New Report Details The True Cost Of Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration could cost Mississippi more than $100 million every year, a new report from the state’s auditor reveals.

The report, from Mississippi State Auditor Shad White, addresses the costs of illegal immigration for the broader country before delving into the ways illegal immigration places a financial burden on Mississippi’s education, healthcare, and public safety systems. The investigation comes as polling indicates that immigration is a top issue for voters heading into the presidential election.

“Just last week, an illegal immigrant was arrested in North Mississippi for allegedly raping a 10-year-old boy twice,” State Auditor Shad White told The Daily Wire. “Every state is a border state now, and our new report shows how much state taxpayers are spending thanks to the open border.”

“Illegal immigration creates a financial burden for taxpayers across the country, but the cost of illegal immigration is not borne solely by the federal government,” the report explains, also noting that an estimated 22,000 illegal immigrants reside in the state. “Taxpayers from each state—including Mississippi—must face the reality of increased spending as a result of crisis-level illegal immigration.”

Mississippi’s healthcare system is hit particularly hard by illegal immigration, with the report estimating that the state spends a whopping $77 million on healthcare for illegal immigrants and their children every year. The report estimates the figure with data on the number of illegal immigrants in the state, their rate of health insurance, and their use of emergency medical services. It also found that Mississippi spends $4 million every year to pay for births to illegal immigrants, whose children are then designated as American citizens.

“Children born to illegal immigrant parents are citizens of the United States and immediately eligible to apply for Medicaid,” the report explains. “Given the incentive for hospitals to generate revenue for services provided, many of these children are likely enrolled in Mississippi’s Medicaid program.”

The state auditor’s report indicates that illegal immigration poses a massive financial burden on the Mississippi education system as well.

“In K-12 spending alone, in total, Mississippi taxpayers likely pay $25 million to educate illegal immigrants each year,” it reads, also noting that an estimated 2,500 illegal immigrants are currently enrolled in the state’s K-12 education system. “This estimate does not include the cost to educate the US-citizen children born to illegal immigrants, which is difficult to estimate given the state’s inability to collect citizenship data for students and their families.”

The sum was driven up in part by the increased costs associated with providing additional instruction to those who qualify as English Language Learners.

Mississippi’s public safety system also incurs additional costs because of illegal immigration, with the report estimating that “Mississippi taxpayers will spend at least $1.7 million annually incarcerating illegal immigrants.”

“This estimate does not include the cost of the extra burden law enforcement agencies face while policing Mississippi streets as a result of illegal immigration,” White’s report goes on to read. “The presence of illegal immigrants can strain local law enforcement agencies, which may lack the resources to effectively manage the increased workload. Additionally, the need for specialized training for officers to handle immigration-related issues can divert resources away from other critical public safety needs.”

The report also notes that an estimated 22.1 million illegal immigrants lived in the United States as of 2016 according to a study performed by researchers at Yale and MIT. That number is expected to have increased under the Biden-Harris administration, which has presided over an unprecedented crisis on the southern border.

Over 10 million people have crossed the border under President Joe Biden, with an estimated 1.7 million illegal immigrant gotaways recorded since he was inaugurated in 2021. There were 415,000 total reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020 under the Trump administration.