What Is Illegal Immigration Costing You?

I have written many posts about how illegal immigration is bad for America and Americans. As long-time readers know, I am a staunch proponent for secure borders complete with a wall or fence, electronic surveillance, and aerial surveillance. All of those tools would have helped Border Patrol deal with the five million illegal immigrants who have entered the United States over the past two years.

In an article published by The Daily Signal, Erin Dwinell outlined the costs of illegal immigration for every American. Here is a sample of the costs for the Biden administration making every state a border state. 

Annually, illegal immigration now costs taxpayers billions of dollars a year. For instance, in states far away from the southern border like Illinois, that cost was $4.59 billion in 2022. That’s $930 per household. Every year….

Border communities have long been overwhelmed under these policies. The crisis now costs California $21.76 billion and Texas $8.88 billion annually in education, health care, law enforcement and criminal justice system costs, welfare expenditures, and more….

At a rate of $65,116 per alien, New York City Mayor Eric Adams estimates his city will need to spend $2.8 billion in the next fiscal year to deal with the rapid influx.

In 2023, New Jersey will spend $15 million just to provide health care benefits to illegal alien children.

As of September 2022, Operation Lone Star – a statewide effort by Texas to decrease illegal crossings and crack down on human and drug trafficking – had cost Texas over $4 billion. That averages about $2.5 million per week.

As of July 2022, Colorado was on track to spend $12 million per year in state and local government benefits, professional licenses, and business permits for illegal aliens.

In March 2022, Oregon passed legislation establishing the Universal Representation Fund, providing $15 million in “free” legal services and representation for illegal aliens, primarily those facing deportation.

The above figures are just the economic costs. With the increasing crime levels, “there are sobering human costs.” For example, “crimes committed by illegal aliens have skyrocketed over the past two years in virtually every category, including homicide and manslaughter, robbery and theft, sexual offenses, and weapons and drug trafficking.”

It is impossible to put a price tag on the devastation to families and communities that crimes perpetrated by illegal aliens bring. In 2022 alone, U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrested 1,142 illegal aliens who were convicted of assault, battery, or domestic violence; 1,614 who were convicted of driving under the influence; and 2,239 who were convicted of drug possession and trafficking. Additionally, CBP arrested 62 illegal aliens convicted of homicide or manslaughter and 365 convicted of sexual offenses. In total in 2022, CBP arrested 12,028 illegal aliens who had been convicted for various crimes.

In addition to the economic and crime costs, Biden’s open border policies have allowed Mexican drug cartels to have a free pass at the border where terrorists cross unimpeded. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, more than 71,000 people lost their lives to fentanyl overdoses in 2021. All the fentanyl enters America at the southern border.

The United States cannot continue to suffer the economic, crime, and health costs caused by Biden’s open border policies. The Biden administration are, obviously, not going to do anything about the flood of migrants crossing into the United States. Our only hope is for Congress to defund the “radical, open-border operations” and “restore known, successful policies to secure our border and our country.” Hopefully, Americans will be wiser when we elect our next President!