Deportation is the process of removing a noncitizen from the United States, usually to their country of origin. This can happen when a person is arrested, denied an immigration application, or is inspected by ICE. Deportation is a serious sanction that can cause financial, social, and emotional stress for the affected individual and their family. For some, it can mean the loss of jobs, the end of their educational careers, and a return to living in poverty.
Noncitizens facing deportation can receive a notice to appear in immigration court or may be taken into custody by ICE. The judge will decide whether to order their removal. The government can also file a motion to terminate the case or apply for relief from removal (also known as cancellation of removal). The judge will review the evidence and make a decision about the noncitizen’s status.
Some noncitizens might qualify for relief from removal or cancellation of removal if they have been in the U.S. for a long time or have close relatives who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants. The noncitizen must have a strong connection to the community and show that their removal would harm the community. For example, they must show that their deportation would lead to extreme hardship for a U.S. citizen spouse, parent, child, or sibling.
Other types of relief from removal are available if the noncitizen can show that it is in the public interest to keep them in the U.S. For instance, asylum is available to people who can prove that they fear persecution in their home country for reasons like race, religion, nationality, political views, or social group. Withholding of removal is a form of relief for noncitizens who can prove that their deportation would result in “irreparable harm” to the U.S.
A policy of mass deportation would require a massive expansion of immigration enforcement efforts, widespread disruptions to communities, and racial and ethnic profiling. It would also hurt the economy, leading to labor shortages and reduced economic output, and it would cost taxpayers, including U.S.-born children.
Deporting millions of unauthorized residents would split families apart and have ripple effects that could undermine communities and harm the economy. It would also cost the taxpayers in terms of lost tax revenue and the increased costs to the welfare system of a devastated labor market. And it would put a huge burden on mixed-status families, who face the risk of losing breadwinners and suffering severe financial and psychological strain from separation. Moreover, economists have shown that the economy is not a zero-sum game in which one foreign-born worker takes a job away from a U.S.-born worker, and that removing unauthorized workers would not increase unemployment rates for American citizens. In fact, a recent study found that 5.1 million U.S. citizen children live in households with undocumented parents, and that separating those families would significantly reduce their median incomes and lead to dramatic changes in family dynamics.