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Trump Promised to Fix Inflation. He’s Doing This Instead.
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Immigrants are a central force within American society. Many work labor-intensive jobs that help get food to our grocery stores and build our homes, and they live within our communities, where they spend money and uplift the economy. Yet President Donald Trump has deemed them a threat, with plans to remove 1 million immigrants by the end of this year. If his mass deportation agenda is successful—it has already targeted immigrants at their jobs, homes, and even immigration-related courthouse hearings—it stands to seriously jeopardize one of the strongest economies in the world.
Immigrants make up 18 percent of the U.S. labor force. It is estimated that 7.3 million do not have legal status. They tend to predominantly work in agriculture, construction, and hospitality, filling jobs that for decades employers have struggled to staff with U.S.-born people. Trump briefly realized this back in June and temporarily paused Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids within the agriculture and hotel industries, but quickly reversed course, and the raids continued. Meanwhile, the raids have created a culture of fear, pushing many immigrants to stay home from work, with the National Association of Home Builders telling Reuters that entire crews have not shown up to job sites recently. At a Kraft-Heinz plant in Michigan, a slew of immigrant workers abruptly had their work visas revoked, forcing their American counterparts to work overtime.
All this disruption can’t help but impact the broader U.S. economy. Will prices go up? Will wages come down? Will U.S.-born workers replace immigrant workers in these jobs? To understand what all of this could mean for the U.S. labor market, I spoke to Pia Orrenius, a labor economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She researches the impact of immigration on labor markets, and previously advised the Bush administration on the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President.
Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Shirin Ali: Over the last few months, we’ve been hearing stories of ICE agents arresting immigrants while they’re at work, and some aren’t showing up out of fear. Some farmers are........© Slate
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