The Real Costs of America’s Border Crisis

The Real Costs of America's Border Crisis

This analysis, done by the Heritage Foundation, provides detailed insights into the true cost of runaway illegal immigration into America.

As record numbers of illegal aliens continue to flood across our southern border, they are being dispersed into every congressional district in the country, making every state a border state.

We are told they’re merely coming to seek a better life. And while that’s true for many, open-border advocates ignore the enormous toll on Americans caused by illegal immigration.

This analysis will explain the real costs of America’s Border Crisis, so you are equipped with the facts about this crucial issue.

Economic Costs

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!

The far-reaching effects of the influx through our southern border are clear. Our communities bear the costs of illegal immigration caused by the Biden administration’s anti-enforcement and open-border policies.

Border communities have long been overwhelmed by 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.

However, there is more to the story. Considering the droves of illegal aliens the government is settling throughout the country and the sheer number already in the interior of the U.S.—an estimated 15.5 million in 2021—let’s consider a few examples of the specific, ever-increasing costs to communities and states across the nation

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

In 2023, New Jersey spent $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.

These taxpayer resources should have been used to improve the lives of Americans, not to further incentivize increased illegal immigration.

Societal Costs

Even beyond the economic costs, there are sobering human costs associated with illegal immigration.

After being on the decline for years, because of President Biden’s open-border policies, 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. The open border also has allowed Mexican drug cartels and many on the terrorist watchlist to cross into the country unimpeded. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over 71,000 lives were lost to fentanyl overdoses in 2021, with all of that fentanyl coming from south of the border.

The border crisis is extremely dangerous. And these extraordinary financial and human costs are avoidable if we muster the political will to secure the border.

Educational Costs

Since Joe Biden became President in 2021, CBP has encountered more than 470,000 unaccompanied alien children. That is an undercount as it does not include those who entered the country with a family unit.

The CBP transfers unaccompanied children to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), a government agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is charged with providing social services until children are placed with a sponsor.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Plyler v. Doe (1982) that public school districts must enroll minors, regardless of their immigration status. Here are four examples from Fiscal Year 2023:

In California, 11,121 unaccompanied alien children were sent to sponsors, according to ORR data. Although the exact number of unaccompanied children who attended public schools is unknown, at $16,975 per pupil spent by California schools (combined federal, state, and local spending), that equates to an additional cost of about $189 million for one year if all those children enrolled in school.
In New York, 8,477 unaccompanied alien children were sent to sponsors, according to ORR data. New York spends $28,261 per pupil, making the total additional cost to taxpayers close to $240 million for one year.
In Texas, the ORR released 16,394 unaccompanied alien children to sponsors. At $13,900 per pupil, per year, those additional students cumulatively cost nearly an additional $228 million for one year.
In Arizona, 861 unaccompanied alien children were released to sponsors, according to ORR data. Arizona spends $11,625 per pupil annually, leading to an additional cost of more than $10 million to Arizona taxpayers for one year.

In just these four states in one fiscal year, absorbing this influx of migrant children into public schools may have cost taxpayers almost three-quarters of a billion dollars. Nationwide, the CBP encountered 145,474 accompanied and unaccompanied minors in FY 2023.

Based on the national average spending of $16,345 per student, if each such child enrolled in public school in FY 2023, it would increase national education spending by more than $2 billion for one year.

In addition to the significant financial burden imposed on state and local governments to educate migrant children, there are also concerns about misuse of school property, classroom management, and English proficiency. Each of the issues below impacts learning and academic performance.

Misuse of School Property: The surge in illegal immigration has led to the improper use of school facilities. In New York, for instance, students were sent home from school and were compelled to switch to online learning to allow migrants to shelter in the school gymnasium.
Classroom Management: School districts are forced to enroll a massive and sudden influx of migrant students into classrooms. At two Texas high schools in the Austin Independent School District, teachers were forced to instruct students in hallways and conference rooms to accommodate the 400-plus migrant children who were recently enrolled. New York Public Schools have had to absorb some 20,000 migrant children for the 2023–2024 school year.
Limited English Proficiency: Unaccompanied children arriving in the U.S. typically do not speak English. This poses additional challenges for teachers, who must then navigate classroom instruction and classroom management issues with children who may not understand content or instructions.

Not only does the Biden administration refuse to change course, but it constantly finds more ways to deceive the public and escape responsibility as it knowingly, and purposely perpetuates the crisis and allows a record-high number of illegal entries every month.

Solutions

Americans shouldn’t have to suffer from these heavy burdens caused by illegal immigration. That’s why The Heritage Foundation is creating and promoting policy solutions that will secure our borders and make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to receive government benefits. These include:

Building a wall and giving CPB the resources and permission it needs to enforce immigration laws and close the border
Tightening state policies requiring proof of citizenship or proof of lawful status for things like receiving public benefits and employment, enabling law enforcement to more effectively protect communities
Promoting policies that require public schools to charge tuition for unaccompanied migrant children as well as children who are in the U.S. with their illegal alien parents. Such policies would draw a lawsuit from the Left, which would likely lead the Supreme Court to reconsider its ill-considered Plyler v. Doe decision that had no basis in law.

We don’t have a country if we don’t have a border. And no nation can afford an open border and a welfare state.

The Heritage Foundation will continue to fight to secure our border and protect the American people’s interests, especially when U.S. government officials refuse to do so.

References

To learn more about how to build an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish, visit heritage.org.