President Biden’s “porous” border policies are expected to cost New York taxpayers nearly $10 billion in 2023, a new watchdog report claims.
The conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform’s March study found New Yorkers will pay $9.9 billion all told for various federal, state and local government programs that serve more than 1 million illegal immigrants and asylum-seeking migrants in the Empire State.
New York taxpayers will shell out $4.65 billion for education-related expenses, $3.5 billion for health care and welfare expenditures including food assistance programs, and $1.75 billion for costs related to immigration-related law enforcement such as caring for unaccompanied minors, the report breakdown states.
It also estimates that the border crisis is costing US taxpayers more than $150 billion annually — a 30{c024931d10daf6b71b41321fa9ba9cd89123fb34a4039ac9f079a256e3c1e6e8} jump since their 2017 study. The estimate was offset by around $31 billion in taxes collected from illegal aliens.
The news comes as New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) are negotiating a 50-50 split payment to deal with the Big Apple’s migrant crisis, which will reportedly cost residents $4.2 billion over the next year.
Hizzoner declared a state of emergency in October over the migrant influx, as tens of thousands were being housed in taxpayer-funded facilities.
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told The Post the Biden administration is “making families pick up the tab for this historic influx of illegal aliens.”
“Hardworking Americans across the country should not have to pay for President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’ refusal to secure our Southwest border,” he said.
“Instead of making families pick up the tab for this historic influx of illegal aliens, the Biden administration should be enforcing the laws on the books and resuming construction of our Southwest border wall to help our Border Patrol do what they do best — secure our border.”
New York Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, who also sits on the Homeland Security Committee, said a “porous border policy” is to blame.
“Under Joe Biden’s watch, an untold number of illegal immigrants and dangerous narcotics have flowed into the United States, and Americans are suffering the consequences,” said the Long Island Republican.
“Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee will continue pressing the President to reverse course from his administration’s current porous border policy and take meaningful steps to secure our Nation’s entryways.”
FAIR considers “illegal immigrants” as including asylum seekers in its study.
Since Biden took office in January 2021, more than 1 million migrants have escaped custody after illegally crossing the US border, according to Customs and Border Protection.
FAIR President Dan Stein told The Post the costs have been driven up by “open borders advocates at every level of the government.”
“As America struggles to meet countless societal needs while facing the realities of our staggering $31 trillion national debt, the costs of providing for millions of people who have no legal right to be in the United States continues to grow at an alarming rate,” he said.
“Not only is the Biden administration refusing to rein-in illegal immigration or remove the people who are breaking our laws, they are promulgating policies that actually encourage more of it while offering new protections and benefits to those who settle here illegally.”
He added, “Likewise, a growing number of states and localities create their own costly magnets for illegal aliens by declaring themselves sanctuaries and offering new benefits and services. This has to stop.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said the report’s findings show how “absurd and outrageous” Biden’s border policies have been.
“This report details what we already know: Texans are getting absolutely decimated by lawlessness at the hands of this administration. This chaos has meant dead Americans from fentanyl, ranches destroyed and — as the report indicates — billions of dollars in health care, education, law enforcement and other costs,” Roy said.
“It is absurd and outrageous that US citizens and legal immigrants are footing the bill for lawlessness — especially when President Biden could put an end to this man-made crisis with the stroke of a pen,” he added.
Fellow Texan Sen. Ted Cruz (R) called the numbers in the report “shocking.”
“While President Biden’s economic policies are driving inflation through the roof, his open borders policies are costing taxpayers billions more,” he told The Post. “It is time for Biden to open his eyes and recognize that his policies are creating a real crisis. He must stop the abuse of our asylum laws, end catch and release, and secure our border.”
The libertarian Cato Institute criticized FAIR’s 2017 report for having overestimated the total number of illegal immigrants in the US by more than a million people.
The think tank also faulted FAIR for including the costs of government benefits that extend to US-born children of immigrants.
New York became one of 11 so-called “sanctuary” states in 2017, when disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order prohibiting state officials and law enforcement from inquiring about a person’s immigration status.
The state now has the fourth-highest cost associated with illegal immigration, according to the FAIR report, sitting behind California, Texas and Florida, respectively.
FAIR also found nearby sanctuary states incurred high expenses related to illegal immigration, with New Jersey residents paying more per household annually than New Yorkers.
The average New York household pays $1,321 on immigration expenses, whereas Garden State households pay $1,551 on average.
New Jersey is forking over $5.27 billion toward the expenses in 2023. Connecticut will spend $1.28 billion.
“This is unsustainable,” Adams, 62, said. “New York City is doing all we can but we are reaching the outer limit of our ability to help.”
In January, Adams said the city’s “right to shelter” policy would not apply to asylum seekers.
“The court ruled that this is a sanctuary city,” he said on WABC radio’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning,” before blasting the Biden administration.
“We have a moral and legal obligation to fulfill that. We don’t believe asylum seekers fall into the whole ‘right to shelter’ conversation,” he added. “There’s no more room at the inn, and the reason there’s no more room at the inn is because the federal government is not doing their job.”
More than 52,700 asylum seekers have gone through the New York City system and been offered a place to rest at night since last spring, according to a source familiar with City Hall statistics.
More than 31,900 asylum seekers are currently in the city’s care, but the total number is likely much higher, since estimates do not include those who stay with family or friends.
City officials have opened 97 emergency shelters and 7 Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers in response, with two more expected in the coming weeks to replace the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.
States shoulder the brunt of costs related to illegal immigration, according to the FAIR study, with the total fiscal burden before taxes exceeding $115 billion. Federal expenses before taxes amounted to $66 billion.
Hochul’s office and City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the FAIR analysis.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), who serves on the House Oversight Committee, said the cost of illegal immigration “must be measured in dollars” but also in “the lives that are being destroyed.”
“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas’ border crisis is hurting Americans nationwide,” he said. “In addition to the wave of illegal immigration their policies have created, the open border is allowing deadly drugs like fentanyl to kill Americans. The cost of illegal immigration and an open border must be measured in dollars and the lives that are being destroyed.”
