The House Homeland Security Committee released a report this week that shows caring for illegal aliens currently within the United States could cost American taxpayers up to $451 billion per year. The 49-page interim staff report, appropriately titled “The Historic Dollar Costs of DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ Open-Border Policies” was released the same day the House voted on a resolution to impeach Mayorkas.

That resolution was referred to the Homeland Security Committee, which stopped the passage of the resolution. There is little chance of the DHS secretary being impeached, or any member of the Biden administration, as long as the Senate is controlled by Democrats and Biden is in the White House.

The report explains the scope of services paid for by taxpayers and the fact that the total costs are never fully recouped by illegal aliens with the taxes paid by illegal aliens. The costs burden the federal government, state governments, and individual taxpayers. Lawful citizens and residents bear the burden of this administration’s bad border security policies or a lack thereof.

“Mass illegal immigration, accelerated by Mayorkas’ open-borders policies, now represents a massive cost to the federal government and state governments alike, as well as the pocketbooks of private citizens and businesses,” it continues. “The range of costs inflicted by Mayorkas’ border crisis cover everything from emergency medical care to increased demands on law enforcement to housing and shelter benefits for illegal aliens.”

The report highlighted estimates from immigration analysts such as the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). CIS figures put the total cost as high as $451 billion while the FAIR data put the tax burden at a net $150 billion after accounting for illegals’ tax contributions.

The report was authorized by Mark Green, the Republican Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The report is divided into six sections: health care; law enforcement; education; welfare and other benefits; housing and shelter; and private property and border livelihoods. The report notes that there are few studies that show the comprehensive scope of the overall federal and state costs of Biden’s border crisis. Americans rely on federal and state records and other publicly available information.

Ranchers and property owners along the border are on the hook for continuous costs to repair damage done by the constant stream of illegal immigrants moving through their property. Extensive, expensive security systems are being installed by property owners concerned about the safety of themselves and their families. Trash is left behind by the trespassers and that has to be cleaned up. Sometimes fires are set by those seeking to be apprehended by law enforcement and become lost on the land. Equipment is damaged or broken, including water lines crucial to farming and raising livestock.

There is also the problem of illegal trespassers carrying parasites that leads to animal illness and sometimes death.

“Plastic bottles, jugs, cans, backpacks, clothing, shoes, coats, and trash litter our property. I cannot clearly describe the amount of trash that now covers South Texas ranches. These materials will take hundreds of years to decompose and has led to cattle loss, as some items can be consumed and cause digestive failure in cattle. This is a long-term defacement of beautiful South Texas rangelands that will never be the same. Ranchers shoulder the burden of this financial loss.”

Outbreaks caused by parasites carried into the country by illegal aliens can also put a strain on bank accounts. Ranchers particularly fear fever tick outbreaks, according to Richard Guerra, a rancher in Roma, Texas, in part because the cost to hire helicopters to spray affected areas to eradicate them can be up to $400 an hour.213 “Some of these migrants also carry the fever tick [as a result of passing through Mexico into the US]. And when they step on your property, chances are they’re going to drop the tick,” Guerra told the New York Post in 2021.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these parasites can spread “cattle fever,” which causes cows to lose weight and produce less milk, and can ultimately prove fatal. The tick has been eradicated from the United States, “with the exception of a Permanent Quarantine Zone
along the U.S.-Mexico border.”

The report claims that OMB is playing bait-and-switch games with money allocated to border security. Funding to secure the border often ends up going to pay for services for illegal aliens.

The only way this madness ends is with a change in the administration, a new president in 2024. If Trump is the Republican nominee and wins the election, he is pledging to double down on his previous policies. He said he will round up illegal aliens and put them into detention camps and deport them. The other Republican candidates pledge to be tough on the southern border in order to secure it. Ron DeSantis said he will send military troops to the border to secure it.