White House Report Puts a $166,716 Lifetime Cost on the Average Illegal Immigrant and Warns Amnesty Plans Could Cost $440 Billion or More
The Council of Economic Advisers says Democratic Socialists of America-backed immigration policies would cost taxpayers $440 billion to $613 billion over a decade; the DSA had no comment in the report.
With Democrats campaigning on affordability, the White House has put a price tag on the immigration agenda of the party's socialist wing.
Fox News got a first look at a Council of Economic Advisers report. These are the administration's own estimates, and they should be read that way.
The headline numbers. The council estimates the average illegal immigrant carries a lifetime net fiscal cost of $166,716. It says the current illegal immigrant population accounts for between $1.4 trillion and $1.9 trillion in projected taxpayer costs. Fox compares the per-person figure with roughly $124,000 for four years at an average in-state public university, using College Board 2025-26 numbers.
The forward-looking claim. The council says mass amnesty and expanded federal benefits under DSA-backed policies could cost taxpayers $440 billion to $613 billion over the next decade. Of that, it puts $361 billion to $475 billion on expanded eligibility for SNAP, federal housing help and Medicaid. For scale, it estimates $3.6 billion to $4.7 billion a year more in food stamps, $2.3 billion to $3 billion in housing aid, and as much as $40 billion a year in Medicaid.
The council also says ending Trump-era enforcement measures would erase $227 billion to $287 billion in projected savings, for a net cost of $79 billion to $139 billion over ten years after accounting for lower enforcement spending. A White House webpage released with the report estimates the DSA's whole agenda at $49 trillion over ten years, about $355,000 per household. That figure covers far more than immigration.
The administration's other talking points: a 73% rise in drug interdictions through August 2026 compared with the same period in fiscal 2024, falling fentanyl-related deaths, 16 straight months of no releases at the southern border, and Temporary Protected Status returned to being "temporary." White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said "radical Democrats want to go back to their extreme open border policies and grant amnesty."
Context to keep in mind. This is a projection by the administration that is making a political case before the midterms. Fox says it asked the DSA for comment on the costs; the report does not include a reply. We have not independently checked the council's model.