(Chart:Nineteen US states, including New York, have shelled out in excess of $1 billion for the migrant crisis).
How the migrant crisis drained $150 billion from taxpayers in a single year
Aug. 29, 2024, 6:02 a.m. ET.1/2
The migrant crisis is more costly than Americans realize. Last year, US taxpayers shelled out some $150 billion in government services and support to help the 20 million illegal migrants in the country, according to a study from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
And most of the cost is being borne by state and local governments.
In Massachusetts, Republican leaders say there’s a $1 billion hole in state coffers — and they’re accusing the Democrat-controlled government of quietly siphoning off tax dollars to deal with the migrant crisis.
On Tuesday, the state’s Republican Party filed a Freedom of Information Act request demanding Gov. Maura Healey release Massachusetts’ full migrant budget, and alleging 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,” the party’s Amy Carnevale told Fox News.
“They have withheld critical information on 600 incidents involving police, fire and EMT. Blocking journalists at every turn, the administration has obstructed the flow of information to the public.”
FAIR estimates that in 2023 alone, the cost in state services for the illegal migrants and their children in the Bay State was closer to $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 fiscal year 2024 alone.
However, according to FAIR’s estimates, the estimated 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 US.
Services like education, medical expenses, law enforcement, legal costs and welfarewere prominent factors FAIR looked at in its study.
Those, coupled with the differences in tax revenue compared to expenses, helped contribute to the discrepancies between state reporting and the estimated true cost of hosting migrants.
FAIR also included the costs of US-born children of illegal immigrants — something many reports don’t factor in.
“As long as we keep allowing millions of people to come into the country illegally every year, it’s obviously going to continue to increase the costs,” FAIR spokesperson Ira Mehlman told The Post.
“This seems to be just sort of basic, common sense. If you were going to be bringing in lots and lots of people, many of them working off the books for very low wages, that there are going to be enormous social costs incurred,” he added.
And not a single state across the country has been spared — FAIR projected West Virginia spent the least, with costs to care for migrants and their children still totaling more than $33 million…
https://nypost.com/2024/08/29/us-news/the-150-billion-problem-cost-of-migrant-crisis-to-us-taxpayers-could-be-billions-higher-than-reported-expenses-in-many-states/