Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

FWD.us and Donald Trump Videos Depict Opposing Views of Immigration Debate

FWD.us cites a study that tallies the cost of mass deportation at $600 billion.

Fwd.us

Within days of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump releasing his first television campaign ad, full of anti-immigrant rhetoric, the political organization FWD.us released its own video, exploring the costs of mass deportation.

Trump doubles down on his familiar if provocative calls to temporarily stop Muslims from entering the country in the wake of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, and to build a wall along the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration (even through the TV commercial features images of people streaming over the border in Morocco, not the U.S.)

FWD.us offers a different take on immigration, reacting to Trump’s calls for a deportation force to remove more than 11 million people living in the U.S. without documentation. It’s the latest installment in a six-part series, this one told from the perspective of a fictional businessman named “Joe” who describes an immigration raid on one of his favorite restaurants.

How much would such an effort cost? As much as $600 billion in new government spending over the next 20 years, according to estimates from the conservative American Action Forum, which took into account the costs to apprehend, detain, legally process and transport these immigrants. If immigration reform passed, on the other hand, the country would increase economic growth by 4.8 percent and lower the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion.

“At a 30,000 foot level, what we are trying to get people to focus on [is] the astronomical cost of what’s being proposed with this mass deportation,” Fwd.us President Todd Schulte said in an interview. “How would you go about rounding up and deporting 11.5 million people? What would go into that?”

Here’s the video:

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Politics
OpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agendaOpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda
Politics

The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There’s just one small problem.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.
Future Perfect

Protecting astronauts in space — and maybe even Mars — will help transform health on Earth.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
The importance of space toilets, explainedThe importance of space toilets, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

Houston, we have a plumbing problem.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram
Technology
What happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputerWhat happened when they installed ChatGPT on a nuclear supercomputer
Technology

How they’re using AI at the lab that created the atom bomb.

By Joshua Keating
Future Perfect
Humanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious missionHumanity’s return to the moon is a deeply religious mission
Future Perfect

Space barons like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk don’t seem religious. But their quest to colonize outer space is.

By Sigal Samuel