Mass deportations will help Wisconsin’s economy

OPINION:

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers recently vowed to “do whatever we can to avoid mass deportations in Wisconsin” because he was concerned about how they would affect the dairy and agriculture sectors.

Beginning in January, the incoming Trump administration has pledged to conduct the largest mass deportation operation in American history. Under the Biden-Harris administration, approximately 11 million aliens have entered the country illegally, with some estimates going as high as 20 million.

To put this in perspective, these figures exceed the population of Wisconsin and are larger than any city in the state.

As someone who attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and got a real feel for the state over several years, I can tell you Mr. Evers is oblivious to what’s happening in Wisconsin.

The reality is illegal immigration is taking a toll on state taxpayers and job-seekers. Mass deportations will help Wisconsin’s economy.

The cost of illegal immigration on Wisconsin taxpayers is hundreds of millions of dollars each year and outweighs any benefit they provide to the state’s economy.

One 2023 study finds that at least 115,000 illegal aliens live in Wisconsin, costing taxpayers nearly $515 million annually, or about $4,633 per resident. The study accounts for social and public services illegal aliens typically require — including emergency care, education, incarceration, welfare and other services at the local, state and federal levels.

These services are often provided to illegal aliens at no cost to them, while Wisconsin taxpayers are on the hook for all of them.

The problem has become so alarming, another study presented this year to the House Judiciary Committee said that “illegal immigrants are a significant net fiscal drain — paying less in taxes than they use in public services.”

Illegal aliens working in the state also worsen job opportunities for American workers.

Illegal workers often accept lower pay, fewer benefits and longer hours, displacing Americans from jobs and contributing to stagnant or declining wage growth over the past 50 years.

George Borjas, Harvard professor of economics and social policy, acknowledged: “When the supply of workers goes up, the price that firms have to pay to hire workers goes down. Wage trends over the past half-century suggest that a 10 percent increase in the number of workers with a particular set of skills probably lowers the wage of that group by at least 3 percent” and “hurts American workers.”

The open borders lobby also blurs the line between illegal and legal immigrants when talking about the effects of mass deportations.

President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal targets removable aliens, not those who lawfully received an immigration benefit for which they are eligible. Legal immigrants in Wisconsin’s agriculture sector, for example — including temporary workers under programs such as the H-2A visa — are not subject to deportation efforts. According to the latest available data, there were 2,614 workers on the H-2A visa program in Wisconsin in 2022.

Since the H-2A visa program has no cap, there is no legitimate reason for any alien to work unlawfully in agriculture in the state.

Mr. Evers and mass deportation opponents also don’t acknowledge that there are alternatives to hiring illegal aliens at low wages to keep the economy going.

American workers need opportunities to apply for any job in the state, especially after the Biden-Harris administration’s economic failures. More than 140,000 jobs remain open in Wisconsin.

In addition, automation has been delayed because of the practice of hiring cheaper foreign labor. Using artificial intelligence and automation would create new American jobs and improve overall efficiency in the agricultural industry.

The last option, and only in select cases, would be to utilize temporary legal work programs to fit industry needs. This doesn’t mean exploiting the program to employ illegal aliens for cheap wages over Americans. It does mean creating more opportunities to legally hire individuals where there are genuine U.S. worker shortages.

Liberals’ old claims that mass deportation will damage the economy simply don’t add up, given the millions who entered over just four years and the taxpayer costs that multiply each year they remain in the country. It’s no wonder why half of Americans — including 42% of Democrats — say they’d support mass deportations of illegal aliens, according to a poll conducted this past April.

Mass deportations will not cause the economic sky to fall. They’re a necessary step toward restoring the rule of law and fairness to the labor market, and ensuring taxpayers aren’t left subsidizing the costs of illegal immigration.

• Matthew Tragesser works at The Heritage Foundation in Washington and previously served as communications director for Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Republican.