This week, the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration and the Center for American Progress released new data on how much the dismantling of DACA would cost America, Congressional district by Congressional district. Previous reports have shown that doing away with DACA wouldn’t make any sense, as 800,000 young people would be left unable to work, employers would have to scramble to fill hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the economy would suffer a $460.3 billion drop in GDP over the next ten years.
Esther Yu Hsi Lee of Think Progress further looked at the data and pulled out how the end of DACA would hurt the hometowns of those who have been most stridently against the issue. Here’s what she found:
- Jeff Sessions’ hometown of Selma, Alabama (AL-7), would lose $21.8 million after taking away DACA from 500 current recipients and 700 DACA-eligible Dreamers. In Alabama overall, there are 4,803 current recipients and 4,000 who would have aged into the program, and the state will lose $188 million in GDP annually.
- Congressman Steve King’s district (IA-4), will lose $53.8 million after taking away DACA from 800 Dreamers.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who helped spearhead the end of DACA, lives in McKinney, Texas (TX-3), which would lose $84.1 million without the full contributions of its 1,600 DACA recipients and 3,800 DACA-eligible Dreamers. Texas overall would lose $6.7 billion annually.
- Donald Trump’s New York City home is in NY-12, which would lose $71 million annually without its 1,100 DACA recipients and 2,600 DACA-eligible Dreamers.
