AP PHOTO/BRIAN KERSEY

The Costs of Mass Deportation

Impractical, Expensive, and Ineffective
Marshall Fitz and Gebe Martinez Center for American Progress
Madura Wijewardena Rob Paral and Associates
March 2010

W W W.AMERICANPROGRESS.ORG

The Costs of Mass Deportation

Impractical, Expensive, and Ineffective
Marshall Fitz and Gebe Martinez Center for American Progress
Madura Wijewardena Rob Paral and Associates
March 2010

Contents

i Fast facts
1 Introduction and summary
4 Calculating the cost of mass deportation
5 Mass deportation by the numbers
6 The costs of apprehension
8 The costs of detention
10 The costs of legal processing
11 The cost of transportation
14 Total deportation costs

15 Total five-year immigration enforcement costs of a

mass deportation strategy
15 Continuing enforcement costs
17 Five-year total

18 Seeking sensible solutions

21 Endnotes
23 About the authors and acknowledgements

Fast facts

The people
Undocumented immigrants in the United States,
according to the latest estimates by DHS

What the mass deportation of

undocumented immigrants
would cost the American taxpayer

10.8 million

The price tag

$85
billion
Cost of continuing
enforcement over
a five-year period.

8.64 million

2.16 million

Number subject to
forcible deportation

Estimated number of
undocumented immigrants
that would leave the United
States before any contact
with authorities

The cost of deportation

U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement budgets increased by 80 percent to $17.1 billion in fiscal
year 2010 from $9.5 billion in FY 2005, yet the net increase in undocumented immigrants increased by 300,000 to 10.8 million.2

The numbers

$285
billion
Total cost to deport
the undocumented
immigrant population and continue
border interdiction
and interior enforcement efforts over a
five-year period (in
2008 dollars).1

$158 billion Apprehension cost

with the cost per apprehension in FY 2008 of $18,310.

$200
billion
Total cost to find
and arrest, detain,
legally process,
and transport the
undocumented
population over a
five-year period.

$29 billion Detention cost

with the cost to detain one person for an average of 30 days in detention of $3,355.
Most of the detention space for those arrested and awaiting deportation is leased from
local governments, but construction costs to meet new demand would be about $34
billion because a deportation strategy would more than double the number of people in
American jails.

$7 billion Legal processing cost

with the cost per one proceeding of $817.

$6 billion Transportation cost

What this means
Total cost over five years: $285 billion, would mean new taxes of
$922 for every man, woman, and child in our country.
$5,100 fewer dollars for the education of every public and private
school student from prekindergarten to the 12th grade.

for 6.22 million people, with the cost per person of $1,000. (In FY 2008, about 28 percent
of deportations were through voluntary departure orders that did not require government
transportation. The same percentage drop was applied to 8.64 million undocumented
immigrants who would be apprehended, reaching a total transportation number of
6.22million people.)
Total cost of deportation campaign: $200 billion, with the cost per deportation
of $23,482 for each person to be apprehended, detained, legally processed, and
transported out of the country.

Introduction and summary

Almost three years ago, Congress tried to reform the nations broken immigration system
but fell short of the mark. The core questions of what to do about undocumented immigrants already living in the United States and about those who are sure to seek our shores in
the future thwarted political agreement and shut down congressional negotiations in 2007.
Under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, deployment of new enforcement
strategies and the allocation of enforcement resources have multiplied. Nonetheless, the
inherent systemic dysfunction has deepened, and the public call for solutions has amplified.
That legislative battle for immigration reform now looms again on the horizon. There are
three options for restoring order to our immigration system:
r
Live with the dysfunctional status quo, pouring billions of dollars into immigration
enforcement programs at the worksite, in communities, and on the border without
reducing the numbers of undocumented immigrants in the country
r
Double down on this failed enforcement strategy in an attempt to apprehend and
remove all current undocumented immigrants
r
Combine a strict enforcement strategy with a program that would require undocumented workers to register, pass background checks, pay their full share of taxes, and
earn the privilege of citizenship while creating legal channels for future migration flows
The first alternative would leave in place policies that have allowed 5 percent of our
nations workforceapproximately 8.3 million workers in March 2008to remain
undocumented in our country.3 This is clearly an unsustainable position in a democratic
societypermitting a class of workers to operate in a shadow economy subject to exploitation and undermining all workers rights and opportunities.
The second option, mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, is essentially the
enforcement-only status quo on steroids. As this paper demonstrates, this option would
be prohibitively expensive and trigger profound collateral consequences.4 Our analysis is
comprised of a detailed review of all federal spending to prevent unauthorized immigration and deport undocumented immigrants in FY 2008, the last fiscal year (ending in
October 2008) for which there is complete data (see box on page 5). It shows that the

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

total cost of mass deportation and continuing border interdiction and interior enforcement efforts would be $285 billion (in 2008 dollars) over five years. 5
Specifically, this report calculates a price tag of $200 billion to enforce a federal dragnet
that would snare the estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants in the United
States over five years.6 That amount, however, does not include the annual recurring
border and interior enforcement spending that will necessarily have to occur. It would cost
taxpayers at least another $17 billion annually (in 2008 dollars) to maintain the status quo
at the border and in the interior, or a total of nearly $85 billion over five years. That means
the total five-year immigration enforcement cost under a mass deportation strategy would
be approximately $285 billion.
When viewed through this most narrow but most telling fiscal lens, it should be clear that
a deportation-only strategy is highly irresponsible. In these challenging economic times,
spending a kings ransom to tackle a symptom of our immigration crisis without addressing root causes would be a massive waste of taxpayer dollars. Spending $285 billion would
require $922 in new taxes for every man, woman, and child in this country.7 If this kind of
money were raised, it could provide every public and private school student from prekindergarten to the 12th grade an extra $5,100 for their education.8 Or more frivolously, that
$285 billion would pay for about 26,146 trips in the private space travel rocket, Falcon 1e.9
The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression has clearly diminished the
number of people attempting to enter the country illegallythe absence of jobs eliminates
the predominant incentive to migrate.10 And yet, even with diminished pressure at the
border, the dramatic increases in spending on immigration enforcement have not significantly altered the net number of undocumented immigrants in the country. In fact, the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, reports that the undocumented immigrant
population as of January 2009 stood at 10.8 million,11 or 300,000 more than it was in
2005.12 In other words, the massive outlays in enforcement resources are barely making a
dent in the current population.
That leaves the third course, comprehensive immigration reform, as the only rational alternative. The solution to our broken immigration system must combine tough border and
workplace enforcement with practical reforms that promote economic growth, protect
all workers, and reunite immediate family members. Among other things, that means we
must establish a realistic program to require undocumented immigrants to register with
the government while creating legal immigration channels that are flexible, serve the
national interest, and curtail future illegal immigration.13
Some proponents of the second optiona deportation-only strategycontend that the
Great Recession and heightened unemployment justify mass deportation.14 As if deportation were a panacea for the nations economic woes, the ranking member on the House
Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), claims: The single most effective thing

