The Cost of Trump s Deportation Budget to the Garden State August 2017 By Make the Road New Jersey
1 I. INTRODUCTION : As part of its continued assault on immigrant communities, the Trump Administration is trying to reallocate billions of dollars to increasing immigration enforcement and building a border wall. These budget priorities are a reflection of the same anti immigrant rhetoric and platform that Trump launched on the first day of his campaign, and on which he has continued to double down as President. Since taking office, Trump has sought to create mass deportation in this country to tear apart millions of immigrant families. The budget is a critical piece of this effort: to stalk immigrant mothers, fathers, workers, and children in their homes, at their workplaces, and in the streets, he believes that enforcement agencies need thousands more officers. In short, he needs a deportation budget to achieve his ends. As Trump remains fixated on his anti immigrant crusade, he has proposed a budget that would make massive cuts to public goods such as healthcare, education, transportation, housing, and environmental protection. Trump s budget proposal would dramatically cut the federal agencies responsible for providing these vital services, putting millions of Americans at risk and undermining their access to opportunity. Here in New Jersey, where infrastructure is crumbling, Trump s budget would put our ability to re build the state s roads, bridges, and tunnels in grave jeopardy. This report evaluates Trump s deportation budget including both the proposed increases to immigration enforcement and the proposed cuts to other federal agencies and asks, what is the cost of Trump s deportation budget to New Jersey? In particular, the report examines how much of New Jersey s taxpayer money would go to Trump s mass deportation agenda. It concludes by comparing that amount to the proposed cuts in other agencies, and contrasting those proposals with other, more effective ways to use New Jersey tax dollars to increase opportunity for all. Analysis of Trump s deportation budget proposals, applying New Jersey s share of federal tax revenue contributions, reveals that New Jersey taxpayers are being asked to pay $275 million for Trump s anti immigrant crusade, at the same time that they would experience enormous cuts in education, transit, and environmental protection funding. These $275 million are in addition to the billions of dollars in lost tax revenue and economic activity should Trump be permitted to enact his mass deportation agenda. This report concludes with recommendations that all members of New Jersey s Congressional delegation should heed. In particular, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, should pay careful attention to the following:
2 Not one dollar of New Jersey taxpayers funds should go into supporting Trump s anti immigration budget proposals. This includes the following proposed allocations, which must be rejected: $4.4 billion for 44,000 detention beds, an increase in 4,676 beds over fiscal year 2017, and 129 Fugitive Operations teams; $1.6 billion for construction of President Trump s border wall; $185.6 million to hire 1,000 additional ICE officers and 606 support staff; $100 million to hire 500 new Border Patrol agents; and $131 million for E Verify. Instead of misusing additional federal funds on Trump s deportation budget, Congress should resist all proposed cuts to the Department of Education ($9.2 billion), Department of Transportation ($2.4 billion), and the Environmental Protection Agency ($2.4 billion). In addition, social safety net programs like food stamps and Medicaid must be maintained at their current levels. New Jersey s Congressional delegation should ensure that the federal budget invests in healthy, thriving communities throughout New Jersey by fully funding education and healthcare, jobs and infrastructure, affordable housing and environmental protections. Examples of better funding priorities for $275 million amount include resources to significantly expand pre kindergarten for children and families across the state; restore once strong support of public higher education; and provide stable funding for New Jersey Transit s operating costs.
