Here’s What Would Happen If We Deported 11 Million Undocumented Workers

Michele Bachmann and others who want to deport every illegal immigrant may not realize the costs of such action. The Center for American Progress evaluated what the costs would be.

[T]he cost of deporting the undocumented population would total $285 billion over five years.

It costs $23,148 for each person to be apprehended, detained, legally processed, and transported out of the country. A deportation-only policy would amount to $922 in new taxes for “every man, woman, and child in this country” — an exorbitant price tag for the satisfaction of appearing tough on immigrants.

Furthermore, mass deportation would reduce the country’s GDP by 1.46 percent, which would amount to $2.6 trillion in cumulative losses over 10 years. It would also cripple several essential industries, like agriculture, that depend on immigrant labor — which is why the farmers and business owners Bachmann claims to represent have been vehemently opposed to such a plan.

Harsh immigration laws in states like Alabama have already resulted in a mass exodus of migrant workers that many farmers say will drive them out of business by next year. Crops are rotting in the field without migrant workers to harvest them.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.