Nearly 20% of California’s Budget Goes Towards Illegals

It’s bizarre why sanctuary cities are standing in defiance of President Donald Trump’s attempts to crack down on them. That’s because illegals are costing residents a ton of money.

The total cost of illegal immigration is $113 billion a year at the federal, state, and local level, with the vast majority of the costs ($84 billion) placed upon state and local governments.

The state leading the pack in terms of their illegal immigration population is California, and they’ve been the most defiant in resisting Trump’s policies on illegal immigration. Among their tactics, according to Newsweek, include the following:

  • Lobbying and demonstrating in favor of bills like SB 54 or passing “safe haven” resolutions in local school districts.
  • Accompaniment programs that help immigrants, who often don’t speak English, navigate immigration and deportation proceedings.
  • Legal work such as Know Your Rights meetings (like the one in Leimert Park), webinars and connecting immigrants directly to pro bono representation.
  • Basic support such as food, clothing, housing or school transportation for families of deportees; or helping families create plans in case a parent with children who are legal residents is deported on short notice.
  • Sanctuary funds.
  • Physical sanctuary for those who are resisting detention or deportation.
  • Setting up hotlines and rapid-response teams to react to arrests and detentions.

That’s quite the list – and for all they’re spending to protect illegals, those very same illegals are responsible for a massive amount of state spending, accounting for a fifth of California’s budget.

Illegal immigrants and their children cost California at least $30.29 billion a year in net costs—$7,352 per alien.

For context: given that California’s state budget is $171 billion, this means that illegal immigration would cost 17.7% of this spending (although much of the costs are absorbed locally).

At this point, the question is no longer whether California ought to allow illegal immigration—it’s whether it can afford it.

Illegal aliens are expensive, and financial burden on California’s already strained government is unsustainable.  Worse, it’s already taking its toll.

Just this week California’s Oroville Dam was on the brink of breaching, due to financial neglect—there’s just not enough money to go around.

H/T National Economics Editorial

Californians ought to cooperate with Trump’s policies – they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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By Matt

Matt is the co-founder of Unbiased America and a freelance writer specializing in economics and politics. He’s been published... More about Matt

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