Study: American Taxpayers Billed Up To $133K Per Refugee Resettled In U.S.

American taxpayers are billed up to $133,000 per refugee resettled in the United States over the course of a lifetime, a new study reveals.

Research by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) finds that each refugee resettled in the U.S. cost American taxpayers anywhere on average between $60,000 and $133,000 over the course of a lifetime.

CIS researchers said the average refugee will cost taxpayers roughly $60,000 over a lifetime, though adult refugees — due to their low educational attainment — cost taxpayers upwards of $133,000.

"No plausible model, not even the National Academies' best-case scenario, comes close to suggesting that refugees who enter as adults will be net fiscal contributors," CIS researchers note. "Refugee-specific costs add about 22 percent over and above the cost of other immigrants, but low education by itself is enough to push adult refugees' estimated fiscal impact well into negative territory."