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

The U.S. Department

of Homeland
Security reports that
the undocumented
immigrant
population as of
January 2009 stood
at 10.8 million, or
300,000 more than
it was in 2005.

that DHS could do to create jobs for American workers would be to conduct vigorous
worksite enforcement and to actually deport the illegal immigrant workers so they dont
remain here to compete with citizen and legal immigrant job-seekers.15 The patently
erroneous analysis behind this contentionthat unemployed Americans are a perfect
substitute for undocumented workers in the workforceignores the devastating impact
such an approach would have on economic growth.
In fact, a recent study by the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy
Center demonstrates how legalization of undocumented immigrants and more flexible
immigration channels would significantly expand the economyby a cumulative $1.5
trillion in gross domestic product over 10 yearsthrough increased consumer spending,
higher tax receipts, and other related factors.16 A deportation approach, by contrast, would
have the cumulative effect of draining $2.5 trillion over 10 years from the U.S. economy.17
That is a $4 trillion swing in GDP depending on which policy approach we adopt.
Once policymakers in Congress and their constituents across the country weigh the
unrealistic five-year immigration enforcement costs of pursuing a deportation-only strategy$285 billionagainst the progressive alternative they will recognize once and for all
that mass deportation is fiscally untenable.
This paper will demonstrate in detail the severe consequences of a deportation-only policy
on the nations economy and how the execution of such a policy would require massive
direct expenditures. We analyze publicly available data to assess the costs and the steps
required to carry out such a policyfrom point of arrest through transportation out of
the country. Our report adopts conservative assumptions for key variables to ensure that
the estimated program and spending requirements are realistic and not overstated. Our
findings are not just sobering; they conclusively prove a deportation-only immigration
strategy would be the height of folly.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Calculating the cost of

mass deportation
While policymakers from across the political spectrum agree that our immigration system
is broken, there continues to be debate over whether mass deportation and sealing off the
U.S.-Mexico border is a viable, sensible solution. This section breaks down the costs of a
mass deportation programthat is, how much it would cost the federal government to
expel all undocumented immigrants who are currently in the United States.
Using available data from the increased immigration enforcement activities of recent years,
this calculation drew on the Department of Homeland Securitys actual spending levels
for FY 2008 and on its estimates of current undocumented immigration levels to reach the
total cost of around $200 billion. The number of people targeted for removal is based on
the total number of undocumented immigrants in the country.
We recognize that initially there would be some economy-of-scale savings from a massive
ramp up in operations. More undocumented workers would likely be apprehended per
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during the initial period when expanded
resources would permit large-scale operations in high-density undocumented industries
and communities. So the cost-per-apprehension figure would likely be smaller than
projected for some initial period. Similarly, we recognize that the cost of apprehending
undocumented immigrants after a presumably successful effort at nabbing the most easy
to find would become exponentially more expensive per undocumented immigrant.
For several reasons, however, this report assumes constant returns to enforcement spending, meaning no economies of scale are built in to this analysis. First, there is a great deal of
uncertainty in how a mass deportation program would impact the behavior of immigrant
communities and undocumented individuals. Would they go subterranean? Would immigrant communities organize to help hide their family members and neighbors? Would
they move residences and change employers more frequently? Questions like these make
it difficult to predict how much savings the government could expect from the initial ramp
up and how costly it would be to continue this nationwide sweep afterwards.
Indeed, the remaining undocumented immigrants are likely to be more deeply ensconced
in communities around the country. Those who intend to remain would burrow in
further, taking with them their wages that are now taxed,18 or forcing them to use more
advanced false documents. The cost of identifying and apprehending them would thus
rise substantially.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Second, some diseconomies of scale are already built in to our assessment. For instance, we
do not include capital expenditures to build new facilities to jail these people and then bring
them before judges in the projection. The challenge of detaining and processing massive new
numbers of immigrants in current facilities would create obvious and costly challenges.
Third, the compliance costs of deploying such a program consistent with constitutional requirements would diminish the savings expected from large-scale operations.
Alternatively, the costs of defending against lawsuits alleging rights violations in these
operations would also diminish savings. Given that the size of the economies and diseconomies of scale are uncertain and that the modeling of both would be speculative at best,
we assume for purposes of this report that the costs and savings balance out that there will
be constant returns on enforcement spending.19

Mass deportation by the numbers

While there is evidence that the Great Recession and improved security measures
slowed down the influx of undocumented immigrants, the net number of undocumented
immigrants in the United States has remained fairly stable. The Department of Homeland
Security reports that the undocumented immigrant population increased by 300,000
between January 2005 and January 2009 to the current total of 10.8 million.20
The DHS figure of 10.8 million undocumented immigrants equals 3.5 percent of the
national population of 309 million.21 This is nearly the same as the population of Georgia

How to forcibly deport 10.8 million undocumented immigrants

A key factor in evaluating the cost of removing this many undocumented
immigrants is how many of them would leave the country voluntarily in
response to a massive government crackdown. The deep integration of
millions of these individuals in the U.S. economy and society suggests
the number who would leave voluntarily would be smaller than if they
were short-term residents concentrated in specific states and working in
specific industries.
Of the 10.8 million unauthorized immigrants in 2009, only 0.9 million
or about 8 percentarrived in the United States between 2005 and 2008,
with the remainder arriving earlier. A large portion of the undocumented
population now boasts deep roots in America. Many work multiple jobs,
actively engage with their faith congregations, and have children and
spouses who are U.S. citizens.

While it is impossible to predict with any certainty how the specter of

mass deportation would affect decision making by individuals and families across the country, this report assumes that 20 percent of the current
population, or 2.16 million people, would depart before any contact with
authorities.22 That would leave 80 percent8.64 million peoplesubject
to forcible deportation.
In short, our nations already stretched law enforcement agencies would
have to manage 8.64 million separate arrests, detentions, legal proceedings and, to a lesser extent, transportation out of the country.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

and close to the number of everyone living in New England. But casting a dragnet nationwide would obviously be infinitely more difficult than closing the borders of a single state
or region of the country (see box on page 5).
There are four major tasks that would be essential to conducting the kind of mass deportation and removal process advocated by anti-immigration hardliners in the United States.
r
ApprehensionArresting all undocumented immigrants currently in the United States
r
DetentionHolding in custody (or supervising the interim release of) those who have
been apprehended until their cases are heard and legal deportation orders are issued by
the relevant legal authority
r
Legal processingAdjudicating, under the relevant legal authorities, those who have
been apprehended and detained
r
TransportationEnsuring that those who have been issued removal orders depart the
United States
Lets consider the costs of each of these tasks in turn.

