Deportation is the act of removing a person from the country in which they live. It is typically carried out in order to return the person to the country from which they came, but can also be done for other reasons such as entering the country without a valid visa or passport or engaging in criminal activity that threatens public safety. Deportation can have numerous detrimental impacts on the people who are removed, their families, and their communities. This policy statement reviews the empirical literature about deportation’s effects in order to inform policy and practice recommendations.
ICE’s current priorities for arresting and removing undocumented individuals have focused on those with serious criminal records or a history of community safety threats. Those who are arrested and then subjected to the legal immigration process generally end up in removal proceedings, where a judge may ultimately decide to remove them from the United States.
However, if the Trump administration were to implement a broad-based mass deportation operation, it would require the agency to expand significantly the number of individuals it could arrest and detain in order to meet its targets. This would result in a significant number of community members, including those with lawful status (such as TPS holders, DACA recipients, and parolees), becoming targets for immigration enforcement. It would also put immense strain on local law enforcement agencies, whose officers would be under pressure to carry out traditional immigration enforcement activities that have the potential to disrupt and fearfully destabilize immigrant communities.
Furthermore, such a large-scale deportation effort could result in the loss of a significant amount of labor that supports vital sectors of the economy. In 2022, unauthorized immigrants accounted for 4.8% of the workforce, working in industries such as construction, agriculture, and hospitality. Losing this labor force could lead to a host of negative economic outcomes, including reduced productivity and economic output, job losses for American citizens, and higher prices for goods and services for all Americans.
Finally, a massive deportation campaign would have profound implications for the millions of families living in mixed-status households. In these households, children who are U.S. citizens are legally protected from deportation, but the financial costs of raising them fall disproportionately on non-citizen family members. The mass deportation of unauthorized families would dramatically reduce median incomes in these households, and cause significant changes to family dynamics and well-being.
If the Trump administration is successful in carrying out a mass deportation, it could lead to the forced removal of more than 13 million individuals from our communities. To avoid such a catastrophic outcome, Congress and the administration should pass comprehensive immigration reform that eliminates the threat of deportation and ensures that all families can stay together. In addition, communities must prioritize keeping families safe and together through efforts to promote supportive social networks and a sense of belonging for all family members, regardless of immigration status. Such programs should include fostering mental health/healing, building community, and organizing for collective political action.