I question the economic outcome of mass deportations for the United States.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/mass-deportations-sabotage-the-economy-fedffa8b

Wall Street Journal
Feb. 18, 2026 3:22 pm ET

Mass Deportations Sabotage the Economy

The U.S. economy has long been the world’s most powerful. America’s strength rests on sustained capital investment—but also on a growing supply of labor. More workers means more production, consumers and demand. The Trump administration’s mass deportations threaten to break that virtuous circle.

The U.S. was already slowly approaching zero labor-force growth as fertility fell and the population aged. What kept the country from a demographic disaster was immigration. The 3,000-person-a-day arrest quota for immigration enforcement looks like an act of economic self-sabotage.

No one wants to harbor violent criminals. But the Cato Institute obtained internal Department of Homeland Security data showing that 73% of those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15 had no criminal conviction and only 5% had a violent-crime conviction.

Research from the Center for Migration Studies finds that the undocumented workforce in the U.S. is large and overwhelmingly employed across key sectors of the economy. Many of the 675,000 immigrants deported last year were working to build data centers, manufacturing plants, energy infrastructure and housing. Who will take their place when the U.S. has six million unfilled jobs?

Deportations impose costs on citizens too. The Peterson Institute for International Economics projected in 2024 that deporting 1.3 million workers could raise consumer prices by 1.5% within three years as labor shortages worsen. Deportations lead to the loss of jobs for citizens, according to the Hamilton Project. As the lack of workforce tamps down business growth, fewer U.S.-born workers are hired as a result. Consumption also declines: The Brookings Institute estimates that the U.S. lost between $40 billion and $60 billion in consumer spending in 2025 because of deportations. That, too, slows economic growth.

The cost also shows up in your tax bill. The ICE budget has risen from $9.99 billion in 2024 to a proposed $11.3 billion this year, and last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act gives ICE access to a $75 billion fund on top of discretionary funding available through 2029. Add to this lost tax revenue from immigrants themselves. A 2024 American Immigration Council report found undocumented-immigrant households paid more than $70 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022.

As a businessman, a taxpayer and an American with roots in this country that go back more than 400 years, I want to see us keep growing as we have for the past 250 years. I believe the vast majority of Americans feel the same way. The question we need to ask: What is the ROI on our investment in ICE?

Dont.. Those deportees deserve a better life than America is going to be able to offer..😷

Complex situation. Yet I suspect they are preparing for an automation revolution.

Problem is even with that they are self defeating. They actually are hindering the energy sector for that to even happen.

I wonder about these things too. I find the opposing arguments conflicting and confusing.

ICE is enforcing the laws that Congress has passed

Little bit. Little bit. Just a tad.