DOGE highlights how much illegal immigration costs US taxpayers

The new Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is targeting the burden that illegal immigration places on U.S. taxpayers.

The government’s cost-cutting initiative, co-led by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, went on the

Illegal immigration: $150.7 billion

Migrants walk on a road near Jacumba Hot Springs waiting to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on June 13, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images / Getty Images)

In the post, DOGE said that illegal immigration cost US taxpayers $150.7 billion in 2023 alone.

The agency cited figures from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which arrived at the figure by adding up total federal, state and local spending on illegal immigration and subtracting total tax contributions from illegal immigrants.

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World War I: $334 billion

U.S. soldiers of the 23rd Infantry, 2nd Division fired a 37mm machine gun at a German position in the Argonne Forest during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

DOGE pointed to a University of Norwich study of the cost of U.S. wars in today’s dollars, showing that America spent $334 billion on World War I, adjusted for inflation. That means that in 2023, American taxpayers spent nearly half the cost of this war on illegal immigration in a single year.

Apollo space program: $257 billion

The Apollo 8 spacecraft en route from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to Launch Site A, Launch Complex 39. (HUM Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to data from the Planetary Society cited by DOGE, NASA’s Apollo project – the space program that put the first American astronauts on the moon – cost the US $25.8 billion from 1960 to 1973. In today’s dollars, that’s $257 billion.

Manhattan Project: $30 billion

Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves (center) examine the twisted rubble that is all that remains of a 100-foot tower, a winch, and a hut that housed the first nuclear weapon. On the far right is Victor Weisskopf of the Manhattan Project (CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb and helped America win World War II, cost U.S. taxpayers $30 billion over four years, or $30 billion in 2023. DOGE pointed to a study that cited the National Park Service as the source for the dollar amount.

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Panama Canal: $15.2 billion

Aerial view of the Panama Canal in the Pedro Miguel Locks area in Panama City on December 13, 2022. (LUIS ACOSTA/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The U.S. government spent $500 million excavating the Panama Canal, which was completed in 1914. That equates to $15.2 billion in 2023, according to a project history cited by DOGE.

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Hoover Dam: $1 billion

The water intake towers of the Hoover Dam on Lake Mead, the largest man-made water reservoir in the country. (George Rose/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The federal government spent $49 million to build the Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1935 after five years of construction. Taking inflation into account, the cost is $1 billion, according to the National Archives.