Though a strong majority of GOP voters—
63 percent—say they would like to simply deport all undocumented immigrants, they probably have no idea that it's going to cost taxpayers a pretty penny. Esther Yu-Hsi Lee has
the break down:
The center-right organization American Action Forum (AAF) found that it would cost between $400 billion and $600 billion to apprehend, detain, legally process, and transport every undocumented immigrant back to their countries of origin. Breaking down similar statistics, a Center of American Progress report found that it would cost an average of about $10,070 to deport each individual. The AAF report also found that without the 11 million undocumented immigrants, the U.S. labor force would shrink and real GDP would be reduced by $1.6 trillion.
That economic shrinkage has actually proven to be true in two states that have adopted policies designed to force out most of their undocumented immigrants: Arizona and Alabama.
In the first year after passing SB 1070, Arizona’s economy lost $141 million in losses from conference cancellations, and the tourist industry took a $250 million hit, with close to 3,000 jobs lost.
When Alabama passed its own anti-immigrant law in 2011, work at some companies that require strenuous labor nearly stopped. A chicken factory found that the “turnover rate has gone through the roof,” while crops rotted on various farms. A University of Alabama report put the estimated economic damage at around $11 billion.
More sound economic policies emanating straight from the GOP.