Will Trump’s Wall Pay for Itself?
President Donald Trump cited a contested report from an organization that advocates low immigration to claim that a wall along the southern border will pay for itself, because those stopped from illegally crossing would not be a burden on taxpayers.
The report, from the Center for Immigration Studies, relies on data extrapolated from a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, or NAS. Several of those who created the NAS report, however, say their data are being misused, and that keeping out those who cross the border illegally might actually cost the government money over time.
We caution that estimating the cost of immigrants well into the future is highly speculative business, and requires a number of assumptions. Reasonable people may disagree about which assumptions are most appropriate. But it is notable that several members of the NAS panel object to the way their data were used to support the president’s claim.
Trump first forwarded the claim via a.
