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With Trump taking office in just two weeks, it won't be long until he starts working on his mass deportation plan, but how much will it actually cost? Mainstream media says it will cost around $88 billion a year, but it's probably cheaper.
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, says that number, which comes from the American Immigration Council, is pretty flawed. He said, "They essentially assume that once every year you have to rebuild all the facilities, which is just crazy. And that's the one [number] that the media has been going with."
Lott points out that in 2004, I.C.E. was able to deport around 1.4 million people with a budget of just over $6 billion for that year.
Lott said that even if you give them the benefit of the doubt and assume their number is correct, it's still way cheaper than allowing these illegal immigrants to stay in the country. He said, "The cost for them committing crimes is going to be something hugely over 3x the cost of deporting them."
He went on to point out that the millions of illegal immigrants who have entered the country are also consuming social services like housing, food, medical care, and schooling. He says that all adds up to around another $150 billion in state and federal funds each year.
That, of course, puts a huge burden on taxpayers and causes inflation, especially in the housing market.