How much Trump's deportation push could cost Texas taxpayers
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Texas could pay an estimated $23 billion toward President Trump's mass deportation push — about $2,500 per taxpayer — according to a calculator from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Why it matters: The estimate fuels debate over whether billions of federal dollars devoted to deportations should instead fund other public priorities, such as health care or housing.
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 $269 billion the administration is slated to spend on deportations over the course of Trump's second term comes 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: Bexar County taxpayers would contribute $1.13 billion, or about $1,786 per taxpayer, according to the calculator.
- That amount could instead fund about 4,615 teachers or 4,653 firefighters locally, the calculator shows.
Zoom out: American taxpayers would broadly pay about $2,358 each for Trump's mass deportation push, per EPI's tool.
The other side: A DHS spokesperson told Axios 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.