Hundreds of billions just to do the deportations, and then there’s the cost to the economy:
One study found that Obama’s Secure Communities program, which deported nearly half a million undocumented immigrants, not only pulled those immigrants from the workforce but had a ripple effect of decreasing the employment and hourly wages of U.S.-born people as well. Scaling their findings, the researchers estimated that for every 1 million unauthorized workers deported, 88,000 native-born jobs would be lost.
An analysis from the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics released last month reached similar conclusions. Researchers found that a mass deportation of even just 1.3 million undocumented immigrants would lower GDP and reduce employment in the U.S. by 0.8% by 2028. A larger mass deportation of over 8 million immigrants would have a larger effect, lowering employment to 5.1% below the current baseline.
Undocumented immigrants also paid $59.4 billion in federal taxes and $37.3 billion to state and local taxes, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. More than a third of those went to Medicaid, Social Security and unemployment insurance.
Hundreds of billions just to do the deportations, and then there’s the cost to the economy:
It’s okay. We don’t need things like food, restaurants, construction, or hotels. Everything will be totally fine with those industries destroyed.