According to a new study published by the National Immigration Forum, last year the federal government deported 197,000 immigrants with no criminal record, at a cost of $23,000 each. The government spends $7,500 for every person apprehended on our southern border, a 500 percent increase over what it spent six years ago with no real change in the number of people caught.
While the number of people crossing the border illegally has decreased, the U.S. Border Patrol budget has increased by an average of $300 million since 2005.
The Center for American Progress Analysis found that mass deportation of undocumented immgrants would be very expensive and trigger profound collateral consequences. The total cost of mass deportation and continuing border interdiction and interior enforcement efforts would be $285 billion (in 2008 dollars) over a five-year period.
We need smart immigration reform.
