The Atlantic has the details on a report released by the conservative group
American Action Forum on the real cost of actually deporting undocumented immigrants. The study makes the case that immigration reform should be a real
cause for conservatives:
The answer, researchers found, is quite a lot, both to taxpayers and the economy more broadly. Removing all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants, both forcibly and through Mitt Romney's infamous "self-deportation" policy, would take about 20 years and cost the government between $400 billion and $600 billion. The impact on the economy would be even larger, according to the study: Real GDP would drop by nearly $1.6 trillion and the policy would shave 5.7 percent off economic growth. Researchers Laura Collins and Ben Gitis also write that their estimates are conservative, since they do not include, for example, the cost of constructing new courts, prisons, and other buildings that might be needed to process and detain millions of immigrants.
It would take 20 years and a low-end estimate of $500 billion. That doesn't exactly align with goals of fiscal conservatism. Further complicating the immigration issue is the length of time many undocumented workers have
been in the country:
Consistent with being such a significant population, undocumented immigrants are becoming increasingly important in American lives. According to Pew research, in 2010 about two-thirds had lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years and almost half were parents of minor children. Only 15 percent had lived in the U.S. for less than five years.[6] As a result, by 2012 6.9 percent of all U.S. students (kindergarten through 12th grade) had at least one undocumented immigrant parent. Of the students with an undocumented parent, 79.7 percent were U.S.-born and automatically U.S. citizens. The remaining were undocumented immigrants themselves. Meanwhile, undocumented immigrants make significant contributions to the U.S. economy, as 8.1 million were working or looking for work in 2012, making up 5.1 percent of the labor force.
Millions of families would be torn apart. Of course, they already are under existing laws. The Center for American Progress notes that during one six month period in 2011, an estimated
46,000 parents were separated from their children and deported. The bottom line is, we can't afford to deport 11 million hard-working men and women. Not from an economic standpoint or a moral one. You'd think that the party of fiscal conservatism and family values would get behind that message.