US spent $151 BILLION on illegal immigration in 2023 alone: DOGE

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has revealed that the US government spent around $151 billion in 2023 on illegal immigration, which is 2.6 percent of the entire US government's $6.1 trillion in annual spending.

The DOGE X account posted numbers in relation to the amount spent on illegal immigration per year and said, "In 2023 alone, illegal immigration cost taxpayers $150.7 billion." DOGE added other numbers for context with adjusted inflation numbers, saying that World War 1 was $334 billion, the Apollo Space Program cost the government $257 billion, and the Manhattan Project amounted to $30 billion.

The figure as reported by DOGE would be comparable to the $151 billion the government spent on security programs for veterans and those who survive them in 2023, per the Daily Mail. Under the Biden-Harris administration, illegal immigration has skyrocketed, with record-breaking numbers of people flowing into the country.

DOGE, a non-governmental entity, will provide recommendations to the Trump administration on slashing regulations as well as cutting down spending. In recent weeks, since the organization took shape, it has been highlighting government waste on its X account.

The government spent the staggering $151 billion on illegal immigration, but has other areas that could be cut, as highlighted by DOGE. The National Institutes of Health spent $1.8 billion on studying the health impacts of "racism” in 2024. DOGE highlighted the spending in a post late in November, "In 2024, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $1.8 billion studying racism."

DOGE has also taken aim at government agencies in general for using only around 12 percent of the space of their headquarters in DC. Musk and Ramaswamy's organization posted, "Federal government agencies are using, on average, just 12% of the space in their DC headquarters. The Department of Agriculture, with space for more than 7,400 people, averaged 456 workers each day. Why are American taxpayer dollars being spent to maintain empty buildings?"

In the House and Senate, several GOP lawmakers have taken up the mantle of working with DOGE to make the cuts recommended by the organization, and the first House Democrat joined the Congressional DOGE Caucus on Tuesday.