Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has shed light on federal spending related to immigration, revealing a complex and costly system. While DOGE's role may have been more about publicizing existing information than uncovering new details, it has brought renewed attention to the financial implications of the Biden administration's border policies and mass parole programs.

Over the past four years, millions of individuals have crossed the U.S. border illegally, coinciding with a $31 billion congressional allocation to the Department of Health and Human Services for housing, medical, and legal services for these individuals. The Biden administration, through the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA, has channeled billions to states, cities, and nonprofits to manage the influx of people.

FEMA, an agency traditionally focused on disaster relief for Americans, has played a significant role in this process. From FY 2021 to FY2024, FEMA's Shelter and Services Program received $2.2 billion to support noncitizens released from DHS custody, effectively covering the costs associated with individuals released at the border. In 2024 alone, $640.9 million was allocated to offset costs for migrant arrivals, primarily benefiting Democrat-run sanctuary cities like Denver, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Massachusetts, New York, and Philadelphia, which offer free services to undocumented immigrants.

Beyond FEMA's Shelter and Services Program, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, originally designed for homeless veterans, has also been utilized to allocate over a billion dollars towards housing undocumented immigrants. One example highlighted by DOGE is a $59 million FEMA grant used to house individuals in over 200 makeshift shelters in New York City, including repurposed luxury hotels. This is not an isolated incident but rather part of a larger pattern of federal subsidies to sanctuary cities.

The existing U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), which traditionally supports a limited number of vetted refugees through a network of NGOs, has been significantly expanded under the Biden administration. Billions in federal funding have flowed through organizations like Catholic Charities, Jewish Family Services, and Lutheran Refugee and Immigrant Services, enabling them to handle a dramatic increase in cases.

Testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee revealed the scale of these payments, with DHS reportedly providing Jewish Family Services alone with $600 million every three months in 2024. Lutheran charities received over $550 million in FY2024, largely for migration-related activities, and Catholic Charities USA received $1.4 billion in federal grants in 2021. A substantial portion of this taxpayer funding has been directly allocated to facilitating the entry of undocumented immigrants.