White House rejects report showing positive impact of refugees

White House officials have reportedly rejected a study carried out by the Department of Health and Human Services about the positive economic impacts of refugees in the U.S., New York Times reports.

The study’s assertion

The study said refugees brought in $63 billion more in government revenue over the past decade than they cost agencies. It disclosed through a draft report that from 2005 to 2014, refugees through federal, state and local taxes contributed an estimated 269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government.

The report also stated that, “Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion”.

Officials counter report

White House officials defended their dismissal of the report with an assertion that the report was proved incorrect by a final study issued by the department.

They claimed the actual final report submitted said “in an average year over the 10-year period, per-capita refugee costs for major H.H.S. programs totaled $3,300.”

“Per-person costs for the U.S. population were lower, at $2,500, reflecting a greater participation of refugees in H.H.S. programs, especially during their first four years,” the final report revealed.

A White House spokesman, Raj Shah said the leak draft report was “delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data.”

“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,” Shah added.

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