Shining a spotlight on open border entitlements, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner put a number on the annual drain from illegal aliens in welfare alone.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, initiatives like the Department of Government Efficiency have worked to expose and eliminate rampant fraud, waste and abuse in the federal government. Now, after the self-defeating Democrat government shutdown had renewed scrutiny on handouts, Turner detailed that almost 60% of illegal alien families were benefitting from at least one welfare program at a cost of $42 billion annually.
Speaking with Breitbart’s editor-in-chief on his eponymous podcast “The Alex Marlow Show,” the secretary laid out, “59% of illegal alien families use one or more welfare programs in our country, costing about $42 billion a year,” a point that found commentator Katie Pavlich asserting, “Illegal immigration is the root of America’s biggest problems.”
Illegal immigration is the root of America’s biggest problems https://t.co/MOZU6Hm9XS
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) December 19, 2025
Turner went on to state, “We should be prioritized to help the American people, not to remain on subsidies, if you will, but to get a hand up and then to get off of government subsidies to live a life of self-sustainability.”
The figures matched testimony provided to the House Judiciary Committee in January 2024 by Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research Steven A Camarota. The summary released by the Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Subcommittee detailed, “We estimate that 59 percent of illegal immigrant households use one or more major welfare programs, costing roughly $42 billion a year.”
“At the local level, the largest single cost is for public education. We estimate the cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants, most of whom are U.S.-born, totals $69 billion per year.”
Meanwhile, illegals were said to be paying roughly $26 billion per year in taxes to the federal government.
“The net fiscal drain is not the result of illegal immigrants being unwilling to work,” argued the testimony, as Camarota also indicated a net drain from legal immigrants and Americans relying on social services while earning modest wages.
As had been reported the same month based on estimates from the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s report, “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers 2023,” the overall burden of benefits to illegals exceeded $182 billion a year when factoring in state and local allocations as well.
Likewise, as U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced plans to reform the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to remove illegal aliens who were not authorized to receive such benefits, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz had uncovered over $1.3 billion in federal funds being redirected by states toward illegal aliens.
“Thank God, under President Trump’s leadership we’re getting our fiscal house back in order,” said Turner, “the border is being secured, affordability it coming around, and I believe that next year, because of the things that happened thus far in President Trump’s leadership and in this administration, that next year from a financial standpoint, from an economic standpoint, from a safety standpoint and more, that the American people will begin to thrive once again.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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