ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Illegals living in Los Angeles County were handed almost $1.3 billion in welfare payouts between the months of 2015 and 2016, Fox News reported, citing data.

That’s billion with a capital “B.”

That’s a quarter of what the county distributed to its entire needy population in those same months.

Liberals and government elitists always like to make the case that citizens ought to support some cheap-sounding fee- or tax-paying cause by grandly pronouncing, “It’s just the cost of a cup of coffee,” or “If everyone just gave up their Starbucks lattes, it’d pay for itself.”

Well, guess what $1.3 billion could pay for?

Los Angeles County is a massive draw for illegals, with more than a million flocking there and setting up home — and now we know why. Not only is it hallowed sanctuary ground; it’s also, apparently, taxpayer-dole-out central.

Look at this, from Robert Rector with the Heritage Foundation: “They get $3 in benefits for every $1 they spend,” he said, speaking of the costs of education, police, fire, medical and housing that illegals get, compared to what they pay back by way of taxes.

This isn’t conjecture. It’s based on analysis of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services database.

Among the findings: In 2015, more than 58,000 families received $602 million in benefits. In 2016, more than 64,000 families received $675 million.

It’s good to be an illegal, yes?

But the madness is statewide.

In 2013, the entire state of California spent a total of $25.3 billion on illegals — roughly $2,370 per U.S. citizen household, the Federal for American Immigration Reform reported.

Democrats, the ones fueling these taxpayer hand-outs, are completely off the rails.

Even in the wildest of dreaming, tapping citizen tax dollars to support those who shouldn’t be in the country in the first place is not sustainable economic policy.

But here’s the good news. President Donald Trump is now in the White House. And chief among his executive concerns is clamping the border, and reeling in sanctuary cities.

Thank goodness.

A country run by amnesty-loving Democrats, where taxes are stripped from citizens and distributed to illegals, is a country on a crash course for bankruptcy. After all, it doesn’t take long to get the word out whenever free money, free benefits and free stay-out-of-jail cards are up for offer.