The costs of apprehension

The first and most important cost driver for a government deportation policy is locating and
arresting as many of the undocumented people in the United States as possible. The cost
of apprehension varies widely depending on the location and circumstances surrounding
each case, as well as the length of time an undocumented immigrant has lived in the country.
Locating day laborers in border cities, for example, is significantly easier than identifying
people who are more deeply embedded in communities further away from the border.
The increasing size and scope of worksite arrests over the past several years, however,
makes cost projections somewhat more tangible and underscores the likelihood that a
deportation campaign would trigger massive costs. In one enforcement operation in May
2008, the federal government spent $5.2 millionfrom preparation to follow-up costs
on a raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, which led to the
detention of 389 mostly undocumented immigrant workers.23
To calculate the cost of apprehending 8.64 million undocumented immigrants (see box)
we use U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, appropriations and arrests
data from FY 2008. ICEs total budget for apprehension-related expenditures, including
salaries but excluding capital projects, totaled $1.24 billion. That figure was divided by the
number of arrests recorded67,728in order to arrive at a per person average cost of
$18,310per apprehension. The average cost per person was then multiplied by the 8.64
million undocumented immigrants to be apprehended. That resulted in nearly $158 billion in estimated costs for apprehensions (see Figure 1).

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

FIGURE 1

Calculating the costs of apprehension

FY 2008 Immigration and Customs
Enforcement appropriations dedicated
to immigration apprehensions

FY 2008 ICE
apprehensions

$1.24 billion

67,728

ICE cost per one

apprehension

Number of people
subject to forcible
deportation

Cost to apprehend
8.64 million persons

$18,310

8.64 million

$158 billion

Office of the Principal Legal Advisor

$216 million

Apprehension costs factors

Office of Investigations

$421 million
Office of Detention and
Removal Operations

$398 million
Comprehensive ID and Removal
of Criminal Aliens Program

$200 million

The FY 2008 Immigration and Customs Enforcement

programs dedicated to the apprehension of undocumented
immigrants are in the following offices:
Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.24 The calculation in

this section of the report accounts for prosecutions involving apprehended undocumented immigrants. At the end
of FY 2008, the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor had
handled approximately 129,275 cases, 98 percent of which
related to immigration enforcement. The cost of those
apprehensions in the FY 2008 budget were $216 million.25

Office of Investigations.26 The Office of Investigations spent about 27.5 percent of its

case hours in FY 2008 on drug-related issues, according to DHSs Office of the Inspector
General, which used ICEs Case Management System for its calculation.27 The percentage
of funds dedicated to drug investigations was determined in response to a detailed OIG
analysis that examined case hours related to drug control activities. No similar analysis
was done for immigration-related investigations. Assuming that immigration apprehension would be at least as high on ICEs policy agenda as drug-related issues, the same
percentage of case hours27.5 percentwas applied to the offices $1.53 billion actual
spending totals in FY 2008 to estimate $421 million for immigration apprehensions. The
actual figure is likely considerably higher, but no numbers were publicly available.
Office of Detention and Removal Operations.28 The Fugitive Operations Program

and Criminal Alien Program are the two programs under the auspices of the Office of
Detention and Removal Operations that directly relate to immigration apprehensions.
The FY 2008 funding for these programs totaled $398 million.
Comprehensive ID and Removal of Criminal Aliens Program.29 This program is exclu-

sively dedicated to apprehending undocumented immigrants. This initiative was authorized for two years, beginning in FY 2008 and contributed to the total apprehensions
reported by DHS that year. The appropriations totaled $200 million.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Source: Calculations based on

the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security FY 2008.

FY 2008 ICE apprehensions.30 ICE arrested a total of 67,728 undocumented immigrants

in FY 2008 in the interior of the United States. This included 33,573 administrative
apprehensions by the Office of Investigations and 34,155 criminal apprehensions by the
National Fugitives Operations Program.

The costs of detention

The responsibility for managing detention of undocumented immigrants rests with ICE.
The 32,000 beds currently available under the detention system lack direct federal oversight and management. They are spread out across 350 facilities operated by county governments or private contractors that are mostly designed for penal, not civil detention.31
There also are 15,300 spaces for a program testing alternatives to detention using community-based supervision strategies. As the operator of the largest detention and supervised
release program in the country, ICEs responsibilities are enormous. In FY 2008, there
were 378,582 foreigners from 221 countries in custody or in programs supervised by ICE
at various times.32
Given the large number of detentions in jail spaces operated by various jurisdictions, ICE
has had difficulty managing the workload. There have been more than 100 documented
deaths since October 2003,33 as well as numerous cases of abuse. Alleged violators of civil
codes in immigration law are frequently imprisoned in facilities that were designed for
offenders of more serious and violent crimes.
In addition, access to legal counsel is uneven at best, and information about problems
within the detention system has been suppressed. While DHS has made a concerted effort
to start correcting the issues, its overwhelming caseload has prevented it from making
rapid progress on reforms.
The estimated funding required to detain 8.64 million undocumented immigrants from
the time of apprehension until the time of removal involved determining the average
daily cost to detain a noncitizen ($111.82) and the average number of days (30) that an
individual in removal proceedings is detained. That per person detention cost was then
multiplied by the 8.64 million undocumented immigrants to arrive at an estimated cost of
approximately $29 billion (see Figure 2).
For purposes of transparency and consistency in these overall calculations, we assume ICE
will not build additional facilities to handle the extra demand for detention space, but will
continue its current policy to rent it from private contractors and local governments. Were
ICE to build its own facilities, as it would almost certainly need to under this strategy, the
costs of detention would be far higher.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

FIGURE 2

Calculating the costs of detention

FY 2008 Immigration and
Customs Enforcement costs
to detain one undocumented
immigrant for one day

$111.82
Cost per detainee per day
Nonpersonnel holding costs

$12.82
Cost per detainee per day
Personnel

$99

FY 2008 average
number of days
in detention

ICE cost to detain

one undocumented
immigrant for
duration of detention

Number of people
subject to forcible
deportation

Total cost to detain

8.64 million persons

30 days

$3,355

8.64 million

$29 billion

The total incarcerated population for the United States in 2008 was
2.4 million prisoners. That included all inmates held in local, state,
federal (including ICE), military, and juvenile facilities in the United
States, U.S. territories, and Indian tribal lands.34 A deportation
strategy that would take place over five years would add an
additional 1.73 million inmates to those rolls, a 71 percent increase
in the jail population, in each of those five years. In other words,
private or public construction of new facilities would be inevitable.

