At this point in the race for president of the United States, the surprising leading candidate is reality TV-star Donald Trump. It seems more appropriate to describe him that way rather than calling him a billionaire, because numerous publications disagree about his actual wealth, calculating it anywhere from a few hundred million to several billion dollars. What most publications do agree upon is that a large part of his appeal to supporters is that he thinks all undocumented immigrants—or illegal aliens, as those more willing to offend tend to call them—should be immediately kicked out of the country.

In fact, a poll released on September 3 by The Des Moines Register found that of Trump’s supporters in that state—the first state to hold a caucus in the Republican primary—47% support the idea of shipping them back to their native countries as soon as possible.

Should he become president, there is little doubt that Trump would try to make good on his proposal to oust those many workers and also to try to end birthright citizenship as guaranteed in the 14th Amendment. His positions have gained him a hardcore base of followers from the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party.

They are opposed to undocumented immigrants because of the belief that those immigrants take jobs and services away from U.S. citizens and are generally a burden on the U.S. economy.

But is that true?

In the age of the Internet it is easy to find reasoned opinions on both sides of the argument.

On the “yes” side, in May 2013, Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, wrote, “In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes. This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household. This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers... Under current law, all unlawful immigrant households together have an aggregate annual deficit of around $54.5 billion.”

On the “no” side, Danny Vinik, a writer at The New Republic, wrote in a July 2014 article, “Many undocumented immigrants pay taxes, use government services and collect benefits. Most importantly, undocumented immigrants contribute to the economy. Labor economists agree that there are net gains to having a larger labor supply. Some groups benefit more than others do, and some may even be hurt by the millions of undocumented immigrants. In 2012, researchers at the Cato Institute estimated that a mass deportations policy would reduce economic growth by around $250 billion per year. Those costs would not be evenly distributed: Those at the very bottom of the income distribution, particularly those without a high school diploma, might even earn higher wages in the absence of undocumented immigrants. But in total, undocumented immigrants benefit the economy.”

While the argument is certain to go on throughout the presidential election campaign and beyond, CNN Money published a piece last year (tinyurl.com/k6s9znu) called “5 immigration myths debunked,” which seems to show that undocumented immigrants do more good for the economy than harm. It said, first, they pay taxes; in 2010 undocumented immigrants paid some $10.6 billion to state and local governments in taxes.

The report also pointed out that undocumented immigrants pay into the Social Security system, even though they are not eligible for benefits. According to the Social Security Administration, they have paid $100 billion into the system over the past 10 years.

Further, the article says, “Undocumented immigrants do not qualify for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid and most other public benefits. Most of these programs require proof of legal immigration status, and under the 1996 welfare law, even legal immigrants cannot receive these benefits until they have been in the United States for more than five years.”

The report also argued that undocumented workers don’t take American jobs, and removing the estimated eight million undocumented workers from the economy would actually result in a net job loss because there would be that many fewer people working, earning wages and spending their money in the economy.

Regardless of the many economists who say mass deportation would be bad for the economy, it’s clear that Trump’s anti-undocumented immigrant stance has vaulted him to the top of the polls. But, it’s still not clear if Trump will win the party’s nomination or that he is ready to actually run a full-blown presidential campaign if he does. Under “issues,” his campaign website lists a single one: immigration.

Javier Palomarez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, has said that Trump can never win the presidency without the Hispanic vote. With his position now etched in stone, and his repeated criticisms of Mexico and its citizens, it seems unlikely that Hispanics will ever vote for him.