3 II. How Trump Wants to Use New Jersey Taxpayer s Money to Fund Mass Deportation Since his inauguration on January 20, 2017, President Trump has made a point to radically expand immigration enforcement. While the linchpin of his political campaign was the promise to build a massive wall on the United States Mexico border to deter immigrants from crossing into the States, he has already launched a mass deportation force to tear apart millions of immigrant families. Since taking office, he has signaled his ongoing commitment to this anti immigrant agenda, continuing to pledge to build the wall and dramatically increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border 1 Protection (CBP) officers. He has also sought to attack sanctuary cities and rescinded policies of the Obama administration to use discretion in enforcement. In the meantime, ICE arrests have increased by 40 percent, with the largest increase coming among immigrants with no prior 2 interactions with the criminal justice system. During the first half of 2017, more and more immigrants have been taken from their loved ones and locked up in immigrant detention centers, often in substandard conditions. Since last 3 October, ten people have died in ICE custody due to systematic neglect. In New Jersey alone, there are three principal detention facilities Essex County Correctional Facility, Hudson County Correctional Facility, and Elizabeth Detention Center which have spaces to incarcerate more than 1,700 immigrants combined. Many detainees in these facilities 4 must pay excessive bond amounts to secure their release. Furthermore, immigrants are detained in abysmal conditions, where they are forced to wear prison uniforms, denied recreational 5 activities, and often strip searched. Dehumanization abounds in these facilities. Trump s proposed budget for 2018 looks to add $6.4 billion to fund immigration enforcement programs. Here is a breakdown of how some of these funds would be used: $4.4 billion for 44,000 detention beds, an increase in 4,676 beds over fiscal year 2017, 6 and 129 Fugitive Operations teams; 7 $1.6 billion for construction of President Trump s border wall; 8 $185.6 million to hire 1,000 additional ICE officers and 606 support staff; 9 $100 million to hire 500 new Border Patrol agents ; and 1 http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/24/investing/private prison stocks soar trump/ 2 http://www.reuters.com/article/us usa trump immigration iduskcn18d2ca 3 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ice detention deaths_us_59403e6de4b09ad4fbe3b96f 4 http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/hrf detention asylum seekers nj nov2016.pdf 5 Ibid. 6 https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23916.pdf (Page 30) 7 https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23916.pdf (Page 25) 8 https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23916.pdf (Page 26 27) 9 https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23916.pdf (Page 15)
4 10 $131 million for E Verify. Below, we calculate the cost of this proposed budget to New Jersey taxpayers. We do so by calculating the percentage of US tax revenue paid by New Jersey taxpayers, and then applying that to the cost of Trump s deportation budget. In total, we find that New Jersey taxpayers provide 4.3% of federal tax revenue. When we apply this percentage to the $6.4 billion price tag of Trump s deportation budget, we find that the direct cost of this anti immigrant effort to New Jersey taxpayers would be $275 million. Total internal revenue collection for the state of New Jersey in Fiscal Year 2016: $143,011,905. Total internal revenue collection for the United States in 2016: $3,333,449,083. 11 Percentage of US tax revenue provided by New Jersey taxpayers: 4.3%. Cost to New Jersey taxpayers of Trump s Deportation Budget: $275 million What s more, this would only the initial cost to New Jersey taxpayers. Should President Trump's budget be approved by Congress and the administration s federal immigrant enforcement plan put into effect, New Jersey stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from immigrants in New Jersey. According to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, New Jersey s undocumented immigrants pay $587 million annually in taxes, which would be in jeopardy. And, according to New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), the state s economy would lose 4.9% of its Gross Domestic Product without the undocumented immigrant population the 12 largest such loss in the 50 states. 10 https://appropriations.house.gov/uploadedfiles/23916.pdf (Page 68) 11 http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/irs collections state and type 1998 2016 12 https://www.njpp.org/blog/what would a state without immigrants look like hint not pretty
