The cost of mass deportation, measured in Donald Trumps

On Thursday, Donald Trump declared that if he were elected president, he'd deport all 11 million unauthorized immigrants currently in the US — and let the "really good" ones back in.

Trump doesn't appear to have a plan for how this would work. But other people have tried to sketch out what mass deportation would look like. And it would cost a lot of money.

You can think about the cost of mass deportation as $400 billion to $600 billion. Or you can think of it as more than 100 Donald Trumps:

(Javier Zarracina/Vox)

A quick note on the different estimates here. Trump himself claimed, when he filed financial disclosures with the Federal Election Commission, that his net worth was (and we quote) "TEN BILLION DOLLARS." The financial journalists over at Forbes, who have been tracking Trump's businesses for decades, think that's a load of hooey. They estimate his net worth to be about $4 billion.

So if you go by the more reliable, less Trumpian analysis of Trump's worth, it would cost more than 100 Donald Trumps to put Donald Trump's immigration plan into practice.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via