US GDP would take a hit from DACA deportations, report finds 5:29 PM ET Fri, 1 Sept 2017 | 00:59

If President Donald Trump decides to deport hundreds of thousands of young people brought to the country illegally as children, the economic impact would be felt from California to Florida.

Trump said Friday he would announce a decision as early as Friday afternoon or over the weekend.

At issue is the fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which has shielded nearly 800,000 young immigrants from deportation and allowed them to work in the country.

The loss of those workers, and the paychecks they earn, would wipe out hundreds of billions of dollars from U.S. gross domestic product, according to groups that support the program.

The latest research comes from FWD.us, a pro-immigration reform group co-founded by Mark Zuckerberg, which found that 91 percent of DACA recipients are employed. Canceling the program, which shields those immigrants from deportation, would mean roughly 30,000 a month would lose their work permits as their DACA status expires, the report said.