Nonetheless, because of the difficulty in projecting the capital costs of such a strategy and
in the interest of adopting conservative assumptions in making these calculations, we rely
on the known average detention costs under the current system. As sketched out in the
box calculating the cost of construction of detention facilities, the capital expenditures
alone could be crippling.

Detention cost factors

We calculated the cost of detaining one undocumented immigrant for one day, $111.82,
and then averaged this cost over 30 days, the average time an undocumented immigrant
was placed in detention in FY 2008.35 Our calculations consist of the following:
r
The per bed cost, excluding personnel, of $99 per day36
r
The annual personnel costs per detainee of $12.82 per day
This total daily cost per detainee of $111.82 in personnel and nonpersonnel daily costs
($12.82 plus $99) multiplied over 30 days$3,355 is within the range of other
reported numbers, such as one report that found the cost to be more than $140 per day
per detainee.37 Excluded from the calculation is a projection of the significant capital
expenditures that would undoubtedly be required to complement the leasing of state and
local jail facilities. The final total cost to detain 8.64 million people at $3,355 apiece comes
to around $29 billion.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Source: Calculations based on

the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security FY 2008.

Estimating the cost of the construction of new detention facilities

Deporting 8.64 million immigrants would indisputably require the
construction of new detention facilities. Immigrants subject to deportation are currently jailed in a patchwork of federal, state, local, and private
prisons. Most prisons are already overcrowded, and a mass deportation
strategy would increase the annual number of prisoners in America by
70percent for the next five years.
Although the construction of new facilities would be inevitable, we did
not include an estimate of these expenditures in calculating detention
costs because of the inherent uncertainty in such a projection. The range
of variables that would impact the extent of the need (distribution of apprehensions over a five-year period, fluctuations in size of nonimmigrant
prison population) and the cost of the facilities (geographic location,
potential long-term use of facility) make a ballpark estimate of actual
costs extremely challenging.
But one thing is certain, the costs would be enormous. The calculation
here represents an absolute bare minimum estimate and is based on the
assumption that DHS could accomplish its deportation strategy with
100 percent efficiency:

t
With an average detention period of 30 days, one detention bed could

hold approximately 60 different detainees over a five-year period. With
a total population of 8.64 million immigrants, that means they would
need to create 144,000 beds (8.64 million divided by 60).
t
Averaging the construction costs of four recent prison projects, we see
that it costs approximately $181 million to build a facility with 1,520
beds.* That breaks down in to an average per-bed construction cost of a
little more than $11,900.
t
Multiplying the total number of beds required (144,000) by a per-bed
construction cost ($11,900) yields a cost of more than $17 billion.
* Based on four proposed prison projects in 2008 and 2009 in Iowa, Wisconsin, and West Virginia and
Wisconsin, that had an average size of 1,520 beds for an average cost of $181 million. William Petroski,
New Prison Work Moves Forward For Now, Des Moines Register, September 20, 2008; Nathaniel Shuda,
States Prison Issue a Concern for Lawmakers, Central Wisconsin Sunday, January 18, 2009; John L. Micek,
State must get creative in addressing prison overcrowding, panel is told; Experts, lawmakers discuss
whether get tough provisions have helped or hindered, Morning Call, November 19, 2009; Charles Owens,
Federal prison taking form on McDowell mountaintop, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, September 21, 2008.

The costs of legal processing

The legal processing costs to the federal government we calculate in our report are the
amounts required to process 8.64 million undocumented immigrants through the
immigration courts after they have been apprehended. This section only covers the cost of
adjudications, not prosecutions. The cost of prosecutions, which are carried out by ICEs
Office of the Principal Legal advisor, were included in the apprehension costs.
Legal processing of apprehended undocumented immigrants is undertaken by immigration courts that are part of the Executive Office of Immigration Review in the U.S.
Department of Justice. EOIR has around 230 immigration judges in more than 50immigration courts around the country.38 In removal proceedings, immigration judges determine whether an individual from a foreign country should be allowed to remain in the
United States or be deported.39

10

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

FIGURE 3

Calculating the costs of legal processing

FY 2008 Executive Office
of Immigration Review
appropriations

FY 2008 immigration
proceedings initiated

$238.32 million

291,781

EOIR cost per

one proceeding

Number of people
subject to forcible
deportation

Total cost to detain

8.64 million persons

$817

8.64 million

$7 billion
Source: Calculations based on
the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security FY 2008.

As with other areas of the deportation process, immigration courts are structurally
flawed and severely ill equipped to serve the current caseload. It is difficult to fathom
how the immigration legal system would handle 8.64 million new adjudications that
would come from a deportation campaign. The current systems failings were extensively
documented in a February 2010 report prepared for the American Bar Associations
Commission on Immigration.40
Among the reports recommendations are an immediate restructuring to make the immigration courts independent of politics or any administrative agency, and the immediate
hiring of 100 new judges plus necessary law clerks to handle the surge in cases stemming
from current enforcement policies. These recommendations did not take into account
any mass deportation strategy. In 2008, there were 291,781 legal proceedings for undocumented immigrants, or just over 3 percent of the 8.64 million cases necessary to complete
a mass deportation.
To calculate the legal processing costs for EOIR of a mass deportation, we identified the
FY 2008 appropriations dedicated to the processing of undocumented immigrants, which
was $238.32 million. That was applied to the 291,781 legal proceedings for undocumented immigrants to arrive at an average cost of $817 for each legal proceeding. The
average was then multiplied by 8.64 million undocumented immigrants for a total legal
processing cost of more than $7 billion (see Figure 3).

Legal processing cost factors

We calculated the cost of legal proceedings by examining the FY 2008 EOIR funding
figures. The $238.32 million allocation includes salaries and expenses for EOIR. Given
the uncertainty of the calculation and our goal of adopting the most conservative possible
estimates, we have excluded from this amount the substantial capital expenditures that
would be required to build courtrooms and related facilities to hear additional cases.41
EOIRs functions are mostly related to the processing of undocumented immigrants. The
estimated costs to EOIR are based on the number of proceedings initiated (291,781)

11

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

rather than the number of completed cases since all filings require handling even if they
are not completed. This lowers the average cost per proceeding, thereby ensuring the most
conservative estimate.42
The number of proceedings used in the calculation does not equal the number of people
removed because some cases require more than one proceeding and some prosecutions
are not successful. There also were 26,656 voluntary departures in FY 2008 after proceedings were initiated. The cost per proceeding ($817) was determined by dividing the FY
2008 appropriated amount of $238.32 million by the 291,781 proceedings.
The $817 cost estimate for one proceeding was applied to 8.64 million people to reach the
total of a little more than $7 billion. This assumes that a removal can be achieved with only
one proceeding even though it took, on average, two proceedings to achieve one removal
in FY 2008. For purposes of this paper, the more conservative estimate of one hearing per
undocumented immigrant was used.

