DOGE reveals staggering cost of Biden's immigration crisis

The Department of Government Efficiency underscored this week the staggering cost of the Biden administration's ongoing immigration crisis, comparing the expense of it to other historic milestones and projects.

Based on data collected by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the planned advisory committee, headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, reported that American taxpayers shelled out $150.7 billion in 2023 to address the immigration crisis.

'The scale of spending on illegal immigration boggles the mind!'

FAIR reached the amount by combining the total federal, state, and local expenses and subtracting the tax contributions from illegal aliens.

The organization estimated that the gross cost is $1,156 per year — per taxpayer.

"In 2017, FAIR estimated the net cost of illegal immigration at approximately $116 billion," the organization wrote. "This means that in just 5 years, the cost of illegal immigration has increased by nearly $35 billion. This rapid increase is a consequence of the ongoing border crisis and a lack of effective immigration enforcement. The sections below further break down and explain these numbers at the federal, state, and local levels."

New York City taxpayers have already spent $6.4 billion to support the 200,000 migrants who have entered the city since the beginning of the immigration crisis. Since December 2022, Denver has expended $356 million to provide housing, food, and other services for illegal immigrants.

DOGE highlighted FAIR's findings in a Monday post on X.

The department attempted to put the total "in context with other costs" after adjusting for inflation. It noted that World War I cost $334 billion, the Apollo Space Program $257 billion, the Manhattan Project $30 billion, the Panama Canal $15.2 billion, and the Hoover Dam $1 billion.

Musk responded to DOGE's post, writing, "The scale of spending on illegal immigration boggles the mind!"

X users mocked Democrats for insisting it would be too expensive to deport illegal aliens or complete a border wall.

One user responded to DOGE's post asking, "How much would it have cost to keep those illegals out?"

Another user wrote, "How can we afford NOT to deport them?"

Over the past several weeks, DOGE has brought to light numerous instances of wasteful government expenditure, including the expenses related to vacant buildings resulting from remote work policies.

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who will head the nearly formed Senate DOGE Caucus, sent a letter to Musk and Ramaswamy last week outlining ways the department could slash $2 trillion in government waste. Her first suggestion was to reduce spending on unused or mostly empty buildings, calling it President Joe Biden's "billion dollar boondoggles."

On Wednesday, DOGE noted that the Social Security Administration approved an agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees allowing 42,000 employees to work remotely until 2029. An SSA spokesperson verified the telework agreement with Bloomberg. The AFGE claimed it would "secure staffing levels through prevention of higher attrition."

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