Illegal immigration is busting the budget in New York City, where Mayor Eric Adams warns New Yorkers, “Without policy changes, NYC could potentially spend $12 billion on asylum seekers over next three fiscal years.”
The same is true in Chicago, Denver, and other sanctuary cities. Their mayors are now demanding state and federal help with the costs that migrants bring with them.
When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sends migrants to the cities that say they want them, those cities are suddenly confronted with the reality of their rhetoric; millions of people crossing the border illegally, needing services and support, can become economically unsustainable.
Texans have borne these costs for decades. As the traffic of illegal immigration surges and ebbs, the numbers fluctuate. But health care, education and other public services remain expensive.
In an executive order issued last week, Abbott has directed Texas hospitals to collect information, starting on Nov. 1, “regarding patients who are not lawfully present in the United States…(including) the cost of the care provided to such patients.” The data is to be reported to the Health and Human Services Commission quarterly, and in an annual report of the preceding state fiscal year’s costs to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the Texas House.
Texas leads the nation in the number of uninsured residents. State and federal laws require Texas hospitals to treat anyone who seeks care, regardless of their insured status or ability to pay. Three years ago, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote that the border crisis caused by President Joe Biden’s open border policies were costing Texans over $850 million annually. In a press release from March 2021, Paxton listed categorically the alarmingly excessive costs that Texans are paying for public services provided to illegal immigrants.
Of the estimated $855 million, “Texans pay between $579 million and $717 million each year for public hospital districts to provide uncompensated care for illegal aliens.” Adjusting for inflation over the past three years, the $850 million Texans paid in 2021 may now be closer to . The updated figure is uncertain due to both the unknown number illegal immigrants that have entered the state and the unknown number that have used the healthcare programs.
However, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the “net cost of illegal immigration for the United States—at the federal, state, and local levels—was at least $150.7 billion.” The gross negative economic impact was $182 billion. The long-term costs of this “fiscal time bomb,” as explained by the Center for Immigration Studies, will “clearly eclipse the short-term costs.”
Jessica Vaughn, the Center’s Director of Policy Studies, says that the situation is increasingly dire due to 60% of illegal-alien households depending on welfare. FAIR cites evidence that “tax payments by illegal aliens cover only around a sixth of the costs they create at all levels in this country” while a “large percentage of illegal aliens who work in the underground economy frequently avoid paying any income tax at all.”
In spite of the economic strain of this fiscal time bomb, Abbott’s executive order is a reasonable and encouraging directive. The order does not affect the care that patients will receive, but will bring greater light and transparency to the alarming costs that are unjustly being paid by Texan taxpayers due to the open-border policies. It is a prudent measure to be taken and one that can be built upon with the aim of furthering fiscal accountability and fairness.
New York City, Chicago and other sanctuary cities are noting the financial consequences of a porous U.S. border policy laden with latent costs—costs that are inevitably covered by U.S. taxpayers. Texans have known this for years. Abbott’s directive will clarify the bottom line.
How can we verify this estimate?