On Monday, The Federalist posted an article about the cost of having an open border for the four years of the Biden administration.

The article reports:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the surge in illegal migration cost governments billions of dollars in 2023, which illustrates the real-world impact of the previous administration’s actions — or inactions. The report also exhorted Congress to provide adequate resources for border security, so that the chaos of the past four years can never happen again.

…CBO believes that, of those 4.3 million, “about a quarter,” or roughly 1.1 million, “were qualified aliens upon arrival.” That term has particular relevance because the 1996 welfare reform law restricted eligibility for federal programs to “qualified aliens” who have served a five-year waiting period. However, CBO also notes that “about half,” or over 500,000, “of those qualified aliens” arriving during the surge “were exempt from the five-year waiting period,” and therefore could immediately receive taxpayer-funded benefits.

…On net, CBO estimated the direct costs to state and local governments from the immigration surge at $9.2 billion in 2023 alone. Including indirect costs raised the total even further, to $9.8 billion in 2023.

America can have either an open border or a welfare state. It can’t have both.