The Economics
An honest fiscal case
Each removal is expensive. Each integrated worker pays taxes. Supervision is not free, and this page does not pretend it is.
What a removal actually costs
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ICE average cost per removal, FY2016 (all stages) | $10,854 | ICE via CNN Money[28] |
| DHS average cost to arrest, detain and remove (2025) | $17,121 | DHS[4] |
| Penn Wharton average cost per deportee at mass scale (2024 dollars) | $70,236 | PWBM[9] |
| Center for American Progress estimate (2015) | $10,070 | CAP[29] |
| Adult detention bed per day, FY2023 | $187.48 | ICE FY2025 CJ[3] |
| ISAP IV supervision per participant per day, FY2023 | $4.11 | ICE FY2025 CJ[3] |
The FY2016 figure reflects a case mix dominated by people apprehended at or near the border, who are cheaper to process than interior arrests.[28] [30] The defensible statement: a removal has cost at least $10,000–$17,000 per person at recent operating scale, and credible estimates for a mass program run several times higher.
What an integrated taxpayer contributes
CBO projected the 2021–2026 immigration surge would reduce federal deficits by about $0.9 trillion over 2024–2034, mainly through higher revenue. That covers a broader population than ISAE’s and is cited only as directional evidence.[31]
The honest comparison
At $4.11 a day, five years of supervision costs about $7,500 per participant (our calculation). That is not dramatically cheaper than one removal. The economic case rests on three points together:
- It avoids detention at about $187 per day.
- It keeps and expands a tax base that removal eliminates.
- It saves officer time for high-risk cases.
Participants would step down to lower-cost supervision as they show compliance; ICE’s existing “maintenance site” tier already works this way.[3] Pilot reporting must not overstate savings.
Case-managed programs that produced the highest compliance cost more: FCMP ran about $38.47 per family per day in FY2016.[32] ISAE should be funded for real case management, not on the assumption that an app is enough.