualifying them for welfare programs as a part of its broad catch-and-release agenda.
Aliens – even those otherwise inadmissible – are provided a reprieve from removal by being granted: parole, asylum, work authorization after applying for asylum, status as Afghan parolees, Ukrainian parolees, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Haitian, and Venezuelan (CNHV) parolees, Cuban/Haitian Entrants, noncitizens granted conditional entry, Deferred Enforced Departure (DED), Iraqi and Afghan special immigrant status, refugee status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or withholding of removal by the Administration. All of these categories can become eligible for taxpayer-provided benefits.
As a result, illegal aliens can receive welfare benefits from many different public assistance programs, including:
- Food Stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, “SNAP”)
- Child nutrition programs
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
- Child Tax Credit (CTC)
- Obamacare Premium Tax Credit
- Obamacare cost sharing subsidies
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Pell Grants
- Student loans
- Head Start
- Public housing
- Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF)
The Cost of Welfare for Illegal Aliens is Estimated to be Billions
Numerous recent studies estimate the fiscal costs of benefits for illegal aliens.
The CBO estimated that by FY 2034, outlays for “benefits provided to immigrants in the surge population and their children” will total $177 billion. This includes:
- $59 billion for Obamacare Premium Tax Credits
- $43 billion for the EITC and CTC
- $40 billion for Medicaid and CHIP
- $15 billion for Food Stamps
- $13 billion for child nutrition programs
- $4 billion for SSI
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates that federal expenditures on illegal aliens in 2023 totaled nearly $66.5 billion. This includes more than $23 billion in federal medical expenditures and $11.6 billion in welfare benefits from Food Stamps, child nutrition, SSI, and other programs.
The Manhattan Institute estimates that that every new illegal immigrant has an average net fiscal burden of about $130,000. The study finds that immigrants without a high school diploma who arrive in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 24 – the profile “most commonly represented among immigrants who entered the country unlawfully,” – can receive $332,000 in taxpayer-provided benefits over their lifetime, including healthcare and other welfare program benefits. The report also details that “the border crisis is expected to cost $1.15 trillion over the lifetime of the new immigrants who entered the country unlawfully, overstayed a visa, or were paroled.”
The Center for Immigration Studies (CSIS) finds that the 1.1 million illegal aliens granted parole by the Biden-Harris Administration between January 2021 and February 2023 may become “qualified aliens” with a $3 billion per year cost in welfare benefits. An estimated 60% of illegal immigrant households currently use at least one welfare program, with an estimated $5,692 in federal benefits received annually. Some benefits, such as the EITC and CTC, provide an estimated $3.8 to $4.5 billion in outright cash payments to illegal immigrants.
The House Homeland Security Committee has detailed that Americans have paid billions for hospital expenses, shelter, and the education of the children of illegal immigrants. This included $5.4 billion in “emergency services for undocumented aliens” in FY 2022.
Close the Loopholes and Stop the Billions in Benefits
Securing the border is one of the most important priorities of the American people.
The budget reconciliation process will allow Congress and the Trump Administration to take serious steps to crack down on the chaos at the border. This should include closing the loopholes and cutting off the billions in welfare benefits that are spent on illegal aliens.
Not only is it commonsense policy to close the loopholes and stem illegal immigration, but it is a fiscally responsible step to stem these costs for the American taxpayer.
