The number of illegal immigrants in the United States ranges from 10 to 12 million. This is an immense number. For this reasons the government is considering implementing a deportation program. However, the main obstacle of this kind of program is its cost. The estimated price is $285 billion. It simply does not seem worth it.
Representatives from different branches agree that the US does have an immigration program; however nobody is ready to throughout all of the illegal immigrants and seal off the US Mexico border. It all comes down to cost.
It was believed that with the economic recession the growth of illegal immigration in the US was supposed to slow down; however, evidence shows that it has remained stable. The number of illegal immigrants is now about 3.5% of the total population of the country, which is approximately all the people living in New England.
The suggested program includes four steps: apprehension, custody, legal process and transportation. It is the cost of each of these four steps, that when brought together gives such devastating numbers.
Although it is fairly easy to track down illegal immigrants in boarder cities, the task becomes that much harder when talking about the ones who moved deeper into the country. We must also not forget about the people who came to the US with a legitimate visa but have broken the conditions. Custody in itself is a complicated side of the issue. Not only keeping the immigrants detained is costly, but with the amount of people at hand, the government may be forced to build new structures. The courts will require “the immediate hiring of 100 new judges plus necessary law clerks to handle the surge in cases stemming from current enforcement policies.” (Marshall Fitz, Gebe Martinez, and Madura Wijewardena) Although more than 20% of the transportation costs will be covered by the immigrants themselves, according to "voluntary departure order”, the cost of these four steps still comes up to $200.
“As such, on top of the $200 billion cost of removing all current undocumented immigrants, the government would be required to expend an additional $85 billion ($17 billion per year for five years) over that same five-year period. Hence, the sum of the five-year immigration enforcement costs under a mass deportation strategy comes to a grand total of $285 billion.”( Marshall Fitz, Gebe Martinez, and Madura Wijewardena)
Not for nothing was this opportunity rejected by the government for implementation. Even though others offer to use more humane measures and just make life for illegal immigrants unbearable enough for them to move back, even this draws costs from the budget. “If you cannot fight them, joint them”. This seems to be the only available option left.
Source
Deporting All Illegal Immigrants in the United States Is Unrealistic
Marshall Fitz, Gebe Martinez, and Madura Wijewardena, "The Costs of Mass Deportation: Impractical, Expensive, and Ineffective," Center for American Progress, March 2010. Reprinted by permission.
