Study: Trump deportation plan would cost economy hundreds of billions

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s deportation plan would cost the economy up to $600 billion, according to a new study by the American Action Forum, a conservative think tank.

The study also found the plans would lower the real gross domestic product by more than $1 trillion. Trump has proposed to deport all undocumented immigrants in the United States and prevent anyone from coming in illegally in the future.

{mosads}According to the study, about 6.8 million undocumented immigrants were employed in the private sector in 2012 — making up 5.6 percent of employed people in the private sector.

If all of these people were removed from the country, there would not be enough unemployed workers left to fill all of those spots.

As a result, private sector employment would drop by between 4 and 6.8 million workers. Because of a lack of workers, output would fall by between $381.5 billion and $623.2 billion, which is between 2.9 and 4.7 percent of the national total.

The study found the industries that would be most affected by removing all undocumented immigrants include agriculture, construction, and leisure and hospitality.

To fully enforce the plan would take at least 20 years, according to the study.

“Removing all undocumented immigrants in just two years, as Donald Trump has proposed, would require monumental expansions in U.S. immigration enforcement operations,” the study said.

“Most importantly, under both the 20-year and 2-year time frames, the U.S. economy would shrink by over $1 trillion.”