Trump's Immigration Approach is Not Reform

Janie T. Carnock wrote for the Baltimore Sun about President Trump's approach to immigration:

From his first campaign days to recent executive orders, President Donald Trump has pledged to aggressively ramp up deportation of unauthorized immigrants. In Baltimore, widely considered a "sanctuary city," immigrant communities are seeing that promise actualized. Federal officers have shown an increased presence in Highlandtown, arresting several residents with no criminal records for deportation in recent weeks. So far, incidents are limited but alarming.

To applaud Mr. Trump's approach to unauthorized immigration, one has to ignore key security, fiscal and social realities. Immigrants are less crime-prone than native-born residents. Mass deportation would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, and the exit of immigrant workers would result in trillions in lost GDP and tax revenue. Deportation would leave a wake of irrecoverable debts, like home mortgages, that would strain the entire financial system.

Here in Baltimore, after decades of white flight, unauthorized immigrants are helping to repopulate the rust-belt city, animate the economy and strengthen our social fabric. I saw the effect firsthand as a former second grade teacher in southwest Baltimore's Lakeland community.