US fiscal impact of immigration and birthright citizenship

Reports from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) indicate that birthright citizenship for children of immigrants imposes an annual cost of approximately $150.7 billion on federal, state, and local taxpayers. These expenditures are reportedly split between education, healthcare, and nutritional assistance.

FAIR analysts suggest that interpretations of the 14th Amendment have encouraged “birth tourism” and commercial surrogacy in various states. This follows a specific legal case in Los Angeles County involving Chinese immigrants Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang, who face conspiracy charges related to the alleged abuse of 21 children born via surrogacy.

In addition to the FAIR findings, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report titled “The Real Cost of Socialism in America.” This report estimates the lifetime net fiscal cost of each undocumented immigrant at $166,716, projecting a total fiscal cost for the current undocumented population between $1.4 trillion and $1.9 trillion. The Council also noted that mass amnesty could increase annual federal spending on programs such as Medicaid, HUD assistance, and SNAP by $36 billion to $47 billion.