Deportations will eliminate millions of jobs held by immigrant and U.S.-born workers according to research on increased immigration enforcement.
Key findings
- The number of deportations will skyrocket once the Trump administration fully rolls out its agenda. This will curtail business operations and reduce employer demand for immigrant and U.S.-born labor.
- If the administration follows through on its goals of deporting 4 million people over four years:
- There will be 3.3 million fewer employed immigrants and 2.6 million fewer employed U.S.-born workers at the end of that period.
- Employment in the construction sector will drop sharply: U.S.-born construction employment will fall by 861,000, and immigrant employment will fall by 1.4 million.
- The deportations will eliminate half a million child care jobs.
- California, Florida, New York, and Texas will have the highest number of job losses due to larger immigrant populations in these states.
Why this matters
Deporting vast numbers of immigrants from the United States is a major goal of the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. However, immigrants are an integral part of the U.S. labor market, and an increase in deportations will result in fewer jobs for both immigrant and U.S.-born workers.
How to fix it
To limit damage to the labor market, policymakers should stop the tactics that are vastly increasing immigration enforcement like the arrest, detention, and deportation of immigrants, and reinstate temporary immigration protections like parole and Temporary Protected Status. Instead of providing additional funds for an increase in aggressive and indiscriminate immigration enforcement, Congress should focus on policies that will improve wages and working conditions like providing work permits and green cards to those who lack a regular immigration status, as well as providing adequate resources for the enforcement of labor standards.
Deportations will lead to job losses
