Today, the Economic Policy Institute has released the Cost of Deportations Calculator, a new tool revealing how many federal tax dollars are being spent on mass deportations in every U.S. state, county, and city. The calculator shows what that money could be spent on instead—such as school teachers, public housing, and health care—to illustrate the actual economic tradeoffs imposed on taxpayers.
The Trump administration and its allies in Congress have cut support for basic needs programs and diverted huge sums of money to deportations. The federal government plans to spend $268.9 billion—or $2,358 per taxpayer—to undertake mass deportations throughout the second Trump administration, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. With the money being spent on mass deportations, the calculator shows that the U.S. could instead fund one of the following options for the remainder of Trump’s term:
- More than 925,000 school teachers
- Over 5 million veterans’ medical care
- Nearly 12 million people on Medicaid
- 9.7 million public housing units
- Paid parental leave for 6.2 million parents
At the state level, for example, $4.4 billion in federal taxpayer dollars is being spent on mass deportations in Minnesota, a prominent target of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown earlier this year. With the money being spent on mass deportations, Minnesota could instead fund one of the following options, for instance:
- More than 11,000 registered nurses
- Over 100,000 children in Head Start programs
- 130,000 people on Medicaid
“The Trump administration’s immigration policy is not just inhumane, it is also a huge waste of public resources. Every dollar spent on mass deportations is a dollar not spent on critical investments like education, health care, and affordable housing,” said Heidi Shierholz, president at EPI.
“Families across the country are struggling to afford housing, health care, and education. Instead of addressing these real problems, the Trump administration is taking billions of taxpayer dollars to pay for sweeping raids and mass deportations of people who pose no threat. The government needs to get its priorities straight and focus on what really matters,” said Gordon Lafer, professor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center and research associate at EPI.