The Enormous Cost of Mass Deportation

Deporting all unauthorized immigrants would shrink the labor force by 6.4 percent over two decades.

Part of a Series

Idea of the Day

Idea of the Day

Last week’s Gallup poll reaffirmed what we have known for a long time: The vast majority of Americans want sensible solutions to immigration policy, with 65 percent of Americans believing that unauthorized immigrants should be allowed to get legal status and a pathway to citizenship. A small minority—only 19 percent—believe that unauthorized immigrants should be deported from the United States.

What would it cost if this fringe minority of Americans got their way, and the United States took the draconian step of deporting 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants from the country? Based on previous analysis from the Center for American Progress, a mass deportation strategy would cost an average of $10,070 per person, for a total of $114 billion to remove 11.3 million people.

For more on this idea, please see:

What Would It Cost to Deport 11.3 Million Unauthorized Immigrants? by Philip E. Wolgin

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