WaPo: Donald Trump’s Immigration Plan Would Wreak Havoc on Society

From the Washington Post editorial board:

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, who unveiled his immigration platform over the weekend, says America’s illegal immigrants “have to go.” Although the large majority of Americans don’t agree, Mr. Trump is appealing to a more sympathetic audience: the most conservative slice of the Republican primary electorate.

So let’s take Mr. Trump’s plan at face value and examine the impact of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.

A useful case study is California, whose economy accounts for about13 percent of U.S. gross domestic product and whose 2.6 million undocumented workers include almost a tenth of the state’s workforce.

For starters, the state’s farms and orchards, where a third to a half of agricultural workers are undocumented, would be crippled. So would their output, comprising more than half the fruits and vegetables consumed in this country. The labor market in construction, where about 14 percent of workers are undocumented, would be severely disrupted. Ditto for hospitality, child care and landscaping.

Read the rest of the story at the Washington Post.