By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Illegal immigrant entry into the United States is reportedly down by 90% since Pres. Trump took office, a direct result of his administration’s new border policies and stricter overall enforcement. Border crossings are down so much, in fact, that border-city San Diego is closing down its welcoming center, once hailed as a national standard. The San Diego Rapid Response Network Migrant Shelter Services, run by the NGO Jewish Family Service of San Diego, says it’s laying off its 115 workers because it has seen no new migrants since Inauguration Day.
Such a dramatic change in border policy and the collapse in illegal entrants begs the question: will Illinois drop from its 2026 budget any spending dedicated to welcoming “asylum seekers?” It’s an important question given that Gov. J.B. Pritzker will deliver his combined state and budget address on Feb. 19. The governor’s budget team projects a $3 billion-plus budget deficit for 2026 and a total $23 billion shortfall over the next five years.
A quick glance at Illinois’ budget shows the state spent $139 million on welcoming centers alone in 2025, up from just $1 million in 2019. That increase is largely a direct consequence of the state’s sanctuary policies.
Of course, there is far more state-level spending on migrants than just the welcome programs for “asylees.” A cumulative $1.5 billion has been spent since July 2022 on immigrant healthcare for non-asylees.
Hundreds of millions more have been spent on transportation, legal services, education and more for both asylum seekers and regular illegal immigrants.
Chicago, which is facing billion-dollar deficits of its own, has spent hundreds of millions more on all kinds of welcoming support. Again, Chicago has long attracted illegal immigrants given the city’s sanctuary status.
In all, we’ve added up more than $2 billion in state and local spending through FY 2024. But we know that overall spending on illegal immigrants is billions more each year. Annual estimates run as high as $5 to $6 billion on the more than 500,000 illegal immigrants reportedly living in the state.
With the border finally closed, Illinois’ leadership finally has a chance to stop spending on illegal immigrants and instead focus on Illinois’ own struggling citizens. We’ll let you know what they do.
(You may have noticed the massive five-year increases in some of the other Human Services appropriations. We’ll be writing about those soon, too.)
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Open borders and sanctuaries are driving Illinois’ migrant chaos, not Trump’s deportations
- Call it the Illegal Immigration Census: Illinois population gains 68,000 in 2024 due to migrant tidal wave
- Up to $410 million extra being spent on children of illegal immigrants at Chicago Public Schools
- ‘Welcoming’ programs increase the cost of illegal immigration in Illinois by at least $2.2 billion
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
The HBIA and HBIS programs have not enrolled any new participants since 2023 – HFS was given authority in statute to “pause” enrollment when necessary to contain costs. Total enrollment in both programs is down roughly 40% from its peak in June 2023. HFS has also removed from the program any participants who have legal residency in the US (green card) on the grounds that they can obtain health insurance through the Obama care exchanges. I doubt this program will grow much more if at all if there aren’t new waves of illegal immigrants/asylum seekers/etc. arriving.
Well guess what, funding for HBIA (the program that covered illegals ages 42 through 64) was eliminated entirely from the proposed budget, in anticipation of losing all federal matching funds…
Of course they will continue. Illinois values are the #Resistance which means doing the opposite of whatever Trump does, even if it means financially destroying the state. Trump has arguably destroyed almost everyone who got in his path, and mostly by the hubris of those who dared try to touch the sun. Michael Cohen, Michael Avenatti, the Bushes, the Clintons, Fanni Willis the prosecutor in Georgia, Jack Smith is likely about to be prosecuted for abusing his office. The list of people he’s steamrolled over the years is long. JB will be next on the list, and he too will… Read more »
With the border being closed for the most part how much money are the states saving? The cost for the military being there patrolling should not cost more than if they were at their home base. They get paid regardless of where they are. Don’t forget during the Biden administration that a new city the size of Chicago was being built every 12-14 months or so. Now the cost to deport them will be large but ICE is also getting paid if they deport or not. They could not do their job with Biden in office and now they can.… Read more »
No, it will continue. It is an important part of the DEM voting base. The DEMS will cut everything else in the budget to divert funding to illegals.
Maybe, just maybe, it can come to a crisis point that hey will have to face if they are sing medciaid funds and Trump cuts that off.
Without fed or local taxpayers paying for migrant benefits, record high folks on medicaid & SNAP, ARPA-COVID “free stuff” handouts, etc, etc watch Illinois population nosedive. It’s Illinois population “doom loop”, just like Chicago downtown real-estate “doom loop” and so many other Chi/Ill “doom loops” in ZERO growth Illinois.
No, they will not…
They will continue to spend what is budgeted…
A (small ?) portion will go for the ‘programs’ for the ‘migrants’…
The rest will make it’s way into the pockets of the connected elites…
They gotta make up for what DOGE is taking away…
https://www.theblaze.com/news/datarepublican-exposes-uniparty-government-thriving-beyond-taxpayer-reach-in-first-ever-interview-with-steve-deace
The Rise of DOGE…
A new marvel movie…