White House and Council of Economic Advisers Weigh in on "True Cost of Radical Democrats' Mass Amnesty-Open Borders Agenda"

On Thursday Oct. 15, the White House issued the a press release titled Bombshell Report Exposes True Cost of Radical Democrats’ Mass Amnesty – Open Borders Agenda. The report at issue came from The Council of Economic Advisers, a federal agency that bills itself as "offering the President objective economic advice on the formulation of both domestic and international economic policy," and it is titled "The Real Cost of Socialism in America: Scoring the Economic and Fiscal Impact of the DSA Agenda." Chapter 2 of 8 in the report--starting on page 13 and titled "Open Borders and Mass Amnesty"–offers these "key findings:"

• The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) wants to introduce open borders and mass amnesty.
• CEA estimates that taxpayers currently bear a net lifetime fiscal cost of $166,716 per illegal alien, amounting to between $1.4 trillion and $1.9 trillion in total.
• Granting amnesty to the existing illegal aliens would create new annual fiscal costs of $36 to $47 billion in SNAP, HUD housing vouchers, and Medicaid alone.
• DSA amnesty and free migration policies would reverse $227 to $287 billion in projected fiscal gains from President Trump’s immigration enforcement actions and carry a net cost of $79 to $139 billion.
• A one log-point decrease in the previous month’s ICE arrest rate is associated with a 0.48 percent rise in monthly rent prices for new leases.
• A one log-point decrease in the previous month’s ICE arrest rate is associated with a 1.8 percent increase in the reported monthly property crime rate per 100,000 people.
• Over ten years, the full suite of DSA immigration policies could cost taxpayers between $440 and $613 billion.

Their conclusion (on page 17) reads:

Taken together, the observed patterns suggest President Trump’s immigration actions not only are fiscally sound but also lead to improved housing affordability and public safety. DSA policies that would introduce more immigrants or grant amnesty to those who have violated U.S. immigration law would make America less affordable and less safe. In all, CEA estimates the fiscal costs associated with DSA immigration policies at between $440 billion (lower bound) and $613 billion (upper bound) over ten years.