How Trump's deportation threats impact D.C.-area undocumented immigrants
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Pro-DACA protest on Capitol Hill in 2022. Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
There are an estimated 600,000 undocumented immigrants in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia whose futures are now more uncertain with President-elect Trump's promises for mass deportations.
Why it matters: Trump has said he wants to quickly remove all 11 million undocumented immigrants from the U.S., and he'll use the military to do it.
By the numbers: Pew Research in July found that D.C. has 25,000 undocumented immigrants, as of most recently available data from 2022.
- Maryland is home to 300,000. The state had the sixth largest jump in its unauthorized immigrant population, Pew said, increasing by 40,000 people from 2019 to 2022.
- Virginia has 275,000. Pew used augmented U.S. Census Bureau data for the estimates.
Reality check: Trump's plans will likely run into several procedural roadblocks.
High-profile raids will likely capture some number of undocumented workers and could have a chilling effect that prompts others not to show up at their jobs.
- But turf wars, local resistance and logical staffing realities would make it impossible to round up 11 million people, experts said.
- The administration will also need to build new temporary detention centers to hold people who are being deported.
- Detainees will have a right to due process before removal, and there's already a backlog of 3.7 million people waiting for hearings right now.
All told, the mass deportations Trump has described could cost $150 billion to $350 billion, immigration experts said.
Between the lines: While undocumented laborers make up a relatively small percentage of the total U.S. workforce, they have outsized roles in fields like construction, agriculture and hospitality.
- Among the undocumented workforce: 39% of plasterers and stucco masons; 36% of drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, and tapers; 36% of roofers; and 31% of painters and paperhangers.
Go deeper: The industries that could be hardest hit by Trump's immigration crackdown