U.S. taxpayers are spending at least $18.6 million per day to house an estimated 300,000 to 450,000 undocumented immigrants who are incarcerated and eligible for deportation from the United States, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The cost per day for these prisoners is based on Justice Department incarceration cost estimates from 2001 and on the lower-end figure of 300,000 incarcerated deportable undocumented individuals, which means the actual expense today could be substantially higher than $18.6 million per day. Source: DHS FY11 Performance Report

Immigration reform can’t come soon enough! Criminalizing immigration status is inhumane and a waste of valuable resources.