The Trump administration deported over 21,000 immigrants during his first 100 days in office, and in an effort to continue chipping away at the 2 million unauthorized foreigners with criminal records that he says it is his goal to get rid of, he's going to need a much bigger budget than taxpayers may have conceived.
The President has asked that Congress move the detainment, transport, and removal of the undocumented immigrants in question along by approving $1.15 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. That amount would realistically only cover 5% of the convicts he seeks to send back. According to a government estimate, $1.15 billion would cover the cost of deporting approximately 106,000 more unauthorized immigrants in 2017. At that pace, the administration wouldn't even get through expelling half a million people over the course of his first Presidential term.
Taking into account the expenses associated with the process of identification, apprehension, detainment, processing and removal, it costs tax payers around $10,854 to deport just one individual residing in the country illegally. A simple stay at a detention center in Houston, for example, can go for nearly $200 per night. Because ICE depends on local and state agencies to hold immigrants, the reimbursement costs placed on the federal government will run to about $4,800 per year, in and of itself. That would be the cost for apprehension. For full detainment of immigrants taken into custody, the cost rises to $5,400. Those costs are a slight decrease from the over $12,000 it has been reported to cost in the past, but the figures still prove deportation to be costly.
Source: usatoday.com
