Thirteen months into the reign of the First Felon President
and Traitor, a growing majority of Americans have soured on his handling of
immigration, with 58 percent saying he has gone too far deporting undocumented
immigrants, a rise of eight points since last fall, according to a new Washington
Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. The survey finds that a slightly higher
number, 62 percent, oppose the aggressive tactics of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, a result that comes after federal immigration personnel
shot and killed
two U.S. citizens in
Minneapolis last month. More than half the public is “upset” or
“angry” about enforcement operations in that city, especially as they've been targeting peaceful immigrant workers doing jobs that contribute to the economy.
Which raises the question: What will happen when 100,000- 200,000 are interred at Trump's prison camps - if they are allowed to exist? A sober answer appeared in the past weekend's WSJ: the economy will basically collapse. As Sol Trujillo writes in his Feb 18 WSJ piece ('Mass Deportations Sabotage the Economy'):
"The U.S. economy has long been the world’s most powerful. America’s strength rests on sustained capital investment—but also on a growing supply of labor. More workers means more production, consumers and demand. The Trump administration’s mass deportations threaten to break that virtuous circle.
The U.S. was already slowly approaching zero labor-force
growth as fertility fell and the population aged. What kept the country from a
demographic disaster was immigration. The 3,000-person-a-day arrest quota for
immigration enforcement looks like an act of economic self-sabotage."
Trujillo then goes on to cite a Cato Institute report - using Dept. of Homeland Security data - showing that 73% of those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement between Oct. 1 and Nov.15 had no criminal convictions. What this means is that Trump para-Nazi acolyte Stephen Miller's yen to round up "one million" to deport (or incarcerate) has already had to go to the 'low hanging fruit' since most real criminals have already been locked up or dispatched.
As Trujillo goes on to back this up:
"Research from the Center for Migration Studies finds that the undocumented workforce in the U.S. is large and overwhelmingly employed across key sectors of the economy. Many of the 675,000 immigrants deported last year were working to build data centers, manufacturing plants, energy infrastructure and housing. Who will take their place when the U.S. has 6 million unfilled jobs?"
Good question. But an even more trenchant point made is that these insane deportations will exact a cost on citizens too. To support this, Trujillo cites data from The Peterson Institute for International Economics which projected (in a 2024 report) that deporting 1.3 million workers would raise consumer prices 1.5% within 3 years as labor shortages worsen.
This isn't Einsteinian relativity. With a much smaller labor pool employers in those critical areas (like manufacturing, home construction) will have to cough up more $$$ to get American workers. That higher pay translates into higher prices for American consumers, and that in turn translates into inflation. But that cannot go on for too long without businesses losing profits. As Trujillo observes:
"As the lack of workforce tamps down business growth, fewer U.S. born workers get hired as a result so consumption also declines. The Brookings Institute the U.S. lost between $40 billion and $60 billion in consumer spending in 2025 because of deportations.... Add to this lost tax revenue from immigrants themselves. (A 2024 American Immigration Council Report found that immigrants paid more than $70 billion in federal, state and local taxes."
In other words, this mindless assault on immigrant workers, done merely for spectacle and intimidation, is basically cutting our own economic throats. Hell, even perpetual Trump cheerleader Barton Swaim - weighing in on a mix of comments in the weekend Journal- begged for the DHS to stop going after hard working immigrants. He basically said: "They're doing righteous hard work and helping their families and businesses, leave them alone!"
Good idea!
See Also:Tru
Trump's immigration crackdown is hurting the construction industry : NPR
And:
A Chilling Effect: Increased Immigration Enforcement Jeopardizes Child Care and Mothers’ Employment
And:
How the current immigration crackdown is impacting food and farmworkers - FoodPrintmp Administration
In late 2025, federal immigration authorities detained a non-union janitor who’d accused contractors for Minnesota’s Ramsey County of wage theft.
The worker is now in deportation proceedings. But his courage helped win policy changes in Ramsey County, and his fierce advocacy in a similar wage theft case in nearby Hennepin County also paid off: more than 70 subcontracted workers for Hennepin County received nearly $400,000 in back pay in December 2025.
When someone who fights for workers is detained, “it sends a chill,” Greg Nammacher, president of SEIU Local 26, told me. “When the workers who are stepping up to try and reveal violations are silenced, the standard comes down for the whole industry.”
The Trump administration claims that its assault on immigrants will protect American workers. But its masked, armed federal agents are creating hostile environments for all workers, not just immigrants.
When ICE agents injure and abuse people on city streets, they often do so in full public view, with witnesses recording their actions. Behind the high walls of ICE detention facilities, though, elected officials, attorneys, and detainees describe unchecked abuse.
ICE now detains more people than at any point in its history. Three out of four have no criminal conviction; only one in 20 been convicted of a violent crime, according to an analysis by the Cato Institute. Yet the 73,000 currently detained is not enough for the agenda of Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem. With billions in new federal funding, ICE is working to expand its detention network to a scale that will dwarf the federal prison system.
“I think every American should be alarmed,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “They are building and have built a black box system that disappears people, both immigrants and U.S. citizens alike.”
No comments:
Post a Comment