New Estimate Shows It Costs Nearly $44 Billion To Educate Illegal Aliens Annually
14th September 2016
It cost taxpayers an estimated $43.9 billion to educate illegal alien students in the 2015-2016 school year, and $59.2 billion for programs to educate voters lacking proficient English skills, according to a Wednesday report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
FAIR estimated that it cost an average of $12,128 per illegal immigrant student in the last school year and there were an estimated 3.618 million illegal immigrant students nationwide. In addition, it takes at least $1.7 billion to educate 119,000 unaccompanied alien minors. “From January 2014 to June 2016, the federal government placed 118,929 UAMs with sponsors in the United States, typically a relative or acquaintance. This figure does not include UAMs who may have slipped past the Border Patrol,” the FAIR report stated.
Taxpayers across the country spent nearly $60 billion on non-English proficient students and the vast majority of this taxpayer cost was borne by state and local taxpayers. These students also were among the worst classroom performers.