According to the non-profit Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), taxpayers have shelled out some $150 billion to accommodate the 20 million illegal migrants that have come into the country in the last year. Only a small fraction of these costs are recouped from the taxes these migrants pay. Worse, these illegal aliens actually receive a net cash profit through refundable tax credit programs.
FAIR got the said figure by subtracting the tax revenue the illegals paid, which was just under $32 billion, from the gross negative economic impact of illegal immigration, $182 billion. In 2017, the estimated net cost of illegal migration was approximately $116 billion and in just five years, it has increased by nearly $35 billion.
As per the report, illegal immigration costs each American taxpayer $1,156 per year, or $957 after factoring in what is recovered. Each undocumented migrant or his/her U.S.-born child costs $8,776 annually. A large percentage of the illegals who work in the underground economy frequently avoid paying any income tax at all.
Last week, Republicans filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey release a full migrant budget. They claimed that there's a $1 billion hole in state coffers and alleged that the true cost has been hidden from the public.
"The Healey-Driscoll Administration has shrouded nearly $1 billion spent in secrecy, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark," MA GOP State Committeewoman Amy Carnevale told Fox News. "They have withheld critical information on 600 incidents involving police, fire and emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Blocking journalists at every turn, the administration has obstructed the flow of information to the public."
In the FOIA request, the committee head demanded the specifics of the state's funding to provide the names of government and private entities that are providing emergency housing for migrants, where the emergency housing is located, any correspondence relating to public safety concerns and any incident reports or police reports.
"We stand with the Massachusetts press corps in declaring: enough is enough. The public deserves transparency. Release the details on the vendors profiting from this crisis and the public safety issues affecting our communities," she added. "On behalf of Massachusetts residents, we are demanding accountability."
Meanwhile, 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 fiscal year 2024 alone. However, according to FAIR's estimates, the 1.45 million illegal migrants and children in the state already cost taxpayers nearly $10 billion in 2023.
While most states' accounts of migrant expenses focus on emergency housing and aid, FAIR's assessment factored in the full breadth of state services they draw on while in the United States, including education, medical expenses, law enforcement, legal costs and welfare.
Harris shifts stance on open borders from decriminalizing illegal crossings to pragmatic "common sense" solutions
On Aug. 29, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' team confirmed that the vice president has shifted her position on decriminalizing illegal crossings and closing immigration detention centers and other border policies.
"While Donald Trump is wedded to the extreme ideas in his Project 2025 agenda, Vice President Harris believes real leadership means bringing all sides together to build consensus," spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said. "It is that approach that made it possible for the Biden-Harris administration to achieve bipartisan breakthroughs on everything from infrastructure to gun violence prevention. As President, she will take that same pragmatic approach, focusing on common-sense solutions for the sake of progress."
Harris previously expressed support for decriminalizing illegal crossings at the border during the 2020 presidential primaries, arguing they should be a civil offense instead. "An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal," she said in 2017. She also promised in the past as a presidential candidate in 2019 to shut down immigration detention centers on "day one." She had also talked about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) potentially starting "from scratch." (Related: Kamala Harris promises to CLOSE all migrant detention centers and release criminal illegal aliens on Day 1 if she becomes president.)
She has faced scrutiny for these past positions on border security as a California senator and a 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidate. A Harris campaign adviser said that her positions have been "shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration."
On Thursday, the campaign said her position is the same as the administration's, which is "continuing to ensure sufficient resources to enforce our laws and prioritize detention and removal for individuals who pose threats to public safety and national security, as well as ensure compliance with immigration proceedings and decisions, including removal."
In June, Biden signed an executive order that limited asylum at the border. The administration claimed that low numbers of border crossers come directly because of that order. They have also renewed calls for the bipartisan package to be passed by the Senate, which emerged from negotiations in the chamber earlier this year and increases funding for the border, including ICE bed space, and a mechanism to limit asylum entries into the United States. They blamed Trump for failing to pass the said legislation.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign expressed doubt in Harris' narratives, suggesting that the vice president has turned into a moderate on the issue. The Trump campaign said that Harris is "ON TAPE spanning a decade spewing her dangerously liberal positions on every one of these issues" and that she's actually not changing her open border positions, "she's just lying."
Head over to InvasionUSA.news for stories related to Biden's open border policies.
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