Ohio taxpayers each face $1,670 tab for Trump's mass deportation push
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Ohio taxpayers would pay nearly $1,700 each for President Trump's mass deportation push, per a new calculator from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Why it matters: The estimate fuels debate over whether billions of federal dollars devoted to deportations could instead fund other public priorities, such as health care or housing.
By the numbers: Instead of contributing nearly $6.9 billion, or $1,670 per taxpayer, on mass deportations, the calculator finds Ohio taxpayers could fund around 24,000 school teachers, 29,000 firefighters or 308,000 people on Medicaid.
- That money could also cover more than 3.1 million SNAP recipients or fund more than 240,000 public housing units.
How it works: EPI estimated each area's share of federal income taxes to calculate how much taxpayers in each state, county and city would contribute to deportation spending.
Context: The $268.9 billion the administration is slated to spend over the course of Trump's second term on deportations is from a combination of money from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, regular appropriations and other repurposed funds.
- The Department of Homeland Security told Axios in July that the government spends roughly $18,000 per non-voluntary deportation.
Zoom in: The Trump administration's immigration policies have thousands of Ohio's Haitian immigrants, many of whom live in Springfield, in a state of limbo.
- In June, the Supreme Court ruled the federal government can end legal protections of their temporary residency in the U.S.
- Last week, ABC News reported that hundreds of Haitian immigrants in Ohio have been fitted with ankle monitors by the DHS.
The big picture: American taxpayers would broadly pay about $2,358 each for Trump's mass deportation push, per the EPI's tool.
- Nearly 12 million could instead receive Medicaid using those funds.
What they're saying: "There are a lot of people who are struggling to not be hungry, to have affordable housing. Kids are in overcrowded classrooms. People don't have health insurance, and those are the things that matter most," EPI research associate Gordon Lafer tells Axios.
The other side: A DHS spokesperson told Axios in a statement that the Biden administration ignored the costs of illegal immigration and said the department's self-deportation program saves taxpayers roughly $13,000 per removal compared with traditional deportation.