Illegal Immigration Is Expensive
The Biden-Harris administration is handing out more hundreds of millions to bail out localities reeling from the crisis it created
By Elizabeth Jacobs on August 31, 2024
Illegal immigration is expensive. That should be obvious, but it bears repeating.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on August 28 that it will hand out an additional $380 million to localities through its Shelters and Services Program (SSP). This program is intended to offset some of the political ramifications associated with high levels of illegal immigration by providing funding to localities that are “providing critical support such as food, shelter, clothing, acute medical care, and transportation” to inadmissible aliens recently released from DHS custody — despite federal laws that require most border-crossers’ continued detention pending the completion of their immigration proceedings.
This $380 million allocation is in addition to the $259.13 million in SSP grants DHS gave out just four months prior in April 2024. In fiscal year 2023, DHS gave out more than $780 million through SSP and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program – Humanitarian Awards (EFSP-H) to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and localities across the country for the same purposes.
Of course, these costs do not include the costs the federal government pays to process inadmissible migrants through the immigration system. Those costs include, but are not limited to: transportation; shelter, detention, or administrating the expensive and generally ineffective “alternatives to detention” program; food; medical care; education programs for arriving children; translators; increased hiring, training, and salaries for asylum officers to conduct credible fear screenings; and the separately expensive immigration court system under the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which includes operating costs and salaries needed for immigration judges, DHS attorneys, and administrative staff for lengthy and complicated proceedings.
https://cis.org/Jacobs/Illegal-Immigration-Expensive
