It's no surprise that liberal Democrat mayors and governors are attacking President-elect Donald Trump's plans for mass deportations, vowing not to cooperate with the administration. Now, even liberal economists are pouring cold water on Trump's plan. The president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve recently told CBS' Face the Nation that mass deportations of illegal aliens would likely disrupt the labor supply for some businesses. At the same time, a liberal immigration group called the American Immigration Council claims Trump's plan will cost $88 billion a year.
For his part, Trump has maintained that there is no price tag that will stop the plan, noting that the costs of mass illegal immigration are far worse than the cost of solving the problem and saving lives. In a recent Fox Business interview, incoming Border Czar Tom Homan and Trump economic policy adviser Scott Bessent defended the deportation plan against economic attacks. "We are entering a golden age for the economy in the next four years," said Bessent. "We have a growth agenda, we will deregulate, get energy prices down and get interest rates down...and that will drive growth like we have not seen for years, and the cost of this deportation will be a rounding error."
As for concerns about disrupting the labor supply, Homan notes that Trump's plan will focus on removing criminals and terrorists. So unless businesses are employing or hiring those people, they should have nothing to worry about. "We know a record number of people on the terror watch list have crossed this border, a record number of terrorists have been released in this country, and we've already arrested some who are planning attacks," said Homan. "So look, (President Trump) is dead on when he says criminal threats and national security threats are going to be prioritized."