On February 18, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo directing federal immigration agents to arrest refugees, including those awaiting asylum status, who don’t have green cards. This represents a major policy shift targeting a new category of people who entered the country legally.

This will help keep Ice and Border patrol busy and is a new source of deportees for Trump. As of late 2025, more than 2.4 million asylum applications were pending in U.S. immigration courts, with over 897,000 new applications filed in 2024 alone. Wait for a hearing can be over four years in many cases.

The Trump regime has suddenly placed an indefinite hold on all U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum decisions. Effective November 28, 2025, USCIS stopped issuing final approvals or denials, though interviews continue for some, while targeting individuals from over 19 specific “high-risk” countries.

The Money Cost:

Besides the Billions being wasted by Ice and Border Patrol (+ $75 billion for ICE to be used over 4 years). There are real detriments inflicted on the US economy.

Labor Shortage Immigrants, including asylum seekers, are disproportionately of prime working age and have higher labor participation rates than U.S.-born workers, so removing them inflates labor shortages. (American Immigration Council)

Key Sectors of the Economy Estimates suggest that removing unauthorized workers could significantly reduce labor in key sectors like construction, agriculture, hospitality, manufacturing, and transportation. (Baker Institute) Without immigrant labor, sectors like agriculture (often 40%+ foreign-born workers) and construction (significant immigrant share) face challenges finding employees.

Collateral Impact Experience from prior deportation campaigns shows that for every large group of deported immigrants, tens of thousands of U.S.-born workers may also lose jobs as firms cut back due to lost productivity. The National Bureau of Economic Research finds that deportation can reduce real wages in the long run and slow economic activity as the population declines.

The Human Cost:

Besides delivering a shock to the economy and being selfishly stupid, mass deportations (with daily quotas and/or based on ethnicity) cause a lot of unnecessary pain to the people flown away and their families and friends left behind. The human cost is far-reaching, tearing the social and economic fabric of lives, families and communities, creating immense suffering, and threatening the stability of a vulnerable population.

Mass Deportation is dumb
measured in dollars or humans!