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AMERICA CAN’T AFFORD TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATIONS  
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Alliyah Lusuegro
February 12, 2025
Other Words
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_ For the cost of mass deportations, we could instead erase medical
debt, provide universal school lunches, and end homelessness. The
American Immigration Council estimates mass deportations will cost $88
billion per year over the course of a decade. _

Los Angeles trade unions rally against mass deportations in Los
Angeles, 2017.,

 

President Trump has made it clear that he’s dead set on attacking
our immigrant friends, families, and neighbors — and that the only
people he’ll protect are his loyalists and billionaires.

Since day one, Trump has launched a blatantly hateful agenda against
immigrants. He’s issued executive orders that would unlawfully shut
down asylum
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the U.S. southern border, use the military
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separate families, and make it easier to detain and deport migrants
— including detaining them at the notorious Guantanamo Bay
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Meanwhile, anti-immigrant lawmakers in Congress gave Trump a helping
hand by passing a law punishing undocumented people, including
minors, with deportation for minor offenses — 
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if they’re not convicted.

These attacks come at an enormous cost to the entire country. The
American Immigration Council estimates that mass deportations will
cost $88 billion
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year over the course of a decade.

My colleagues and I calculated that this $88 billion could
instead erase medical debt
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40 million Americans. Even just a fraction of it — $11 billion —
could provide free lunch to all school children
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the United States.

There are already 40,000 people
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up in detention centers — and Trump’s detention expansion plan
would triple that capacity. Republicans in the House
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Senate
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proposing plans of an eye-popping  $175 billion or more
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detain and deport undocumented people.

That’s enough to fund affordable housing for every unhoused person
and household facing eviction in this country for several years
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with about enough left over to make sure uninsured people with opioid
use disorder can get treatment.

Nor are these the only costs. Undocumented people contributed $96.7
billion [[link removed]] in
federal, state, and local taxes in 2022 — just one tax year,
according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. That’s
nearly $100 billion in lost revenue a year that everyone else would
end up having to cover.

But these attacks aren’t going unopposed. People are showing up for
their immigrant neighbors and loved ones, making clear they simply
won’t accept the nightmare of mass deportations and detentions
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The groups United We Dream, CASA, Make the Road States, and Action Lab
recently pledged [[link removed]] to build “a
strong and sustainable movement to defend ourselves and our
neighbors.” With their #CommunitiesNotCages campaign
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Detention Watch Network is working with local communities to protest
ICE actions and shut down detention centers.

And the list goes on.

On February 1, thousands of people blocked a highway in Los Angeles
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protest against ICE raids. Just two days later, many gathered in
solidarity for a Day Without Immigrants
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On this day, students stayed home from school, employees didn’t show
up to work, and over 250 businesses closed nationwide to show how
important immigrants are to everyone’s day-to-day lives.

Others are using lawsuits to fight back. Five pregnant women, with the
help of immigrant rights groups, sued the Trump administration’s
attempt to end birthright citizenship
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Agreeing with the mothers, three federal judges
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unconstitutional order.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union and other major legal
organizations sued the administration for seeking to shut down asylum
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the border — on the grounds that it’s a violation of long-time
international and domestic law.

Finally, my fellow immigrants and I are also standing our ground.
We’re stating the facts: Immigration is good
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our country, our economy, and our culture — something 68 percent of
Americans agree with. And we’re here to stay.

Immigrants are essential to this country. We bring opportunity and
possibility to the United States. And not only do we contribute as
students and professionals, business owners, and essential workers —
we’re also human beings trying to live good and successful lives
like anyone else. We’re a part of the American story.

Now and more than ever, we’ll continue to show up for each other —
and we hope you will, too. Our lives and families depend on it.

[_ALLIYAH LUSUEGRO__ is the Outreach Coordinator for the National
Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
[[link removed]]. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative 3.0
License.

* Immigration
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* Immigrants
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* deportations
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* Donald Trump
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* ICE
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* Trump 2.0
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* sanctuary cities
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* mass demonstrations
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* migrants
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* Working Class
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* undocumented workers
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* undocumented immigrants
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