CBO Report: DACA Amnesty Would Cost American Taxpayers $26 Billion

Giving amnesty to millions of illegal aliens who are covered and eligible for the President Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program would cost American taxpayers a total of $26 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The DREAM Act, which is the most expansive amnesty being considered in Congress, would give potentially 3.5 million illegal aliens who are shielded from deportation by DACA and those eligible for DACA a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

Such a plan, the CBO reports, would come with a costly price tag to American taxpayers:

In total, CBO and JCT estimate that changes in direct spending and revenues from enacting S. 1615 would increase budget deficits by $25.9 billion over the 2018-2027 period, boosting on-budget deficits by $30.6 billion and decreasing off-budget deficits by $4.7 billion over that period. Pay-as-you-go procedures apply because enacting the bill would affect direct spending and revenues. [Emphasis added]

Under the DREAM Act, Americans would have to pay for at least two million illegal aliens who would become eligible for federal entitlement programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as “food stamps.”

Newly amnestied illegal aliens under the DREAM Act would also be allowed to receive federal benefits to go to college, costing Americans a billion dollars just between 2018 through 2022, the CBO estimates.

CBO also estimates that providing higher education assistance for newly eligible people under S. 1615 would cost $1.0 billion over the 2018-2022 period; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Breitbart News analysis conducted by John Carney previously found that the DREAM Act would cost American taxpayers an expensive $115 billion due the newly amnestied illegal aliens being able to receive immediate subsidies from the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare.”

The cost of DACA amnesty would be placed on top of the costs that Americans pay every year due to illegal immigration.

As Breitbart News reported, the most recent Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) report reveals that an illegal alien costs the American taxpayer approximately $8,075 each, totaling a burden of roughly $116 billion annually.

Researchers with FAIR said the finding was both a “disturbing and unsustainable trend,” as the cost of illegal immigration to taxpayers has risen nearly $3 billion since 2013, when illegal immigration cost $113 billion.

The study directly challenged research by libertarian think tanks and open borders organizations, which claim that illegal immigrants are net-gains for American taxpayers.