Hopes for President Trump to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program has diminished dramatically after the White House put out an aggressive list of demands. The Trump administration wants tougher immigration and border security measures, crackdowns on sanctuary cities, green card restrictions and money for a border wall. Now there is a lot of concern over what will happen to the estimated 700,000 people covered by the DACA program. Not only would there be a huge human factor to consider in sending them back to countries with which most aren’t familiar, but the cost to our economy could be staggering: According to a Center for American Progress study earlier this year, the estimated loss of DACA workers would reduce U.S. GDP by $433 billion over the next 10 years, with California, Texas and Illinois being hit hardest.
The first-ever CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey in June found that 21 percent of small-business owners expect changes in immigration policy to have a negative effect on their businesses.
