The United States faces a fiscal exposure of $19 billion to $77 billion to deport an estimated 1.1 million unauthorized Hondurans, at a time when U.S. employers in agriculture, hospitality, construction, landscaping, food processing, and other sectors are losing the very workers their operations depend on. Every deportation costs taxpayers $17,000 to $70,000—and leaves employers scrambling to fill the position.

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This proposal offers a market-based legislative alternative: a time-limited Guest Worker Program (3–5 years) that would legalize the status of undocumented Hondurans currently in the U.S. workforce, protect them from deportation during the program period, and redirect their existing payroll tax contributions into two wealth-building instruments that incentivize voluntary return to Honduras at program completion:

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• A Guest Worker Housing Fund — the worker's 7.65% FICA/Medicare contribution and the employer's 7.65% match are redirected into an individual housing escrow account, redeemable only upon verified return to Honduras. Over 3–5 years, a worker earning $12/hour accumulates $14,688–$18,360; a married couple accumulates $29,376–$36,720 — enough for homeownership in Honduras.

• A Remittance Bond for Small Business Development — a voluntary program in which guest workers dedicate a portion of their remittances to a matched savings vehicle (1:3 U.S.-to-worker match), capitalizing small enterprises in Honduras upon return.​

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At national scale, these mechanisms represent a potential $12.9 billion investment in Honduran housing and small business development — financed entirely by workers and employers, not taxpayers. The U.S. saves tens of billions in deportation costs. Employers retain their workforce for 3–5 years under legal authorization. Honduras gains titled property, registered businesses, and a revitalized construction sector.

The intellectual framework draws on Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, whose research showed that formalizing property rights and integrating informal economies into legal systems unlocks capital in developing countries.

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The Marie Maxey Foundation is seeking industry partners, government agency engagement, and institutional support to advance this concept toward legislation. We are building a coalition of employer trade associations whose members depend on immigrant labor, beginning with agriculture, hospitality, landscaping, construction, and food processing — the sectors most affected by current enforcement policy.

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