The cost of transportation

Undocumented immigrants who have been apprehended, detained, and then legally
processed must be moved out of the United States to complete the deportation process.
Transportation costs include surface and air transportation to deport undocumented
immigrants to their source countries.
The vast majority of individuals who would be put in to removal proceedings would eventually require transport out of the country, but some would be eligible for and would accept a
voluntary departure order. That legal mechanism provides the immigrant more flexibility
and time to prepare to move from the country but requires them to pay their own way.
In FY 2008, around 28 percent of removals were accomplished through voluntary departure orders.43 These orders are issued to certain undocumented immigrants who, after
being arrested, are determined to satisfy certain legal criteria and who elect to voluntarily
return to their home country within a short period. That allows the U.S. government to
avoid picking up the transportation tab. We assume a similar percentage of the processed
population will receive voluntary departure under a deportation program and accordingly, we reduce the population requiring government transportation by an additional
28percent. We estimate that the total population who will require government transport
is 6.22 million.
The transportation of 6.22 million undocumented immigrants under a deportationscenario would be a massive undertaking because they arrive in the United States from all
over the world (see map).

12

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

The $817 cost

estimate for one
proceeding was
applied to 8.64
million people to
reach the total of
a little more than
$7 billion.

Where undocumented immigrants would need to return

The major points of origin for undocumented immigrants as of January 2009

10. China
120,000

7. South Korea

1. Mexico

200,000

6,650,000

4. Honduras

2. El Salvador

320,000

530,000

5. Philippines

3. Guatemala

6. India

480,000

270,000

200,000

8. Ecuador
170,000

9. Brazil
150,000

Source:,Michael Hoefer, Nancy Ritina, and Bryan C. Baker, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009 (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, January 2010),
available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2009.pdf.

Currently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border
Protection have different programs for transporting undocumented immigrants. Most
undocumented immigrants from Mexico who are apprehended at the border by CBP are
bused across the border.44 Other undocumented immigrants are transported by plane.
During FY 2008, ICEs Detention and Removal Operations Flight Operations Unit in
partnership with the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System transported almost
200,000 undocumented immigrants. This program operated seven charters outside of the
Americas, returning 495 alien passengers to Albania, Cambodia, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan,
Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Palestinian Authority, and Liberia.45 In FY 2008,
this program had an appropriation of $135 million.46
Additionally, ICE and CBP have transportation programs for certain categories of
undocumented immigrants. The Interior Repatriation Program transports undocumented
immigrants into the interior of Mexico. This program is available for noncriminal Mexican
nationals with final orders of removal, processed by CBP for expedited removal, and

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Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

FIGURE 4

Calculating the costs of transportation

FY 2008 Immigration and Customs
Enforcement costs to transport
one undocumented immigrant

Number of people requiring

government transport

Total cost to detain

6.22 million persons

$1,000

6.22 million

$6 billion
Source: Calculations based on
the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security FY 2008.

deemed at risk from falling victim to heat or border criminals due to age, physical condition, or travel status. In FY 2008, 49,793 people were removed under this program.47
Despite the different countries of origin of undocumented immigrants, and the various
methods and programs of repatriation, little public information is available on actual costs
to transport the average detainee out of the United States. During congressional testimony
in 2007, however, ICE Assistant Secretary Julie Myers estimated a $1,000 per person average transportation cost for deportees.48
The Office of the Federal Detention Trustee also reported a per person transportation cost
for federal detainees, including deportees, of $999 in FY 2008, and projected a $1,190 per
person cost in FY 2011.49 For purposes of this report, the cost was rounded out to $1,000.
That means the total cost to transport 6.22 million people overseas at $1,000 apiece equals
more than $6 billion.

Total deportation costs

The sum of the funding required to apprehend, detain, legally process, and expel
8.64million individuals out of the United States is $200 billion (see Figure 5).

FIGURE 5

Calculating total deportation costs

Costs assume 20 percent pre-apprehension departures
Apprehension

Detention

Legal processing

Transportation

Total cost

$158 billion

$29 billion

$7 billion

$6 billion

$200 billion
Source: Calculations based on
the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security FY 2008.

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Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Total five-year immigration

enforcement costs of a mass
deportation strategy
If a mass deportation strategy were seriously pursued, it is safe to assume that it would
be a multiyear endeavor. For purposes of evaluating the direct costs of such a strategy in
context, we presume this would entail a five-year process at a minimum.
All of the costs set forth in the sections above are conservatively calculated one-time projected costs to identify and remove almost every undocumented immigrant in the United
States. Even if that specific objective were practically accomplishable, achieving it would
not eliminate the federal governments continuing immigration enforcement mandate during and beyond the mass deportation period.

Continuing enforcement costs

The federal government will remain saddled during (and beyond) the five-year mass
deportation effort with the ongoing massive expenditures associated with:
r
Securing our land borders, coastlines, and ports of entry
r
Identifying and removing those who still arrive illegally
r
Tracking and removing individuals who overstay their visa, violate the terms of their
admission, or commit crimes.
The expenditures on border and interior immigration enforcement have burgeoned
since FY 2005. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement budgets increased by nearly 80 percent to $17.1 billion in FY 2010, from
$9.5billion in FY 2005.50 And yet the net undocumented population still slightly
increased over that time from 10.5 million to 10.8 million, with the most significant
drop in population occurring after the start of the Great Recession in December 2007
(see Figure 6).51

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Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Enforcement
budgets increased
by nearly 80 percent
to $17.1 billion
in FY 2010, from
$9.5 billion in
FY 2005.

Practically speaking, that means that while the

federal government was doubling down on enforcement efforts over a five-year period, it wasnt even
able to halt growth in the size of the undocumented
immigrant population. In other words, the current
ICE and CBP budgets (plus a massive recession)
were almost sufficient to prevent a net increase
in undocumented immigrants but insufficient to
diminish it. As such, in addition to the massive infusion of new resources documented above that would
be needed for the discrete task of removing all of
todays undocumented immigrants, the federal government would need to spend at or above current
levels just in order to prevent a new wave of undocumented immigrants from arriving in the country.

FIGURE 6

Annual undocumented immigrant population and

enforcement costs
11.8

18
11.3

11.6

12
$17.1
10.8

+2.9%

16
10.5

10

14

$14.3

+80%
12

$12.4
$10.9

10
$9.5

To ensure sufficient border and interior resources

to prevent new entries, apprehend those who
make it through, and identify and remove those
who overstay their lawful visas or violate their
status, the ICE and CBP budget outlays would, at
a minimum, need to remain constant. Congress
appropriated $11.4billion for U.S. Customs and
Border Protection and $5.7 billion for Immigration
and Customs Enforcement in FY 2010, for a total of
$17.1 billion.53 Adjusting that amount to 2008 dollars so that it is consistent with the cost of deportation calculations, we arrive at a continuing annual
cost of around $17 billion.

