The Trump administration rejected a study from the Department of Health and Human Services showing refugees brought in $63 million than they cost for the government over the past decade.
The New York Times reported Monday night the draft report showed refugees are not as costly as the administration often argues. Some within the administration didn’t want the report to surface because it would go against the justification for President Trump possibly lowering the number of refugees admitted to the country next year, which he must announce by Oct. 1.
The study was completed in July and never publicly released, according to the report.
Refugees “contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government” between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes, the Times reported.
“Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion,” the study read.
However, the White House rejected the study as illegitimate and politically motivated and a final report issued by the agency showed the per-capita cost of a refugee is higher than that of a home-born American. The report released to the public only summarizes costs of refugees and does not look at what they contribute in taxes at any level.
“This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data,” said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman told the Times.
“The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.”
