Report: American Taxpayers Foot Bill for Illegal Aliens on Martha’s Vineyard

Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images
Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images
John Binder

American taxpayers are reportedly footing the bill for illegal aliens who briefly stayed on Martha’s Vineyard, the elite resort island off the coast of Massachusetts, after being flown there by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last year.

In September 2022, DeSantis received national attention when he sent two flights of illegal aliens to the ultra-liberal elite island of Martha’s Vineyard. Quickly after their arrival, officials on the island declared a “humanitarian crisis” and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) intervened to bus the illegal aliens off the island to Joint Base Cape Cod.

Days later, many of the illegal aliens filed a class action lawsuit against DeSantis claiming he violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by enticing them to board flights to Martha’s Vineyard.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) that aided the illegal aliens during their brief stint on Martha’s Vineyard is getting reimbursed by the federal government’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) — originally intended to help homeless Americans.

Records obtained by America First Legal Foundation, founded by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, show that the federal government used EFSP “to reimburse ‘Harbor Homes of Martha’s Vineyard,’ for expenses incurred from housing the illegal aliens sent to Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022,” the group wrote on Twitter.

“The EFSP was never intended to be a slush fund that [the Department of Homeland Security] uses to move and house illegal aliens,” America First Legal executives wrote on Twitter. “Moreover, these grants are structured in a way that obscures payments and prevents oversight.”

“In this case, the grant recipient (Harbor Homes of Martha’s Vineyard) then directed the funds to local governments and nonprofits to cover the costs of providing goods and services to the illegal aliens,” the group continued.

Illegal immigration imposes an enormous burden on American taxpayers. Annually, taxpayers are charged more than $143 billion as a result of millions of illegal aliens residing in the United States.

That amount, though, does not include any of the social and economic costs — such as higher housing prices, depleted wages, lost jobs, increased crime, and strained public resources at hospitals and schools — that are associated with illegal immigration.

“This is economic warfare and theft of the American dream from American citizens,” Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) told Breitbart News last week of the impact illegal immigration has on Americans.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here. 

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.