The outlay for increased federal assistance, extra earned-income credit payments and other expenditures if Obama's recent executive orders on immigration prevail are weighed against the cost of deportation, lost tax revenues and more if Republicans manage to thwart the president's actions.

While House Republicans attempt to reverse President Obama's 2012 and 2014 executive orders on immigration, and the President fights to prevent the reversal, the true cost of either side's victory is not easily arrived at.

Coming up with that cost takes into account a complicated muddle of factors including: the total number of people who would either benefit from Obama's orders or would be deported if Congress prevails, the cost to deport those people, future Medicaid, education and other assistance costs if they are not deported, the extra earned-income credit payments they could receive, which are presently not available to them since they lack Social Security numbers, and the potential tax revenues that they would provide if they are allowed to stay.

The House bill's backers, the White House, the Congressional Budget Office, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, and POLITICO are some of those that have weighed in with various numbers.

For its part, the Congressional Budget Office recently stated that the immigration changes that the House GOP is trying to pass would increase the budget deficit by $7.5 billion over the next 10 years. Adding to the problem of immigration reform costs is the perception that Congress has failed to approve the money to fully enforce the immigration laws presently on the books.

In a written opinion, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel stated, "The DHS has informed us that there are approximately 11.3 million undocumented aliens in the country but that Congress has appropriated sufficient resources"?(R)? to remove fewer than 400,000 aliens each year."

The tangled nature of immigration reform costs is one more reason that a sound, long-term solution seems to be coming no time soon.