Q&A – Can President Trump End Government Programs for Illegal Immigrants?
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
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Today’s Entry: I love your show and listen everyday while walking my dog 5 miles. You are truly blessed with a gift to provide detailed facts on every subject allowing the listener to understand and make an informed decision. My question today, based on the information/facts you provided this morning regarding the taxpayers cost paying for illegal immigrants, can President Trump have an executive order eliminating any and all federal assistance to illegal immigrants effective immediately? This may be another way for them to consider self-deportation if there is no longer financial and free medical care that many US citizens do not receive.
Bottom Line: Your point is exactly right, and the answer is yes, President Trump has taken executive action attempting to end the abuse of federal government assistance programs by illegal immigrants. As I recently reported, the average net lifetime financial impact of each illegal immigrant from the time they enter this country until the time they exit (be it be by deportation or death) is $68,000. That’s a figure net of taxes paid by illegals.
One of the long-standing arguments by the Left has been that most assistance programs aren’t available to illegal aliens. There’s a great deal of irony associated with that assertion. By definition their very presence in this country is illegal – yet that clearly didn’t stop them from breaking the law. As I’ve discussed abuse of government assistance programs has become the norm for those lacking legal status in this country. But the biggest abuse of all came through the use of a loophole opened to asylum seekers during the Biden administration.
The Biden administration opened these government programs up to all asylum seekers while they wait for their immigration cases to be heard:
- Food Stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, “SNAP”)
- Child nutrition programs
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
- Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG)
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
- Child Tax Credit (CTC)
- Obamacare Premium Tax Credit
- Obamacare cost sharing subsidies
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
- Pell Grants
- Student loans
- Head Start
- Public housing
- Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF)
The average wait time for an asylum case to be heard was approximately 5 years entering this year. As we’ve seen, over 97% of asylum seekers are determined to be illegitimate once the legal process is complete.
There is no relative strain on government programs that’s greater than the cost of illegal immigrants. This is in large part due to 63% of illegal immigrants receiving at least one form of federal government assistance with 88% of all illegal immigrants with children partaking (the highest percentage of any group in the country). So, in addressing today’s note...can President Trump put an end to abuse of federal assistance programs by illegal immigrants (and bogus asylum seekers)? President Trump has signed two executive orders aimed at doing just that...
On February 19th President Trump signed the PRESERVING FEDERAL BENEFITS FOR AMERICAN CITIZENS order. As is stated in the fact sheet provided by the White House:
- The Order directs Federal departments and agencies to identify all federally funded programs currently providing financial benefits to illegal aliens and take corrective action.
That come in many different ways. As is identified in the order, this includes direct federal assistance programs, housing, sanctuary policies of state and local governments that take in federal funds, etc. And the cost is huge! The House Homeland Security Committee estimated the cost of government assistance programs for illegal aliens allowed in during the Biden administration alone at $451 billion if left unaddressed.
Next up, on April 15th, as a result of DOGE findings which included 342,890 noncitizens collecting Social Security payments, President Trump issued a memorandum directing the Social Security Administration to ensure illegal aliens are no longer collecting Social Security payments.
We’ve yet to receive updates from the administration as to if meaningful progress has been made because of these directives. With that said, I can provide a rough estimate of the progress that’s been made. As of mid-May, an average of 778 daily ICE detentions had taken place since January 20th (a number that has risen as time has advanced). Given the usage rates of government assistance programs by illegal immigrants, an estimated 58,327 illegal immigrants would have been removed from federal assistance as of today based on ICE’s actions alone. If the federal government has been successful in removing non-detainees, the number would be considerably higher. To be continued...