March 13, 2017. FPI’s David Dyssegaard Kallick was quoted in an article, featured in the Manhattan Times, discussing the tax and economic contributions of undocumented immigrants and the effects a mass deportation program could possibly have in New York State.
David Dyssegaard Kallick, Director of the Institute’s Immigration Research Initiative, said that tax revenue would increase by another $247 million a year if those people were able to work legally.
The report also predicted that a policy of mass deportation would cause a huge disruption in the state’s economy. Kallick said he believes that if the undocumented immigrants currently in New York were removed, the total loss would be much more than billions of dollars in tax revenue and economic output.
As an example, he pointed to the decline in tourism that already has begun as some foreign travelers avoid visiting the United States. While the Trump administration has indicated it may back off from its extreme stance on immigration enforcement, Kallick noted that the threat of deportation still hangs over the heads of an estimated 817,000 people in New York.
“That’s more than the entire population of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers combined,” he said. “It would be an enormous undertaking and it would be, I think, hugely disruptive and really kind of horrifying.”
Here is the link to the Manhattan Times.