8/17/2026

N. WISCONSIN - With the money being spent by the federal government on mass deportations, Wisconsin could cover about 94-thousand Head Start slots. That comparison is provided by a new calculator released by the Economic Policy Institute. It outputs the cost of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign in any state, county or city, along with the equivalent value of various social services. The calculator shows deportations have cost more than 3-point-8-billion dollars in Wisconsin. Gordon Lafer with the E-P-I says it's shocking to see such a high price tag while so many people are struggling to pay for food, housing and health insurance.

               0:11  "We wanted to show what the trade-off is so that people understand, we could be having all these things that really matter in people's lives, and instead the money's being wasted on this political circus of mass deportations."

The calculator shows with that money, Wisconsin could fund medical care for more than 184-thousand BadgerCare Plus recipients. The Trump administration says deportations will restore economic stability and improve public safety.