8
Undocumented immigrant population
6
0

Customs and Border Protection and Immigration

and Customs Enforcement budgets52
FY 2005

FY 2006

FY 2008

FY 2009

Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief, FY 2007, FY 2008, FY 2009, and FY 2010; Michael
Hoefer, Nancy Ritina, and Bryan C. Baker, Estimates of the Unauthoirzed Immigrant Population Residing in the
United States: January 2008 (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, February 2009), available at http://www.dhs.
gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2009.pdf.

Of course, it is true that the ICE and CBP budgets include more than immigration
enforcement resources. But it is also true that the capital and infrastructural costs needed
to maintain and support contraband smuggling interdiction efforts, for example, cannot
be cleanly divorced from human smuggling interdiction costs. In addition, not included in
this budget calculation are significant immigration enforcement costs borne by other DHS
entities such as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Costs related to two important
USCIS programs, E-verify and US-VISIT, are not reflected in this estimate.
The practical reality is that we will need to maintain the entire ICE and CBP budgets at the
very least in order to retain current enforcement levels over this deportation period and
beyond. If anything, we believe this understates the actual ongoing enforcement costs that
will be required to maintain the status quo.

16

FY 2007

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Five-year total
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 ($17billion 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 $285billion (see Figure 7).

FIGURE 7

Five-year enforcement costs under mass total deportation strategy

Costs assume 20 percent voluntary departures
Cost to remove 8.64 million
people over five years

Five-year ongoing enforcement costs

Total five-year cost

$200 billion

$85 billion

$285 billion

FY 2010 Immigration and

Customs Enforcement-Customs
and Border Protection budget

$17.1 billion
Annual estimated recurring ICE and
CBP budget (Adjusted to 2008 dollars)

$16.99 billion

17

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Source: Calculations based on the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security FY 2008.

Seeking sensible solutions

The undeniable conclusion from these findings is that the federal price tag to deport all
undocumented immigrants currently in the United States is prohibitive. The operational
feasibility of such a massive effort is dubious at best. It would require an unprecedented
deployment of resources, and the problems currently plaguing our detention system and
immigration courts would be exacerbated in the extreme and would likely precipitate
widespread human rights and due process violations.
Moreover, a mass deportation strategy would have a crippling impact on economic
growth.54 The exorbitant direct costs of such a strategy detailed in this report should be
the final nail in the coffin of a moribund idea.
Notwithstanding the fact that some members of Congress and many other advocates are
actually calling for mass deportation,55 some immigration restrictionists complain that
the argument against mass deportation is a straw man. These individuals claim that their
proposal is more humane and less costly and they call it deportation through attrition:
make life hard enough for undocumented workers through heavy-handed enforcement
that people simply pack their bags and leave the country.
It should be absolutely clear, however, that the attrition strategy is nothing more than
a thinly veiled variation on mass deportation. The basic premise of this idea is that the
United States can and should implement a national policy that will drive nearly 11 million
undocumented immigrants and millions more of their U.S. family members out of the
country. The devastating economic impact and crushing fiscal burden of such a strategy
would be indistinguishable from the mass deportation proposal outlined in this report.
It is time to heed the publics call for tough, fair, and practical solutions with a comprehensive immigration reform program that treats immigration as a national resource to be
managed and embraced. That program should require strong enforcement measures at
the border and at the worksite to control illegal immigration and expose employers who
hire undocumented workers and exploit them. If we deal pragmatically with the fact that
5percent of the U.S. labor force is undocumented and that families will go to great lengths
to cross the border to be reunited, we will have in place flexible immigration channels and
an end to futile discussions about deporting millions of people from the United States.

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Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

It should be
absolutely clear
that the attrition
strategy is nothing
more than a thinly
veiled variation on
mass deportation.

But enforcement alone will not drive down undocumented immigration, as evidenced by
the hard facts about the current legal status of undocumented immigrants in the United
Statesfacts that our progressive vision of reform confronts directly, humanely, and with
an eye on building a better and more prosperous America in the 21 century in the same
way we have done for more than 400 years.
Most of the 10.8 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States have
been in the country for a long time, are intimately integrated into local communities, and
reside across large geographic areas. Many also have native-born U.S.-citizen children or
spouses. Consider that:
r
Almost two-thirds of undocumented immigrants (63 percent) came to the United
States before 200019 percent during the 1980s, 44 percent during the 1990s, and 37
percent after 2000.
r
Forty-three percent of undocumented immigrants live in states outside of the traditional
immigrant states of California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinoisan indication
that undocumented immigrants are settling in nontraditional immigrant regions.56
r
Seventy-three percent of the children of undocumented immigrant parents are U.S. citizens by birth.57 Deportation would mean taking away one or both parents of 4 million
citizen children with unacceptable and incalculable social consequences.
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) finds this last set of facts particularly pertinent to the immigration
debate. When asked during an earlier debate over comprehensive immigration reform and
American-born children of undocumented immigrants, he remarked on the Senate floor:
What shall we do with these Americansand they are Americans by virtue of their
birth herewhen we deport their parents? Shall we build a lot of new orphanages?
Find adoptive parents for them? Deny their citizenship and ship them back, too? We
all know we arent going to find and deport so many millions and suffer the dislocation
and agonizing moral dilemmas that such an impossible task would engender. So lets be
honest about that, shall we?58
As Sen. McCain argued back then, the logical solution for the immigration challenge is a
comprehensive plan that combines tighter border and interior enforcement with a program that would require undocumented immigrants to come forward, pass background
checks, and gain legal status by meeting certain requirements such as learning English and
paying back taxes and fines. Comprehensive immigration reform must create a visa system
that is fair and flexible and can adjust to the needs of the U.S. economy and families.
History shows that not even the hellish Arizona desert will deter immigrants seeking work
when the U.S. demand for labor is high. The existing border fortifications do not keep

19

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

undocumented migrants out of the United States, notes Wayne Cornelius, director emeritus
of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California in San
Diego. Not even half are being apprehended on any given trip to the border, and of those
who are apprehended, the success rate on the second or third try is upwards of 95 percent.
Cornelius has studied the migration patterns of thousands of undocumented immigrants
from various parts of Mexico who tried and succeeded in entering the country.59
The United States experienced substantial increases in the total number of undocumented
immigrants between 2000 and 2006 but that number began dropping in 2007, coinciding
with the start of a crippling economic recession and the drop in demand for immigrant
labor (see Figure 6).60 Once the economy rebounds and demand for workers eventually
expands, undocumented immigrants seeking work will likely create new pressures on
border and worksite enforcement efforts if we do not reform our current policies today.
Even if we were to continue high levels of border and interior enforcement funding, future
flows of undocumented immigrants cannot be completely prevented under current immigration laws using an enforcement-only strategy. As described above, the federal government would have to spend substantial additional moniesconservatively projected to be
$17 billion annuallyto prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the United
States, track down those who make it in, and identify and remove persons who overstay
their valid entry visas.
Instead of searching for and deporting undocumented immigrants at an astronomical cost,
the taxpayers and the nation will enjoy greater benefits from a 21st century immigration
system that drives workers needed by the U.S. economy into legal channels.61

