Border wall will pay for itself many times over': White House

Washington: Claiming that illegal immigration costs the US about USD 100 billion a year, a top White House official on Monday said that the proposed wall along the US-Mexico border will pay for itself "many times over".

The White House statement came amidst news reports that the border wall would cost USD 21 billion.

"It's estimated that illegal immigration costs our country, state, local and federal benefits, about USD 100 billion a year.

"Stopping new illegal immigration, preventing the affects that will have on our schools, on our hospitals, on our welfare system, on our wage earners, will save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. This wall will pay for itself many, many, many times over," the White House Senior Policy Director Stephen Miller told ABC News in an interview.

"It's just astonishing to me that the media is so interested in how much it costs to secure our border and has no interest in the cost of refusing to secure our border," he said responding to a question on news reports that the wall would cost USD 21 billion and that it would be paid for by Mexico.

"There's all kinds of things we can do. I'm not going to make news today by announcing what our strategy is going to be. That's one thing that's different between this president and past Presidents is we don't lay out all of our cards for everybody to see," Miller said.

In a tweet, Trump criticized the news reports about the cost of the wall.

"I am reading that the great border WALL will cost more than the government originally thought, but I have not gotten involved in the design or negotiations yet.

"When I do, just like with the F-35 FighterJet or the Air Force One Programme, price will come WAY DOWN!" Trump said in a tweet yesterday.