According to emails and documents shared with the New York Times by an administration source, White House officials led by Trump adviser Stephen Miller conspired to remove the economic benefits of accepting refugees from a report used to justify the decision to accept fewer refugees.
The report from the Department of Health and Human Services found that refugees cost slightly more to care for than the average U.S. citizen, but the original report also concluded that refugees increased federal revenue by $63 billion over the past 10 years.
The latter figure was removed from the final report so that only the cost of accepting refugees, rather than the benefits, were included.
The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees “contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government” between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. “Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.” [...]
It was not clear who in the administration decided to keep the information out of the final report. An internal email, dated Sept. 5 and sent among officials from government agencies involved in refugee issues, said that “senior leadership is questioning the assumptions used to produce the report.” A separate email said that Mr. Miller had requested a meeting to discuss the report. The Times was shown the emails on condition that the sender not be identified. Mr. Miller personally intervened in the discussions on the refugee cap to ensure that only the costs — not any fiscal benefit — of the program were considered, according to two people familiar with the talks.
I don't know what else there is to say at this point other than this is emblematic of a regime that doesn't merely ignore information that's contrary to their goals; they actively suppress it. The federal government has access to information that they're actively withholding from the public.
I imagine this is going to catch up to them in a court room at some point, not necessarily in this case but in some other case.