5 III. Trump s Proposed Cuts to Other Critical Agencies At the same time that Trump continues his anti immigrant crusade through the budget, he is also proposing dramatic cuts to other vital federal agencies that provide public goods like education, clean air, and public transportation. Data on these massive proposed cuts are below. The impact on New Jersey communities would be profound. With less money for our state s public schools, our children would suffer. With cuts to our transportation infrastructure, much needed repairs and upgrades would be delayed, and economic productivity would decline. With fewer resources for environmental protection, our health would be in jeopardy. 13 Department of Education 2017 Budget Proposed 2018 Budget Cut % Budget Decrease $68.2 Billion $59 Billion $9.2 Billion 13.5% 14 Department of Transportation 2017 Budget Proposed 2018 Budget Cut % Budget Decrease $18.6 Billion $16.2 Billion $2.4 Billion 12.7% 15 Environmental Protection Agency 2017 Budget Proposed 2018 Budget Cut % Budget Decrease $8.1 Billion $5.7 billion $2.4 Billion 31% The consequences for New Jersey residents of these cuts would be dire. Hundreds of millions of dollars for vital programs for youth, working people, and families would be cut in this budget. And the social safety net would be utterly eviscerated, with NJPP estimating an expected gap of 16 $300 million for food stamps in the state. The $7.4 billion cut to the Department of Housing and Urban Development would significantly increase homelessness and hardship across New 13 www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/22/529534031/president trumps budget proposal calls for deep cuts to education 14 http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/334807 transportation department faces cuts under trump budge t 15 https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump epa budget cuts.html 16 https://www.njpp.org/budget/trump budget would shift billions in food assistance costs to new jersey
6 17 Jersey. And the Urban Institute concluded that Trump s proposed cuts to Medicaid would hit 18 New Jersey harder than any other state in the country. Meanwhile, New Jerseyans face critical needs that are not being met and that the budget could help address. For the same $275 million amount that Trump would take from the state s taxpayers, New Jersey could significantly expand pre kindergarten for children and families across the state; restore once strong support of public higher education; and provide stable funding for New Jersey Transit s operating costs. These are budget priorities that would make sense for New Jerseyans. In short, at the same time that Trump proposes spending billions of dollars to erect a senseless border wall and dramatically expand an immigration enforcement force to separate immigrant families, he is proposing extreme cuts to government agencies and programs on which New Jersey residents rely and from which our state needs more investment, not less. 17 https://www.cbpp.org/blog/trump budget would increase homelessness and hardship in every state end federal rol e in 18 http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/05/trumps_budget_slams_nj_on_medicaid.html
7 IV. Conclusion and Recommendations There is surely a better way. Instead of spending billions on his anti immigrant enforcement and border boondoggle, the Trump administration should invest in New Jersey communities. Trump is asking New Jersey taxpayers to spend $275 million on his deportation agenda, in addition to the billions of dollars in lost of tax revenue and economic contributions of immigrants should he be able to proceed with mass deportation. His agenda includes vicious attempts to separate immigrant families spending billions of federal budget to arrest, detain, and deport more immigrant mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters, and build a border wall. At the same time, he has proposed cuts for public good infrastructures, such as education, transportation, housing and development, and environmental protection. This runs contrary to the values and priorities of New Jersey residents. This report concludes with recommendations that all members of New Jersey s Congressional delegation should heed. In particular, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, should pay careful attention to the following: Not one dollar of New Jersey taxpayers funds should go into supporting Trump s anti immigration budget proposals. This includes the following proposed allocations, which must be rejected: $4.4 billion for 44,000 detention beds, an increase in 4,676 beds over fiscal year 2017, and 129 Fugitive Operations teams; $1.6 billion for construction of President Trump s border wall; $185.6 million to hire 1,000 additional ICE officers and 606 support staff; $100 million to hire 500 new Border Patrol agents; and $131 million for E Verify. Instead of misusing additional federal funds on Trump s deportation budget, Congress should resist all proposed cuts to the Department of Education ($9.2 billion), Department of Transportation ($2.4 billion), and the Environmental Protection Agency ($2.4 billion). In addition, social safety net programs like food stamps and Medicaid must be maintained at their current levels. New Jersey s Congressional delegation should ensure that the federal budget invests in healthy, thriving communities throughout New Jersey by fully funding education and healthcare, jobs and infrastructure, affordable housing and environmental protection. Examples of better funding priorities for $275 million amount include resources to significantly expand pre kindergarten for children and families across the state; restore once strong support of public higher education; and provide stable funding for New Jersey Transit s operating costs.
8 New Jersey residents do not want their tax dollars wasted on Trump s hateful crusade. Instead, it s time that the Trump administration with the strong encouragement of New Jersey s Congressional delegation stop its attacks on vital government services and invest in the future of all New Jerseyans.