Richmond, Virginia – As the Trump regime quietly ramps up its policy of mass deportation to its highest levels so far, the fiscal impact on Virginia families already struggling to make ends meet is becoming more clear. New tools from the Economic Policy Institute indicate that Virginia taxpayers will pay about $7.4 billion to support Trump’s mass deportation agenda, about $2,400 per individual taxpayer. The figure is part of a $268.9 billion national deportation spending total over the course of Trump’s second term, funded through Trump’s omnibus budget reconciliation bill, regular appropriations, and other repurposed federal funds. Virginia has consistently ranked among the top states nationwide for deportation orders in recent years, meaning that if mass deportation continues at its current rate, that cost will continue to grow.

“Virginia taxpayers are being asked to bankroll a multibillion-dollar deportation machine while our economy takes the hit and our own neighbors get ripped out of our communities,” said Judy Selzer, Executive Director at Progress Virginia. “This is a moral and a humanitarian crisis, but it’s also a fiscal one. The costs will only grow as long as the federal government continues its policy of mass deportation. Every dollar diverted toward this agenda is a dollar we’re not investing in teachers, firefighters, health care and the services our communities depend on. Our elected officials in Richmond can’t dismiss this as a federal problem when the consequences are landing on families, workers and communities across Virginia. As lawmakers head into the 2027 session, we call on them to confornt h the real costs of this agenda, use every tool they have to protect working families, and stop making Virginia taxpayers subsidize federal cruelty.”

Background (from analysis by The Commonwealth Institute):

• Undocumented Virginians alone paid nearly $690 million in state and local taxes in 2022
• Because of Virginia’s upside-down tax code, undocumented immigrants contributed a proportionately larger share of their income to state and local taxes compared to the wealthiest 1% of households.
• If just 10% of Virginia’s undocumented population were deported, the Commonwealth would lose $69 million a year in state and local tax revenue.
• A realistic pathway to legal status, by contrast, would increase Virginia’s state and local tax revenue by $167 million.