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Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

Endnotes
1 U.S. Department of Homeland Security FY 2008 numbers were used because
they are the most complete figures across all categories required to assess
immigration-related costs.
2 Department of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief, Fiscal Year 2010, available at
http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/budget_bib_fy2010.pdf.
3 Jeffrey S. Passel and DVera Cohn, A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the
United States (Washington: Pew Research Center, 2009), available at http://
pewresearch.org/pubs/1190/portrait-unauthorized-immigrants-states.
4 Indeed, a deportation strategy of this size and scope has never been attempted
in U.S. history. During the Great Depression, an estimated 1 million people of
Mexican descent were pressured to leave the United States, even though about
60 percent were U.S. citizens. This repatriation was concentrated in California,
Michigan, Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, and New Yorkstates where most
immigrants were concentratedbecause of U.S. natives fears that immigrants
were competing for scarce jobs during the economic crisis. Kevin Johnson, The
Forgotten Repatriation of Persons of Mexican Ancestry and Lessons for the
War on Terror, Pace Law Review 26 (1) (2005), available at http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=lawrev. And then
again in 1954, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service conducted a
quasi-military search and seizure operation of all illegal immigrants in Texas,
resulting in the arrests of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants
and the voluntary departures of hundreds of thousands more. The short-lived
program ended when funding ran out. Fred L Koestler, Operation Wetback, The
Handbook of Texas Online, March 4-6, 2010, available at http://www.tshaonline.
org/handbook/online/articles/OO/pqo1.html.
5 Since we assume that the mass deportation strategy will take five years to
accomplish, the five-year cost of immigration enforcement would total approximately $285 billion in 2008 dollars$200 billion for the removal program plus
$85 billion (for example, $16.99 billion per year for five years) for continuing
enforcement operations as of FY 2010.
6 Daunting as this number is, it almost certainly understates the actual cost. Given
the inherent uncertainty in this exercise, this report deliberately adopts conservative assumptions and variables to arrive at an uninflated cost projection. For
example, capital expenditures are excluded from cost projections despite the
enormous expansion of detention space and administrative courts that would
be necessary to implement such a strategy. The analysis is based on FY 2008
data, the most complete, publicly available information on unauthorized immigration, to ensure proper comparisons between federal spending and other
important data. The $200 billion cost is in 2008 dollars, unadjusted for inflation.
7 Based on a national population of 309 million.
8 National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts, available at http://nces.
ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=65.
9 Spacex, Falcon 1, available at http://www.spacex.com/falcon1.php.
10 See, for example, Jeffrey S. Passel and DVera Cohn, Mexican Immigrants: How
Many Come? How Many Leave? (Washington: Pew Hispanic Center, 2009),
available at http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/112.pdf.
11 This population estimate is based on the U.S. Census Bureaus American Community Survey, which changed part of its methodology in 2008. The highly regarded Pew Hispanic Center relies on the Current Population Survey, conducted
by the Census and Labor Statistics Bureaus, which results in a slightly higher
estimate of the undocumented immigrant population. This report adopts the
more conservative estimatefor example, DHSs population countto guard
against overstating the potential costs of a mass deportation program. Michael
Hoefer, Nancy Rytina, and Bryan C. Baker, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2009 (U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, 2010), available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/
statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2009.pdf.

21

12 Michael Hoefer, Nancy Rytina, and Bryan C. Baker, Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: January 2008 (U.S.
Department of Homeland Security, 2009), available at http://www.dhs.gov/
xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_ill_pe_2008.pdf.
13 Marshall Fitz and Angela Kelley, Principles for Immigration Reform: Guidelines
for Fixing Our Broken Immigration System (Washington: Center for American
Progress, 2009), available at http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/12/
pdf/immigrationreform.pdf.
14 U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary, Democrat Amnesty
Plan Harms American Workers, Press Release, December 15, 2009, available at
http://republicans.judiciary.house.gov/News/Read.aspx?id=276. U.S. Census
Bureau, U.S. & World Population Clocks, available at http://www.census.gov/
main/www/popclock.html.
15 Rep. Lamar Smith, Enforce immigration laws to create jobs: Smith reacts to
Napolitano remarks at Center for American Progress, Press Release, November
13, 2009, available at http://lamarsmith.house.gov/read.aspx?ID=1275.
16 Dr. Ral Hinojosa-Ojeda, Raising the Floor for American Workers (Washington:
Center for American Progress, 2010), available at http://www.americanprogress.
org/issues/2010/01/raising_the_floor.html; Peter B. Dixon and Maureen T.
Rimmer, Restriction or Legalization? Measuring the Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform (Washington: Cato Institute, 2009), available at http://www.
cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10438.
17 Ibid.
18 See, for example, the Congressional Budget Office analysis of H.R. 4088, the Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act of 2007, as introduced
on November 6, 2007. That bill would have made e-verify mandatory. The CBO
and the Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the legislation would
decrease revenues because it would increase the numbers of undocumented
workers being paid outside the tax system, available at http://www.cbo.gov/
ftpdocs/91xx/doc9100/hr4088ltr.pdf.
19 The authors of this report strongly believe that, on balance, this calculations
significantly understates the actual costs of such a strategy.
20 Hoefer, Ritina, and Baker, Estimates of the Unauthoirzed Immigrant Population
Residing in the United States: January 2009.
21 U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. & World Population Clocks.
22 This 20 percent attrition rate is a reasonable estimate, given how deeply
embedded so many of these immigrants and families are in their communities.
It is, however, just an estimate since it is impossible to predict the behavioral
response of target communities in the face of a mass deportation program. The
20 percent rate was also used in the 2005 deportation cost study by the Center
for American Progress. Rajeev Goyle and David A. Jaeger, Ph.D., Deporting
the Undocumented: A Cost Assessment (Washington: Center for American
Progress, 2005), available at http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/deporting_the_undocumented.pdf.
23 The costs cited herein do not encompass the entire cost of such an operation.
Moreover, the tactics used in the raid, including the use of a cattle barn for temporary detention space, the separation of families, lack of legal counsel, and the
false imprisonment of some, continue to be studied as a lesson for how not to
conduct an immigration raid. And the devastating costs to the local economy
and to the fabric of the community will continue to reverberate for years.
24 Immigration-related cases included 126,050 removal cases, completed bonds
and motions to re-open or reconsider; plus 1,076 worksite enforcement cases
for a total of 127,126 cases related to immigration. U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report: Protecting National
Security and Upholding Public Policy (2009), p. 28-29, available at http://www.
ice.gov/doclib/pi/reports/ice_annual_report/pdf/ice08ar_final.pdf.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

25 The funding for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor in FY 2008 was $220.6
million. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Title VFY 2010 Explanation
of Changes General Provisions, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/dhs_congressional_budget_justification_fy2010.pdf.
26 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, Independent Review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements reporting of
FY 2008 drug control obligations (2009), available at http://www.dhs.gov/xoig/
assets/mgmtrpts/OIG_09-19_Jan09.pdf; U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
FY 2009, Budget Details, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/budget_fy2009.pdf.

