FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 13, 2016
Contact: Kemi Bello, kbello@ilrc.org, (415) 321-8568
New Report Examines Economic Losses Resulting from President-elect Trump’s Threat to End DACA
Report Finds Ending DACA Would Cost the Economy Billions in Tax and Turnover Costs
WASHINGTON, DC – Following President-elect Donald Trump’s comments that he would end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the Immigrant Legal Resource Center released Money on the Table – The Economic Cost of Ending DACA, a report estimating the far-ranging economic costs of ending the immensely successful DACA policy.
Among the report’s findings:
- Ending DACA could cause far-reaching unemployment, leading to the immediate job loss of 645,145 DACA recipients currently employed by businesses in the United States;
- Ending DACA could reduce Social Security and Medicare tax contributions by DACA employees and employers by $24.6 billion over a decade, weakening the Social Security and Medicare trust funds; and
- Ending DACA could cause business and employers to incur unnecessary turnover costs of $3.4 billion.
ILRC’s report employed recent data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, state-of-the-art economic models from the Center from American Progress, a comprehensive survey of over 1,000 DACA recipients, and tax law to estimate the loss of jobs and tax revenue if the DACA program were ended. The report builds upon recent estimates by the Center for American Progress, which measure the loss to GDP of ending DACA at $433.4 billion over a decade.
“By ending DACA, the President-elect would be undermining the nation’s promise to our retirees through the Social Security and Medicare trust funds and creating completely avoidable costs for employers. Ending DACA would mean leaving billions of dollars of revenue on the table, a misguided fiscal policy that would threaten the health of the American economy,” stated Jose Magaña-Salgado, Managing Policy Attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and author of the report.
Read the full report here: https://www.ilrc.org/report-daca-economic-cost
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About the Immigrant Legal Resource Center
The Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) is a national nonprofit that works with immigrants, community organizations, legal professionals, law enforcement, and policy makers to build a democratic society that values diversity and the rights of all people. Through community education programs, legal training & technical assistance, and policy development & advocacy, the ILRC’s mission is to protect and defend the fundamental rights of immigrant families and communities. www.ilrc.org