According to the Center for Immigration Studies, U.S. taxpayers are shelling out more money to cover the costs of illegal immigrants popping out babies in the United States than Congress is willing to spend on President Trump’s promised border wall. The shocking comparison was discovered and reported this week after CIS did a deep-dive on Census Bureau data from 2014. As reported by the Washington Examiner, the numbers show that while the U.S. is spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $2.4 billion a year to facilitate the birth of anchor babies in this country, Congress could only manage to give Trump a measly $1.6 billion to start construction on the wall.
From the Examiner:
The Center for Immigration Studies report also put a price on the likely Medicaid bill for childbirth and early care to illegal and legal immigrants combined, at $5.3 billion. That is one-fifth the total cost of building the border wall.
A national debate over wall funding is set for after the election and could result in a partial government shutdown if Trump doesn’t get more than the Senate’s $1.6 billion.
Technically, illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare services. But the report explained, “Medicaid will pay for a delivery in almost all cases if the mother is uninsured or has a low income, though some mothers without insurance may not even realize the program has paid health care providers. Illegal immigrants and most new legal immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid, but the program will still cover the cost of delivery and post-partum care for these mothers for at least a few months.”
That part of the analysis is shocking in and of itself. Oh, welfare? Illegal immigrants can’t get that. Oh, Medicaid? Illegals aren’t eligible for that. But…yeah, welfare and Medicaid kick in for this problem or that problem. No biggie. It’s just taxpayer money going to pay for people who aren’t citizens, who broke our laws, and who don’t actually belong in this country. You want to what? Build a wall?? What a waste of money!!
CIS Research Director Steven Camarota told the Examiner, “Paying for so many births to immigrant mothers may make sense, but the large share who can’t provide for themselves without the help of American taxpayers raises the question of whether our current immigration system makes sense.”
Yeah, it raises some questions, all right. Like: When is Congress going to get the lead out and fund the wall that 60 million Americans voted to build?
