Nearly $200M in Direct Federal Grants Has Been Aimed at Expanding Programs to Serve Illegal Immigrants. By OpenTheBooks (10/30/25)

openthebooks.substack.c…

If you thought the flood of US spending on illegal immigrants has been stopped, you’d be wrong according to this recent report from Open the Books.

Contents

• “Scientific” Projects

• Direct Programmatic Spending

• Federal Subsidies to California’s Sanctuary Status

• Earmarks

• Conclusion

Summary from Open the Books Conclusion (Grok ai summary, images from article)

📌 The Contents list above highlights spending areas that Open The Books investigated. Please read the entire article for the eye-watering details.

Taxpayer costs associated with illegal immigration include direct and indirect support, as well as increased funding for border security and enforcement under the Trump administration.

ED NOTE 
After reading this article, we think America’s best path is to: 

1️⃣ COMPLETELY DEFUND ALL financial, medical, housing, "cultural," and educational support for illegal immigrants.

2️⃣ Secure our borders from future invasion with border walls and other technology.

3️⃣ Eliminate "birthright citizenship." 

4️⃣ Arrest and deport illegals who commit additional crimes (the initial crime, of course, is crossing into our country illegally). 

These measures could eliminate incentives to break our immigration laws while reducing taxpayer costs. If you don't finance it, they won't come!

Taxpayer Costs for Illegal Immigrants

• $197 million in direct taxpayer support to illegal immigrants.

• Dwarfed by indirect support through programs including Medicaid and education.

• Illegal immigration costs taxpayers $150.7 billion annually at federal, state, and local levels.

Government Funding for Immigration Enforcement

2025 budget reconciliation bill allocates:

• $45 billion to ICE’s detention budget.

• Nearly $30 billion to ICE’s enforcement and deportation operations over four years.

• An additional $46.5 billion to border security infrastructure.

Trump administration has aimed to reduce funding for illegal immigrants, but $13.3 million was spent on grants related to illegal immigrants and healthcare since February 2025.

Impact on Border Crossings and Deportations

• Illegal Crossings Reduced: 26,197 total border encounters in August, 2025, 93% below the Biden administration’s peak of 370,883.

• Deportation Rates Not Significantly Changed: 600,000 deportations projected by 2025 year-end, but only 400,000 deported so far (two more months left in the year).

• Deportations to date are less than President Obama’s annual rates from 2012-2014, which (according to ChatGPT) were:

  • 2012: ~417,268

  • 2013: ~ 435,498

  • 2014: ~ 414,481

Cost Analysis

• If 600,000 deportation estimate holds, cost per additional deportation compared to Obama is $375,000, assuming $75 billion in additional enforcement costs divided by 200,000 extra deportations.

• Contrast $375,000 for deportation costs with U.S. median home cost at $416,900.

Future Analysis and Taxpayer Rights Open the Books plans to study the difference between peak Obama and Trump deportations to assess the value of increased border security funding.

Taxpayers have a right to know spending details for accountability.

Direct and indirect funding for illegal immigrants is costly; but enforcement also is extremely costly.

Related:

• Idaho’s Illegal Immigration, Open Borders, Related Crimes & Security. What Can WE Do? tinyurl.com/33n7yysv