Refugee program costs US taxpayers $125 billion
over ten years, by Ann Corcoran, 9/29/18.
“The costs are staggering. The costs are truly staggering,” said Barnett.
“The costs are staggering. The costs are truly staggering,” said Barnett.
(Don Barnett, Fellow at the
Center for Immigration Studies)
I reported a few days ago on
the ‘Report to Congress’ released by the US State
Department as part of the consultation with Congress requirement of the
Administration when determining how many refugees will be admitted to the US
beginning on Monday.
Here LifeZette analyzed a
portion of that report about what you pay for the program (actually only a
small portion of the costs!).
America’s refugee program cost taxpayers more than $125 billion over a
10-year period, according to a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
report to Congress on a proposed cut in the émigré cap.
The
report accounts for refugees resettled from abroad, foreigners in the United
States granted asylum, and people participating in special programs set up for
Iraqis, Cubans, Haitians, and Amerasians from Vietnam.
The cost to federal taxpayers for
refugees and individuals granted asylum in fiscal years 2005 through 2014 came
to $74.7 billion, plus an additional $21.9 billion for state matching funds for
programs available to refugees.
The total cost was $96.65
billion. Including spouses and children, the overall cost to state and federal
taxpayers rises to $125.696 billion.
That
total includes the cost of relocating refugees, services provided by the Office
of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), child care subsidies and three main welfare
programs — Medicaid, Medicare, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.
In a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, President Donald
Trump alluded to the cost in arguing that U.S. generosity is better
demonstrated near locations from which refugees come.
The nearly $126 billion estimated cost over 10 years, however,
represents but a fraction of the total taxpayer investment. It does not include more than a
dozen other programs, such as Social Security, various tax credits, education
spending, and other welfare.
[Other welfare supplied by
federal and state taxpayers would include food stamps, and other costs include
federally required interpreters for courts, medical care and schools, the
criminal justice system and most often ignored—remittances—money the refugees
send home and out of our economy.—-ed]
Don
Barnett, a fellow at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS),
told LifeZette that it makes sense to take a
comprehensive approach to assessing refugee costs that go beyond just the
relocation expenses.
Unlike
other immigrants, who must wait five years before they are eligible for
government-assistance programs, refugees and individuals granted asylum
immediately can receive welfare.
The Libertarian CATO Institute has been
talking about reform that would include private citizens sponsoring refugees.
It does have its appeal. But, he knows that not enough sponsors would be found
especially if they were on the hook for all of the care of a refugee or refugee
family, so CATO is not proposing abolishing the present contractor system of
resettlement. CATO
wants both systems at the same time—the same as Canada!
The
government report estimates that in a typical year, major HHS programs cost
about $3,300 per refugee.
A
2015 study by CIS, which favors lower levels of immigration, attempted to
account for a broader range of costs imposed by refugees. The study found that the five-year cost of
relocating refugees from the Middle East came to $64,370 per person and
$257,481 per household.
Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the libertarian Cato
Institute, did not dispute the government’s cost estimates.
A
better approach than a bureaucratic, taxpayer-funded refugee system, Nowrasteh
said, is to allow private citizens and organizations to sponsor refugees and
take financial responsibility for them. He said Canada has such a system and
that the United States has had similar policies in the past. More here.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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