August 9, 2024
Governor Greg Abbott
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711
Governor Abbott,
On behalf of Texans for Strong Borders, I am writing to thank you for your recent Executive Order directing the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect information on the health care costs from illegal aliens who use our state’s public hospitals.
Over the last three and a half years, we have seen over 11.5 million Nationwide Border Encounters[1] under the Biden-Harris Administration. Despite the State of Texas’ efforts, many of these illegal aliens are residing in Texas and burdening our hospital systems with the cost of both emergency and inpatient care.
These costs are currently very difficult to tabulate, but a 2023 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform concluded that nationwide burdens to state health care systems total at least $18.6 billion annually[2]. Since the State of Texas has the second-highest illegal alien population of any state (after only California), we can surmise that a large portion of this total falls upon Texas taxpayers to foot the bill.
This policy is already law in other states. Florida Senate Bill 1718, signed by Governor DeSantis last May, requires hospitals in the state to collect and submit data on the costs of providing health care to illegal aliens[3]. Every state owes it to its citizens to report the cost of illegal immigration, and we hope that under your leadership Texas will take further steps to this end to increase transparency and accountability.
The mission of our public hospitals should be to provide care for citizens, and unfortunately the burden that the invasion at the Texas Border has placed upon our health care systems makes that mission all the more difficult.
Thank you for your action on this vital issue for our state. Texas taxpayers deserve a complete accounting of the financial burden that the Biden-Harris Administration’s border disaster has placed upon them, and this is a great first step.
For Texas,
Chris Russo
President, Texans for Strong Borders
[1] https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/nationwide-encounters
[2] https://www.fairus.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/Fiscal%20Burden%20of%20Illegal%20Immigration%20on%20American%20Taxpayers%202023%20WEB_1.pdf
[3] https://www.flgov.com/2023/05/10/governor-ron-desantis-signs-strongest-anti-illegal-immigration-legislation-in-the-country-to-combat-bidens-border-crisis/