The True Cost of Trump’s Deportation Agenda

As the country’s political landscape shifts with President Donald Trump returning for his second term, one issue remains central in political discourse — immigration.

Returning to my internship in Chicago Public Schools after winter break, my inbox was flooded with emails preparing CPS faculty, staff and families for Trump’s return to office.

These emails specifically pertained to Trump’s mass deportation plan, which he promised to enact on his first day in office. Mass deportations are projected to start in Chicago shortly after Trump’s inauguration, The Associated Press reported. However, deportation plans in Chicago are currently being reconsidered after preliminary details were leaked in recent news.

The Laken Riley Act targets undocumented individuals with criminal records, but his rhetoric suggests larger segments of the immigrant population could be subject to deportation. Homan stated the administration wants undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. to fear arrest and “self-deport,” according to The Washington Post.

As a sanctuary school system, CPS is committed to protecting the rights of students and their families regardless of their race, sex, sexual identity, religion or immigration status, according to CPS emails sent to staff. In general, the sanctuary school movement includes schools, school districts and higher education institutions that believe in protecting the constitutional right to an education and protecting vulnerable student populations.

In practice, this means CPS faculty and staff don’t ask about or record a student’s immigration status. Absent a court order, CPS won’t disclose student immigration statuses to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Protection doesn’t stop at privacy — CPS buildings serve as physical sanctuaries. ICE officers can’t enter CPS grounds without providing administration with identification and a criminal warrant signed by a federal judge.

These restrictions uphold the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which ruled children can’t be denied public education because of immigration status.

These protections, coupled with its status as a sanctuary school system, make CPS one of the safest places for undocumented children — but they don’t ease students’ anxiety and distress over Trump’s second term.

Each week, my supervisor and I see more students enter our office, eyes full of tears over the looming danger of deportation. We inform them of CPS’s legal protections while swallowing our own anxiety.

Despite CPS’s sanctuary status, Trump’s mass deportation plan — which is no longer hypothetical — will target undocumented families, including those within our school system. The fact CPS preemptively sent guidance on how to respond to ICE highlights the increasing urgency of this threat.

On his first day back in office, Trump already signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship — which is already being challenged on constitutional grounds — and shut down asylum and refugee admissions into the country.

Just like CPS is committed to protecting the rights of undocumented individuals, Chicago’s city council recently upheld its status as a sanctuary city by blocking the Chicago Police Department from participating in federal immigration enforcement. 

However, Trump just signed an executive order permitting ICE officers to arrest migrants at areas previously deemed “sensitive” — such as schools and churches — according to The Associated Press. It’s unclear at this time how that impacts protocols in sanctuary cities like Chicago and sanctuary school systems like CPS.

Currently, 1.7 million immigrants reside in Chicago, which is 18% of the city’s total population. Roughly 828,000 undocumented individuals are at risk of deportation, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. Diverse neighborhoods — like Rogers Park — will likely experience more ICE action than other parts of the city.

Trump aims to get rid of due process hearings and utilize federal agents, local police officers and National Guard soldiers to “carry out sweeping raids,” according to The New York Times. With Trump’s plan, the dignity of each undocumented individual won’t be respected.

Mass deportations will create human rights violations. The right to seek refuge in another country is not a modern legal phenomenon — it’s a human right dating back to ancient philosophy.

In Plato’s “Crito,” Socrates argues an individual has the right to leave their homeland if the laws are unjust or if they are discontent, providing a moral framework to leave one’s country. Moreover, the right to seek refuge is codified in international law through the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Articles 13 and 14.

Article 13 states an individual has the right to “freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state” and the right “to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.” Similarly, Article 14 declares an individual has the right “to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.”

Furthermore, as a capitalist society, the U.S. values the promotion of economic prosperity and innovation, which both documented and undocumented immigrants contribute to.

In 2022, undocumented individuals paid $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes, with $59.4 billion paid as federal taxes and $37.3 billion going to state and local governments, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

In a per-person breakdown, each undocumented individual paid roughly $8,889, providing public services an additional $8.9 billion in tax revenue. Undocumented individuals contributed $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes, $6.4 billion towards Medicare and $1.8 billion for unemployment insurance.

Mass deportations would drastically decrease tax revenue and diminish U.S. gross domestic product by 4.2% up to 6.8%, according to the American Immigration Council — which is a direct contrast to Trump’s claims immigrants drain U.S. resources.

Deporting millions of individuals who significantly contribute to the economy is counterproductive to the capitalist ethos and ignores individuals as critical members in the larger economy. 

Foreign-born individuals made up 18.6% of the civilian labor force in 2023, up 0.5% from 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Around 8.3 million undocumented immigrants work in the U.S. economy, which equates to 5.2% of the workforce, according to the Center for Migration Studies of New York’s estimates. Roughly 1.5 million work in construction roles, 1 million work in restaurants, 320,000 work in agriculture and 200,000 work in food processing and manufacturing.

Mass deportations would cause huge labor shocks across these key industries. If the construction industry lost 1.5 million undocumented workers, it would slow to a halt, driving up costs for businesses and consumers. Similarly, a hit to the agricultural industry would lead to food shortages and unaffordable price increases.

As industries suffer due to Trump’s mass deportation plan, huge numbers of U.S. citizens will lose their jobs as well. 

The plan is therefore not only morally abhorrent but also an act of economic self-sabotage, which is ironic for a president who brags of his business acumen. 

But apparently the disregard of humanity, drastic economic hit and destruction of business infrastructure are all what will “Make America Great Again.”