By Joe Chatham
FAIR
Last Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order to ensure that illegal aliens are not improperly receiving taxpayer benefits. The Executive Order, “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” directs all federal departments and agencies to identify any programs receiving federal funds that provide benefits to illegal aliens and take corrective action as appropriate.
As a legal foundation, the Executive Order points to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, also known as the Welfare Reform Act. That law, enacted by President Bill Clinton, established strict guidelines under which aliens may qualify for benefits. Referring to PRWORA, the Order states: “the plain text of Federal law…generally prohibits illegal aliens from obtaining most taxpayer-funded benefits.” Specifically, 8 U.S.C 1641generally limits eligibility for federal public benefits to “qualified aliens.” Qualified aliens, by legal definition, include lawful permanent residents (LPRs), asylees, refugees, aliens granted parole for at least one year, aliens whose deportation is withheld, and Cuban and Haitian entrants.
In addition to limiting federal public benefits to “qualified aliens,” PRWORA required most qualified aliens to wait for five years before becoming eligible to apply for federal public benefits. Several exceptions, which became particularly relevant over the past four years, are refugees, asylees, and Cuban and Haitian entrants.
Over the past four years, the Biden administration also used legal loopholes to treat illegal aliens like legal immigrants. The main tool to accomplish this was the rampant abuse of parole authority; a second tool was unwarranted grants of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). These abuses allowed illegal aliens access to many benefit programs based merely on “lawful presence” despite having no legal status in the United States. Parole helped many illegal aliens qualify for federal benefits like legal immigrants.
The Executive Order asserts that improperly providing public benefits to illegal aliens acts as a magnet for illegal immigration and must be stopped. The Order therefore directs all departments and agencies to:
- Identify federally funded programs permitting illegal aliens to receive any benefits and to take steps to align those programs with both the intent of the Executive Order and federal law;
- Ensure that federal funds being provided to states and local jurisdictions do not encourage illegal immigration or support sanctuary policies; and
- Improve eligibility systems so that taxpayer benefits are not being improperly provided to illegal aliens.
The Order further directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to identify any remaining streams of federal funding used to support illegal aliens and recommend further actions to increase eligibility verification and align federal spending with the Order. Finally, the Order instructs all agencies and departments to report any inappropriate uses of federal funds to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
In 2023, FAIR estimated the gross cost of illegal immigration to be at least $182 billion—an uptick of nearly $50 billion since 2017. The estimate was based on costs incurred from the presence of more than 15.5 million illegal aliens and approximately 5.4 million citizen children of illegal aliens. This substantial burden costs Americans approximately $9,000 per illegal alien and over $1,000 per American taxpayer.
Access to the vast array of public benefits that have been made available to illegal aliens has been a driving force behind years of record illegal immigration and the crushing burdens it has imposed on American taxpayers. The executive order signed last week is critical to the Trump administration’s goals of both ending illegal immigration and cutting government waste and spending.
To read the White House Fact Sheet referencing FAIR’s Cost Study, click here. To read testimony from FAIR’s Executive Director before the House Budget Committee on the cost of illegal immigration, click here.