43 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report:
Protecting National Security and Upholding Public Policy, p. iii.
44 Emily Blass, After deportation, migrants are determined to return, USA Today,
March 24, 2008, available at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-0323-deportees_N.htm.
45 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Congressional Budget Justification FY
2010, p S&E 41, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/dhs_congressional_budget_justification_fy2010.pdf.
46 Blass, After deportation, migrants are determined to return.

27 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, Independent Review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements reporting of FY
2008 drug control obligations, p. 1.

47 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, United States and Mexico resume voluntary interior repatriation program for the fifth consecutive year, News Release,
July 21, 2008, available at http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0807/080721washington.htm.

28 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FY 2009, Budget Details, enacted and

emergency funding transfers, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/
budget_fy2009.pdf.

48 CNN, Tab to remove illegal residents would approach $100 billion, September 12,
2007, available at http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/09/12/deportation.cost/.

29 Ibid; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fact Sheet: Fiscal

Year 2008 (2007), available at http://www.ice.gov/doclib/pi/news/
factsheets/2008budgetfactsheet.pdf, p. 6.

49 Office of the Federal Detention Trustee, FY 2011 Performance Budget,

Presidents Budget Submission, p. 22, available at http://www.justice.gov/
jmd/2011justification/pdf/fy11-ofdt-justification.pdf.

30 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, Annual

Report: 2008 (2009), p. 3, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/
statistics/publications/enforcement_ar_08.pdf.

50 U. S. Department of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief, FY 2007, available at

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/Budget_BIB-FY2007.pdf; U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief, FY 2010, available at http://www.dhs.
gov/xlibrary/assets/budget_bib_fy2010.pdf.

31 ICE received a doubling of funding for detention bed space in the last five years.
In FY 2003, capacity was 18,500 beds and in FY 2008, capacity was 32,000 beds.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report:
Protecting National Security and Upholding Public Policy, p.19.
32 Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Detention Overview and
Recommendations (2009), p. 2, available at http://www.ice.gov/doclib/091005_
ice_detention_report-final.pdf.
33 Nina Bernstein, Officials Hid Truth of Immigrant Deaths in Jail, The New York
Times, January 9, 2010, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/
us/10detain.html.
34 Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bulletin: Prisoners in 2008, Table 9, p. 8, available at
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/p08.pdf.
35 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report:
Protecting National Security and Upholding Public Policy, p.20.
36 Department of Homeland Security, FY 2009 Budget: Congressional Justification
(Program Justification of Changes: Additional bed space and staffing) (2008), p.
S&E 45, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/budget_fy2009.pdf.

51 Hoefer, Rytina, and Baker, Estimates of the Undocumented Immigrant Population, Residing in the United States: January 2008.
52 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief, FY 2007, FY 2008, FY
2009, and FY 2010, available at http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/budget/; Hoefer,
Rytina, and Baker, Estimates of the Undocumented Immigrant Population,
Residing in the United States: January 2008.
53 Department of Homeland Security, Budget-in-Brief, Fiscal Year 2010.
54 Hinojosa-Ojeda, Raising the Floor for American Workers: The Economic Benefits
of Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
55 Rep. Lamar Smith, Enforce immigration laws to create jobs; Andrea Nill, Dick
Armey Wants Tom Tancredo Out of His Tea Party Tent, The Wonk Room, March 8,
2010, available at http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/03/08/dick-armeytom-tancredo/.
56 Hoefer, Rytina, and Baker, Estimates of the Undocumented Immigrant Population,
Residing in the United States: January 2008, p. 4.
57 Passel and Cohn, A Portrait of Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States, p. i.

37 MSNBC, Immigrants face long detention, few rights, March 15, 2009, available at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29706177/.
38 U.S. Department of Justice, Fact Sheet: EOIRs improvement measures
Update (2009).
39 U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Office of the
Chief Immigration Judge, available at http://www.justice.gov/eoir/ocijinfo.htm.
40 Arnold and Porter LLP, Reforming the Immigration System: Proposals to Promote
Independence, Fairness, Efficiency and Professionalism in the Adjudication of
Removal Cases (2010), available at http://www.abanet.org/media/nosearch/
immigration_reform_executive_summary_012510.pdf.
41 U.S. Department of Justice, Budget Summary, FY 2010, p. 38, available at
http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2010summary/pdf/eoir-bud-summary.pdf.
42 Executive Office for Immigration Review, FY 2008: Statistical Year Book (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009), available at http://www.justice.gov/eoir/statspub/
fy08syb.pdf.

22

58 U.S. Senate floor debate, March 30, 2006, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/

F?r109:1:./temp/~r109miY04W:e59237.
59 Daniel B. Wood, Billions for a US- Mexico border fence, but is it doing any good?
The Christian Science Monitor, September 19, 2009, available at http://www.
csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0919/p02s09-usgn.html.
60 Jeffrey S. Passel and DVera Cohn, Trends in unauthorized immigration: Undocumented inflow now trails legal inflow (Washington: Pew Hispanic Center, 2008) ,
p.2, available at http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/94.pdf.
61 Peter Dixon and Maureen Rimmer for the CATO Institute, using the same
general equilibrium model used by DHS, estimated that a program of legalization, coupled with a work visa program with a visa tax will generate $180 billion
in gains to U.S. households in 2009. That is economic activity of an extra 1.27
percent of GDP. Dixon and Rimmer, Restriction or Legalization? Measuring the
Economic Benefits of Immigration Reform, p. 13.

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

About the authors

This report was prepared by Marshall Fitz and Gebe Martinez of the Center for American
Progress and Madura Wijewardena of Rob Paral and Associates. Research assistance by
Ann Garcia and Alina Politzer.

Acknowledgements
This publication was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.
The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author.

23

Center for American Progress | The Costs of Mass Deportation

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute
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