The American Action Forum recently released research examining DACA recipients’ contributions to the U.S. economy. The research finds that each DACA recipient in the United States contributes an average of $109,000 per year to the GDP. Furthermore, it finds that if all employed DACA recipients were removed, U.S. GDP would shrink by $42 billion. Please see excerpt below.

“President Trump’s decision to end DACA directly impacts 690,000 undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. These individuals have spent years living and studying in the United States, and granting them the right to work has resulted in sizeable economic benefits. We estimate that over 380,000 employed DACA recipients each contribute an average of $109,000 to GDP per year. Thousands of DACA recipients have already lost their legal status and, beginning next March, almost 1,000 will lose protections each day. Without a legislative solution to extend a lawful framework for these workers, and assuming that they return to their birth countries as a result, AAF projects that annual GDP would shrink by nearly $42 billion.”

Click here to read the full research here.

Additionally, previous AAF analysis found that ending DACA would impose great cost burdens on the American taxpayer.

“The federal government would have to spend $7 billion to $21 billion to remove the 790,000 undocumented immigrants currently enrolled in DACA. In order to remove these immigrants, each would have to be apprehended, detained, legally processed, and transported to his or her country of origin. In turn, this would shrink the labor force by 740,000 workers and reduce real GDP by $72 billion.”

Click here to read the full cost analysis.