Illegal Immigration Is a Hot Election Topic and Could Cost Americans Nearly $900 a Year Each
Written by
Vance Cariaga
Edited by
Daria Uhlig
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There’s no question that illegal immigration costs government agencies a lot of money, but good luck finding a consensus on the dollar amount. There aren’t a lot of cost estimates because nobody really knows how many illegal immigrants live in the United States, or how often (and how much) they use government services. But if you are to believe the estimates that are out there, the cost is nearly $900 a year per American citizen.
In comments to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee last year, Steven A. Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies called illegal immigration a “net fiscal drain.” This means illegal immigrants receive more in government services than they pay in taxes.
Camarota was quick to point out that the drain is not due to laziness or fraud. “Illegal immigrants actually have high rates of work, and they do pay some taxes, including income and payroll taxes,” he said. But the vast majority are stuck in low-paying jobs, which means that a large share qualify for welfare programs and often get benefits on behalf of their U.S.-born children.
“Like their less-educated and low-income U.S.-born counterparts, the tax payments of illegal immigrants do not come close to covering the cost they create,” Camarota said.
Meanwhile, he called the current surge of illegal immigration “unprecedented.” Between January 2021 and early 2024, about 2.7 million inadmissible aliens were released into the country by the Biden administration, according to Camarota. Another 1.5 million entered illegally but were not stopped. In September 2023 he pegged the total number of illegal immigrants at 12.6 million and suggested that the number has likely increased.
It’s worth noting that the Center for Immigration Studies has been referred to as the “go-to think tank for the anti-immigrant movement” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. More than a few organizations question the Center’s data and intent.
In any case, Camarota’s comments have become part of a hot-button election issue over illegal immigration, President Joe Biden’s border policies and the cost to taxpayers.
In November 2023, the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Republican majority released a report that said Americans could pay in excess of $451 billion a year on illegal immigration. Based on an estimated population of 342 million, that comes to about $1,320 per American citizen.
Other cost estimates are much lower. A separate analysis from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) pegged the net annual cost at $150.7 billion, Newsweek reported. That comes to about $440 a year per American citizen.
The FAIR study accounted for factors such as emergency medical care, incarcerating illegal aliens in local jails and federal budgets that pay out billions in welfare every year. It also accounted for the estimated $32 billion of tax contributions made by illegal immigrants.
There’s a big discrepancy between $1,320 per American and $440 per American, but the average of the two is $880.
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