State Rep: Illegal immigrants cost IL taxpayers more than enforcement

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – An Illinois Statehouse Republican says the cost of illegal immigration in Illinois is much more than a recently reported estimate of the cost of Operation Midway Blitz.

The Chicago Tribune reports a “back-of-the-envelope” estimated cost of $59 million and growing for the federal immigration enforcement operations through the last few months of 2025 in Illinois. The Tribune’s estimates included nearly $34 million for ICE and nearly $6 million for Border Patrol.

State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, said that’s a fraction of the overall cost.

“The cost of the illegal immigration, illegal aliens, to the taxpayers of the state of Illinois over the last three, four years has surpassed hundreds of millions, and it’s in the billions of dollars,” Halbrook told The Center Square.

In fiscal year 2025, Illinois taxpayers spent $330 million for the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program. That program has now ended. The Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors, covering non-citizens 65 and up, is budgeted for at $140 million for the current fiscal year. A recent audit of the program showed taxpayers’ costs ballooned beyond estimates and total $1.6 billion over three years.

The Chicago Tribune also reported on the human toll of immigration enforcement, citing raids on Halloween, at hardware store parking lots, and inside ethnic communities. Halbrook said that doesn’t take into account the lives lost at the hands of illegal immigrants.

“I’m not sure why they’re not talking about that human cost, because that’s real,” Halbrook said. “Those families will never recover from those things.”

Speaking at a Democrat-run hearing about the 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said he’s going after the Trump administration for deploying the Guard around immigration enforcement.

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly for the reason that their city or state leadership has fallen, fallen out of the president’s favor,” Raoul said.

The Chicago Tribune estimates the Guard deployment that never happened because of court action cost taxpayers $19 million.

Halbrook said the taxpayer spending on non-citizen subsidies from the state and the Guard isn’t necessary.

“So I think if we didn’t have this population of people here, neither one of these costs would be here, or they would be dramatically less,” Halbrook said.

The Trump administration canceled the Guard deployment, but initially said it was to help protect federal officers and property from violent protests against immigration enforcement.