It may come as a shock to some and to others, it's par for the course, but the U.S. is currently spending more to cover costs of illegal aliens having kids than for President Trump’s border wall initiative this year. Paul Bedard at The Washington Examiner has more:
The new report reveals that women in the United States illegally had 297,000 children in 2014 at a cost of $2.4 billion.
That is $800 million more than the Senate has approved for Trump’s border wall this year and enough to pay for the wall over 10 years.
The Center for Immigration Studies report also put a price on the likely Medicaid bill for childbirth and early care to illegal and legal immigrants combined, at $5.3 billion. That is one-fifth the total cost of building the border wall.
A national debate over wall funding is set for after the election and could result in a partial government shutdown if Trump doesn’t get more than the Senate’s $1.6 billion.
Technically, illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare services. But the report explained, "Medicaid will pay for a delivery in almost all cases if the mother is uninsured or has a low income, though some mothers without insurance may not even realize the program has paid health care providers. Illegal immigrants and most new legal immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid, but the program will still cover the cost of delivery and post-partum care for these mothers for at least a few months."
This should galvanize Republicans to get the wall done as soon as possible. It’s a campaign promise that’s yet to be fulfilled by the Trump White House. This has to be done too. This isn’t just campaign fodder, which was what Obamacare became to Republicans. We haven’t fully repealed the law, even after a decade of campaigning against it and retaking Congress. On this, there are worries about what would happen to the health care markets, prices, and coverage. It’s merely a wall. It’s a simple wall. Clear-cut policy agenda action item. Pass the funding and build it. Trump made tackling illegal immigration one of his core issues on the 2016 campaign trail, which catapulted him to the top of the very crowded GOP field that year. He has to deliver on this—and congressional Republicans should know that as well. This week, Rep. Kevin McCarthy promised a full legislative assault on illegal immigration, including bills to tackle the wall, deportations, and sanctuary cities. Let’s see if they follow through.