Letter: Mass deportation is a costly choice
The Trump Administration regularly asserts illegal immigrants are a major cause of public safety in correlation to crimes, drugs and violence. Trump’s initial intent since being elected was to remove any and all undocumented immigrants, including DACA recipients who were brought to the U.S as children by their parents.
The Trump Administration urged Congress to authorize the construction of a wall across the U.S and Mexican border, withholding funds from sanctuary cities and prioritized the removal of all “criminal aliens.” The real cost of removing approximately 11.3 million undocumented aliens would be detrimental to the U.S economy.
The Center for American Progress projected that a mass deportation strategy would cost an average of $10,070 per person. An agonizing $114 billion represents the monetary cost of just physically deporting unauthorized immigrants. The cost to the overall economy after deportation will be substantially greater. So when it comes to moving forward with an immigration policy, the choice is evident.
Ruth Rodriguez, Kennewick
This story was originally published May 28, 2018 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Letter: Mass deportation is a costly choice."