Deporting large numbers of undocumented immigrants would hit many families in the United States squarely in the pocketbook, creating an economic hardship for those who can least afford it, and affecting the country’s overall financial health, says a new report by the Center for Migration Studies in New York City.
The CMS report finds that so-called “mixed-status” households — where some members are undocumented and others are U.S. citizens — would be hit particularly hard.
Removing undocumented residents from those families would cut median household income nearly in half, from $41,300 to $22,000, and this sharp decline could force many into poverty.
CMS researchers also conclude that the nation’s housing market would be hit hard, as 2.4 million mortgages are held by undocumented immigrants.
The country’s gross domestic product, or GDP, would also suffer, facing a loss of $4.7 trillion over a decade. Three quarters of a million undocumented workers are self-employed.
Additionally, the CMS report finds that even if just one-third of U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants remained in the country after a mass deportation, the cost of raising them after their parents are deported would total $118 billion.
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There are nearly four million “mixed status” households in the country, and almost seven million U.S.-born citizens share a home with at least one undocumented immigrant; in most cases, a parent. Of those seven million, more than 70 percent are children under 18.
The report is unveiled in the midst of several controversial executive orders related to immigration signed by President Trump.
“(President) Trump has never disavowed his earlier pledge to deport 11 million persons and, in a January 25 executive order, set exceedingly broad enforcement priorities and vowed to ‘ensure the faithful execution of the immigration laws.’ If implemented,” says the report, “the (executive) orders would impoverish millions of families and U.S.-citizen children, at great cost to the broader community.”
