The Eye-Popping Cost of Hillary’s Refugees

The lifetime cost of Hillary Clinton’s proposal to relocate refugees to the United States from around the world could swell to more than $400 billion, according to an analysis obtained first by LifeZette from the Senate Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest.

The subcommittee, headed by Sen. Jeff Sessions, cites an estimate by Heritage Foundation scholar Robert Rector that that total lifetime cost of relocating 10,000 Syrian refugees — as President Obama has pledged to do in the current fiscal year — is $6.5 billion. That takes into account not only the costs directly associated with the federal program but also costs borne by taxpayers at the federal, state and local levels for government assistance and other expenses.

If maintained for four years of a Clinton presidential term, the United States would admit a total of 620,000 refugees, a number roughly comparable to the population of Baltimore.

Using Rector’s estimate as a baseline, the subcommittee projected the total lifetime costs of 155,000 refugees at $100.75 billion. That accounts for Clinton’s stated goal of accepting 65,000 refugees from war-torn Syria. She has called Obama’s plan a “good start.” Her proposal represents an increase of 55,000 refugees a year over the Obama administration’s initial target of 100,000 for fiscal year 2017.

If maintained for four years of a Clinton presidential term, the United States would admit a total of 620,000 refugees — a number roughly comparable to the population of Baltimore. The cost to taxpayers of all of those refugees, over the course of their lives, would be $403 billion.

The subcommittee noted in its analysis that the president has wide latitude in determining the annual number of refugees admitted to the United States.

“Due to statutory flaws in our Refugee Admissions Program, the number could be as high as Hillary Clinton desires,” the analysis states.

Other experts who have studied refugee costs have reached similar conclusions about the staggering price tag of America’s refugee program. The Center for Immigration Studies determined late last year that the five-year cost of the average Middle Eastern refugee is $64,370. New data released by the government since then suggests the costs may be even higher.

In addition to what the government spends administering the program and funding social service organizations that help ease refugees’ transition to an unfamiliar country, refugees tend to be destitute, poorly educated, and lacking job skills for a modern economy. And unlike other immigrants, they are immediately eligible for a full range of government benefits, like Medicaid, food stamps, cash assistance, and housing assistance.

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The subcommittee also noted that refugees become eligible for further benefits after becoming permanent residents and citizens.

“The true lifetime cost of admitting a single refugee must include an accounting of all benefits received by that refugee — at the federal, state, and local levels, and over the course of that refugee’s lifespan,” the analysis states. “Any other calculation is akin to saying that the total cost of owning a new car is encapsulated in the down payment.”

What’s more, once in the United States, refugees can petition the government to admit spouses and unmarried children. Additional family members can be admitted after a refugee has been in the United States for a year and obtains a green card.

“Thus, the total cost of admitting a certain number of refugees in any given year could be even higher than Mr. Rector predicts,” the subcommittee analysis states.