For decades, Americans have been sold a comfortable lie about illegal immigration: that it’s manageable, that the numbers have stayed flat for years, and that the costs are easily absorbed. In reality, we’re facing a slow-motion fiscal disaster that has shredded local budgets, strained public services, and betrayed the constitutional duty our leaders swore to uphold.
I’ve spent years digging into the hard data, and it’s time we stop pretending this is someone else’s problem.
Let’s understand the numbers and the unsustainable facts:
The official figure of 11 million illegal immigrants has been recycled by politicians and journalists for nearly twenty years, even as hundreds of thousands continue to cross our border illegally each year. It’s a number designed to comfort, not to inform.
In 2018, researchers from MIT and Yale offered a bracing dose of reality, estimating that the actual illegal population could be as high as 22 million. If that was true seven years ago, what does that number look like today after record border surges under the Biden administration?
The implications are staggering. Every one of these millions brings costs that ripple through local hospitals, schools, and welfare systems. Yet Washington continues to understate the scale, quietly pushing these burdens onto state and local governments already on life support.
Most illegal immigrants aren’t eligible for Medicaid or SNAP. That’s the usual defense. But their U.S.-born children are automatic citizens, fully eligible for these programs.
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), illegal immigration now costs U.S. taxpayers $182 billion every year: $66 billion at the federal level, $116 billion at the state and local level. Medicaid alone absorbs about $7 billion for illegal immigrants plus more than $20 billion for their children born here.
Meanwhile, under EMTALA, hospitals must provide emergency care regardless of status. In Texas alone, that means roughly $1.3 billion a year in uncompensated care, costs that get passed right back to insured patients through higher premiums and to local taxpayers through hospital district taxes.
The same pattern holds with food assistance. While illegal immigrants generally can’t receive SNAP, their U.S.-born children do. That’s a big reason why 31 percent of immigrant-headed households, legal and illegal combined, are on at least one major welfare program, compared to about 19 percent of native households.
Here is why Public schools are paying the price:
Public education is another overlooked casualty. About 4.2 million K-12 students are tied to illegal immigration, either undocumented themselves or the U.S.-born children of those here illegally.
This isn’t just about a seat in a classroom. It means billions spent on ESL programs, special education services, and hiring staff to handle language and integration needs. FAIR estimates this burden alone costs around $60 billion annually.
The constitutional lens: who pays for neglect?
None of this happened overnight. For decades, Republicans and Democrats alike ignored visa overstays, which now account for roughly 40 percent of the illegal population, failed to penalize employers who break the law, and used immigration as a political football instead of enforcing the rules already on the books.
The result is local schools, hospitals, jails, and welfare offices forced to pick up the slack. When Congress now looks to rein in Medicaid, SNAP, or other safety nets, local budgets that were already stretched to cover millions of additional residents simply cannot compensate. It is the American poor, disabled, and elderly who end up paying the price, in delayed care, overcrowded classrooms, and reduced services.
This is the opposite of the constitutional guarantee to protect the general welfare of our own citizens first.
Why Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” resonates with so many Americans is clear.
This is also precisely why so many Americans rallied — and continue to rally — behind proposals like Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s not just about a wall. It’s about enforcing laws that have been on the books long before he ever ran for office, making sure visa overstays are tracked, employers are held accountable, and resources are finally prioritized for the taxpayers who fund this country.
It’s about putting an end to decades of bipartisan neglect that hollowed out local budgets and left Americans fighting over scraps because Washington refused to defend our sovereignty.
Arithmetic isn’t cruel — it’s constitutional and its the reality of Americas situation in 2025.
None of this is heartless. It’s math. A nation cannot combine open borders with expansive welfare programs and expect taxpayers to bankroll it indefinitely without devastating consequences.
The Founders built a constitutional republic rooted in secure borders, national sovereignty, and the obligation to protect the general welfare. If we abandon these principles, we invite chaos — in our budgets, our hospitals, our schools, and ultimately our social fabric.
That’s the bottom line. If we want to stop abandoning America’s most vulnerable — the poor, the sick, the elderly who rely on these programs — we must first secure the border, enforce the law, and restore fiscal responsibility. Anything less isn’t just policy malpractice. It’s a betrayal of the constitutional trust placed in every elected official who swears an oath to protect this republic.
