This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he filed a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court to protect taxpayers from the rising costs of illegal immigration.
Leading a 14-state coalition, Texas filed the brief in response to the Biden administration’s actions to quietly abolish a federal immigration rule that would protect American taxpayers from the financial burden of illegal immigration.
Before sending the brief to the Supreme Court, the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled against the Texas-led coalition.
“With America in the midst of a recession and families across the country already facing record-high inflation, it’s completely reprehensible to expect taxpayers to foot the bill for hundreds of millions of dollars to sponsor more and more illegal aliens,” said Paxton.
The rule in question is called the “public-charge rule,” which came into effect in 1999 and prohibits the entry of any illegal alien who is likely to become financially dependent on the government—and, therefore, the taxpayers.
In 2018, the federal government under President Donald Trump came to recognize modern public assistance in other forms like Medicare, food stamps, and housing assistance as violating the public-charge rule.
In May, Paxton revealed that illegal immigration costs Texas taxpayers more than $850 million each year, including benefits like housing and education.
According to Paxton’s office, Texans pay an average of $579 million to $717 million each year for public hospital districts to provide uncompensated care for illegal aliens, in addition to paying $152 million to house criminal aliens for one year.
Since April, the state of Texas has sent more than 10,000 illegal aliens to Washington, D.C., New York City, and Chicago, costing taxpayers more than $12 million.
While looking at the overall cost to Texans, it should be noted that illegal aliens who have entered the country since Biden took office will cost American taxpayers more than $20 billion each year.
According to a study done by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization that advocates for lower levels of immigration, illegal aliens who entered the U.S. since January 2021 will add $20.4 billion to the already existing cost of $140 billion used to caring for those here illegally.
FAIR also notes the additional money being used to provide support for illegal aliens could be used to reduce the homeless population of veterans and hire more law enforcement officers to combat rising crime throughout the states.
Though the Biden administration continues to stay silent on the border crisis and the burden it puts on border communities, Paxton hopes filing this brief will bring much-needed relief to taxpayers.
“I sincerely hope the Supreme Court decides to re-examine this case, because the Biden administration’s actions have left Texas vulnerable, and our citizens deserve better,” said Paxton.
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