Undocumented immigrants in Florida cost taxpayers millions of dollars last year, according to the latest report by the Agency for Health Care Administration.
The report examines hospital visits across the state in 2024 where illegal immigrants failed to pay for emergency treatment at hospitals in the state.
In total, these uncompensated costs amounted to an estimated $660 million, the report reveals.
As state officials noted, these figures have major impacts on natives in the state, pushing medical costs even higher due to increased demand.
“The primary reason illegal immigration creates a substantial financial burden on the health care system is that the care provided by hospitals is largely uncompensated,” the report reads.
A dashboard released by the state shows that many of these cases occurred in southeast Florida, though Central Florida hospitals still saw roughly $60 million in uncompensated visits.
The AHCA also noted that federally mandated Medicaid payments to hospitals for the care of undocumented immigrants totaled $76.6 million in 2024.
While only around 26,000 of these patients indicated that they weren’t in the country legally — under 1% of the total number of cases in the state — the AHCA reported that they were still a “direct contributor” to the strain on the state’s health care system.
“Ultimately, the costs associated with illegal immigration are passed on, either directly or indirectly, to taxpayers, patients and insurers,” the report continues.
Last year, Florida saw record-high levels of illegal immigration, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
More specifically, CBP data showed that the number of encounters jumped by over 1,700% compared to the same timeframe three years prior.
In fact, Florida was among the states seeing the greatest rise in illegal immigration, the Pew Research Center revealed.
While the number of encounters has dropped dramatically since President Donald Trump took office in January, there has been a battle between many Republicans and Democrats about whether the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has been too harsh.
[BELOW: Trump cracks down on illegal immigration shortly after taking office]
Proponents of mass migration have posited that immigrants — illegal or otherwise — contribute to the economy by accepting low-skilled jobs at lower wages than citizens, thus reducing prices for many goods and services. These immigrants may also contribute in terms of paying taxes.
“I think that’s part of the reason among others that there hasn’t really been a crackdown, as it were, trying to get a hold on who and how many people are coming into the United States,” UCF economist Sean Snaith told News 6 last year.
However, critics argue that this unfairly lowers wage rates for U.S. laborers who already compete in these fields, as well as increases the barrier to entry for those seeking to enter these sorts of industries.
If the flow of mass migration were stymied, it would mean that businesses would be forced to offer up higher wages for workers. But this could also result in higher labor costs being passed down to consumers.
Researchers have also found that illegal immigration may result in higher tax burdens for state and local governments, as these migrants pay less in taxes while still taking advantage of amenities like public schools and emergency services.
Regardless, the issue has been a hard-fought one for Republicans in Florida like Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been a vocal proponent of arresting and deporting illegal immigrants caught in the state.
[BELOW: DeSantis discusses flights out of the new Florida immigration detention center]
Earlier this year, the state Legislature held a special session to approve several new laws, making it a state-level crime to illegally enter Florida, and requiring the death penalty for illegal immigrants convicted of a capital felony, such as murder or rape.
You can read up more on those and every other law passed this year by clicking here.