The Pentagon was publicly dismissive of Trump’s pledge to employ the military to conduct mass deportations. “The Department does not comment on hypotheticals or speculate on what may occur,” a Defense Department spokesperson told The Intercept.
There are an estimated 13 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. A onetime mass deportation operation would cost at least $315 billion, according to a recent analysis from the American Immigration Council. A longer-term project involving arrests, processing, and deportations would cost around $968 billion over more than 10 years. The report emphasizes that this is a “highly conservative” estimate. It does not take into account the likelihood that this deportation operation of 13 million people would require the construction and staffing of detention facilities on a scale that dwarfs the current U.S. prison system, which held 1.9 million people all told in 2022 — let alone the effect of removing an estimated 5 percent of the American workforce from the country, who collectively pay over $105 billion in taxes each year.
In 2023, Trump’s top immigration policy adviser, Stephen Miller, indicated that military funding would be used to build “vast holding facilities that would function as staging centers” for immigrants awaiting deportations. Throughout the presidential race, Trump also vowed to mobilize the National Guard to assist with his planned expulsions. Experts say that military involvement in any deportation plan would mark a fundamental shift for the armed forces, which do not normally conduct domestic law enforcement operations.
Trump has also said he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, to expel suspected members of drug cartels without due process. That archaic law allows for summary deportation of people from countries with which the U.S. is at war, that have invaded the United States, or have committed “predatory incursions.”
A trillion dollars.
Is a 'highly conservative estimate.'
...
From the people who notoriously underestimate costs and failed every audit in my lifetime.
Faaaantastic.
Keep in mind that it also costs another trillion in lost taxes over 10 years. But the underbrained white male magaheads will be happy to shoulder that cost. It's for the country, guys!
I read your comment and fell asleep, so here's my add on to that:
If Trump does a 20% across the board import tariff, and deports 10 million people, most of whom work...
The economy, the GDP contracts by 8.9%, or about 2.5 trillion dollars in year one.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-economic-depression-msnbc/
It also starts a massive trade war.
This basically causes Great Depression 2.0.
It truly is the 1930s again.
Sounds about right. But given that my post was only two lines, you sure are a fast sleeper...
I could have phrased that better. Your comment did not knock me out cold lol, you posted it around midnight (or later...??) my time, and I remembered 'I need to reply to this' when I woke up, apparently having passed out browsing lemmy, lol.
I guess they'll be cool with all the economic fallout and will properly ascribe blame for who is actually responsible, too, just like they properly ascribed groceries costing a quadrillion times more on corporate price gouging and not "Bidenflation"....oh wait.