Illegal Immigrants Who Entered US Since Biden Took Office to Cost Taxpayers $20+ Billion a Year

The number of illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. since President Biden took office will cost the U.S. taxpayer over $20 billion each year, according to a new analysis by a hawkish immigration group.

The study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which advocates for lower levels of immigration overall, calculates that the illegal immigrants who have entered the U.S. since Jan. 2021 will add an extra $20.4 billion burden a year, in addition to the $140 billion existing illegal immigrants already cost.

The analysis is based on an estimated 1.3 million released into the U.S. by immigration officials, as well as approximately one million “gotaways” — or illegal immigrants who have slipped past overwhelmed agents. FAIR calculates that each illegal immigrants costs $9,232 a year to support.

The U.S. has been in the midst of a massive border crisis since early 2021, with more than 1.7 million migrant encounters in FY 2021, and more than two million in FY 2022 so far. While many of those encounters are repeat encounters, and nearly half are removed under Title 42 public health protections, a considerable number are released into the U.S. for asylum hearings.

DHS sources told Fox News that there have been more than 500,000 “gotaways” into the U.S. this fiscal year until July, making at least 900,000 gotaways in FY 21 and 22.

FAIR, which calls for stricter border controls as part of a range of broader immigration reforms, laid out the money the estimated $20.4 billion could be spent on instead — including providing every homeless veteran in the U.S. $50K a year for the next 10 years.

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It could also construct the entire wall at the southern border — a project that began under the Trump administration.

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