The Cost of Deporting America’s Illegal Immigrants

What We’re Showing

This graphic shows the estimated costs to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.. The data comes from the American Immigration Council as of October 2024  

Methodology

The American Immigration Council estimated the undocumented immigrant population using 2022 1-year American Community Survey microdata from the IPUMS database. 

To calculate the removal costs, it used the following figures: (1) share of population that would be removed; (2) average cost per removal; (3) additional staff costs necessary for mass removals; (4) a 2.5 percent annual inflation rate (applied to the total of 1-3).

Key Takeaways

• A one-time operation would cost around $315 billion.
• Deporting one million immigrants annually (over 11 years) would cost around $1 trillion. 
• Mass deportation could reduce annual GDP by 4.2%-6.8%, or $1.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion, according to the American Immigration Council. 
• California, Texas, and Florida host 47% of the country’s undocumented immigrants.