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By Hugh Cameron
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The U.S Government is spending over two percent of its entire budget on illegal immigration, according to Elon Musk's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"In 2023 alone, illegal immigration cost taxpayers $150.7 billion," the DOGE account posted to X on Tuesday.
Shortly after his victory in the 2024 election, President-elect Donald Trump appointed the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, alongside fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, to lead the newly established department dedicated to reducing unnecessary government bureaucracy and curbing wasteful spending.
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The DOGE X account, which frequently shares other examples of apparently reckless government spending, provided inflation-adjusted comparisons with other major undertakings, such as the atomic bomb Manhattan Project ($30 billion), and the cost of constructing the Hoover Dam ($1 billion).
The figure, if correct, would rival federal government spending across other agencies, comparable to the $151 billion spent by the U.S. Government on income security programs for veterans and their survivors in 2023, according to fiscal accountability think tank The Peter G. Peterson Foundation.
The $150.7 billion bill would also equate to around 19 percent of U.S. defense spending in the 2023 financial year—$820.3 billion according to the Congressional Budget Office—or around 2.4 percent of the total $6.1 trillion in federal spending.
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DOGE cited a March 2023 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which came to the $150.7 billion figure by subtracting the tax revenue collected from undocumented immigrants—calculated to be just under $32 billion—from the $182 billion "gross negative impact of illegal immigration." According to the report, these costs arise from welfare and medical expenses for undocumented immigrants, alongside expenditures in education and "justice enforcement."
FAIR, described by Georgetown University's Bridge Initiative as an "anti-immigrant organization," is currently classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a "designated hate group" due to alleged ties to "white supremacist groups and eugenicists." The think tank has also faced criticism for miscalculating the costs to taxpayers of illegal immigration and overestimating the number of undocumented migrants living within the U.S.
The SPLC is an advocacy group that campaigns to "dismantle white supremacy" and has in the past faced criticism for its subjective use of the "hate group" label. Some consider the widespread application of this designation to be dangerous, saying that it risks conflating numerous organizations under a single, stigmatizing label.
"FAIR evaluates policies, seeking out solutions that help reduce the negative impact of uncontrolled immigration on the nation's security, economy, workforce, education, healthcare, and environment," the organization's own website reads.
FAIR has previously described the SPLC's hate group label as "a vicious smear" and said that many of the organizations subject to the "broad brush" application of this label "merely espouse political views that the SPLC and other like-minded groups disagree with."
Newsweek reached out to FAIR outside of business hours for comment. In response, FAIR said that the above allegations are "disputed" and that the SPLC was not a "credible source."
Newsweek has reached out to Elon Musk via the press teams of X and Tesla for comment.
FAIR's $150.7 billion figure was also cited during a May House Budget Committee hearing on the "Cost of the Border Crisis," during which it was used by Jodey Arrington (R-TX) to demonstrate the "financial burden to taxpayers and the fiscal impact" of illegal immigration.
"If we have $150.7 billion dollars to spend on people who shouldn't even be in this country then U.S. Government is taxing us too much," one account commented under the post. "It's time to abolish the IRS and cut 90 percent of the government."
"Aside from the endless wasted cash, this $150B is precisely why President Trump got elected," another user said. "Time to clean house, DOGE."
The tweet was shared by Musk himself, who wrote: "The scale of spending on illegal immigration boggles the mind!"
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Update 12/04/24 5:36 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include necessary information on the SPLC and its use of the "hate group" label, FAIR's previous comments on the group's activities and FAIR's response to Newsweek regarding the criticisms, and to clarify that comment from FAIR was sought outside of normal business hours.
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