Tag Archives: Immigration

Latin Times: Florida Arrested Two Migrants Under a Law That a Federal Judge Had Already Blocked

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According to reporting by The Marshall Project and the Tampa Bay Times, at least 27 people have been arrested under the law since the injunction.

At least two people were charged under Florida’s immigration law after a federal judge had issued an order halting its enforcement.

The law, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in February, made it a first-degree misdemeanor for undocumented individuals to enter Florida after living in another U.S. state. In April, however, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams issued an injunction blocking enforcement of the law, citing likely constitutional violations.

Despite that ruling deputies in St. Johns County arrested two men in late May — one with an active federal immigration detainer — on charges of illegal entry. Prosecutors later dismissed or vacated the charges.

These arrests occurred more than a month after the judge’s order and were disclosed in Uthmeier’s biweekly report, a sanction imposed by Williams after she found him in civil contempt. Uthmeier said in his July report that he only became aware of the two cases at the end of June after requesting information from state and local law enforcement.

According to reporting by The Marshall Project and the Tampa Bay Times, at least 27 people have been arrested under the law since the injunction. In some cases, individuals were detained after minor traffic infractions. One U.S. citizen was reportedly arrested as a passenger in a speeding car.

After Judge Williams issued her original order, Uthmeier sent a memo to state and local law enforcement officers telling them to refrain from enforcing the law, even though he disagreed with the injunction. But five days later, he sent a memo saying the judge was legally wrong and that he couldn’t prevent police officers and deputies from enforcing the law, as the Associated Press points out.

Uthmeier also publicly the law in social media. In a June 17 post he wrote of the ruling:

“If being held in contempt is what it costs to defend the rule of law and stand firmly behind President Trump’s agenda on illegal immigration, so be it”

James Uthmeier = dumb fucking fool! It never ceases to amaze me that some of these idiots could pass a high school civics class, let alone graduate from law school.

Florida Arrested Two Migrants Under a Law That a Federal Judge Had Already Blocked
According to reporting by The Marshall Project and the Tampa Bay Times, at least 27 people have been arrested under the law since the injunction

https://www.latintimes.com/florida-arrested-two-migrants-under-law-that-federal-judge-had-already-blocked-586976

Columbus Ledger Enquirer: ICE Crackdown Draws Outrage from Local Leaders

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Federal immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles have escalated sharply, leading to 2,792 arrests, including nearly 1,200 individuals detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The surge in enforcement has drawn strong criticism from local officials and community leaders, who argue that the actions are sowing fear in vulnerable communities. Democratic leaders have called for greater transparency and accountability, warning that the crackdown could erode trust in public institutions.

A Home Depot spokesperson stated, “We aren’t notified that ICE activities are going to happen, and in many cases, we don’t know that arrests have taken place until after they’re over. We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated, “CBP arrested 14 illegal aliens during an operation near Figueroa Street, and 11 illegal aliens in North Hollywood, CA, and 12 illegals on Sunset Boulevard. Criminal histories of those detained include drug trafficking, firearm offenses, theft, forgery, DUIs, and battery.”

And as usual DHS is probably lying and most of those 37 people that they arrested probably have NO CRIMINAL RECORDS.

City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez condemned federal immigration raids, saying they clash with city values. Reports showed children at summer camps were forced indoors during raids at places like MacArthur Park.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the actions “disgraceful.” Local officials argued that the federal crackdown does little to address crime and only fractures families.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed President Donald Trump’s authority to control the California National Guard, permitting its deployment in Los Angeles.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said, “I’m completely outraged by what’s going on.” Soto-Martinez added, “These are day laborers. These are people that are coming here every single day to try to find work. These are street vendors. These are folks that feed our community.”

ICE Crackdown Draws Outrage from Local Leaders

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-crackdown-draws-outrage-from-local-leaders/ss-AA1IV5ky

Independent: ICE secretly deported Pennsylvania grandfather, 82, after he lost his Green Card

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‘I can see all my family is in pain right now,’ Luis Leon granddaughter said

The family of an 82-year-old Chilean national feared he was dead for weeks before discovering that he had been detained by ICE after he misplaced his green card, according to a report.

Relatives last saw Luis Leon, who lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on June 20, when he and his wife visited the Philadelphia immigration office to replace his lost green card, The Morning Call first reported.

There, officers handcuffed him and took him away without explanation, relatives told the outlet. His family was left scrambling, contacting immigration offices, hospitals and even a morgue for more information on Leon’s whereabouts.

Then, on July 9, Leon’s wife received a call that seemed to confirm the family’s worst fears; the caller claimed the 82-year-old had died.

Thankfully, this week, his family members learned that Leon had been moved from a detention facility in Minnesota to Guatemala. He’s now in a hospital in Guatemala City, the outlet reported. The Independent has reached out to ICE for more information.

It’s not immediately clear why he was sent to Guatemala. But last month, the Supreme Court left the door open for the Trump administration to deport immigrants to countries they have never called home.

“I can see all my family is in pain right now,” his granddaughter Nataly told The Morning Call. She’s planning to fly to Guatemala to see her grandfather, who suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions.

She told the outlet she hopes to amplify Leon’s experience to show how he was treated by the immigration system.

If the multi-location ordeal wasn’t enough, the unknown caller contacted the family another time. Days after immigration authorities arrested Leon, a woman claiming to be an immigration attorney called Leon’s wife and claimed she could help get Leon out on bail. However, she didn’t mention how she learned about the case or where he was at the time.

Leon was granted political asylum in 1987 after surviving Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime, the outlet reported. He has a clean record — and hasn’t even been given so much as a parking ticket, the family claimed.

He’s not alone, figures from the data distribution organization Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse show. As of this week, there are more than 56,800 people in ICE detention; 72 percent of them have no criminal convictions.

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

ICE secretly deported Pennsylvania grandfather, 82, after he lost his Green Card
‘I can see all my family is in pain right now,’ Luis Leon granddaughter said

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ice-deported-grandpa-green-card-b2792290.html

The Hill: Homan slams ‘buffoon’ Nadler over comments on ICE agent attacks

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Border czar Tom Homan slammed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D) on Saturday over a comment the New York congressman made about assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

“What attacks on ICE agents?” Nadler asked in a clip that aired on Fox News.

“This buffoon knows exactly what attacks — his party is the one encouraging them,” Homan responded on X. “ICE agents are facing an 830% increase in assaults because of smears from the left. Their words have consequences. We won’t let them pretend they don’t.”

Drama often, Pugsley Homan? The only buffoon here is you, Pugsley Homan.

An 830% increase of almost none is still almost none.

And given how your masked Gestapo thugs are treating my fellow Americans, I could care less if a few of them banged up and scratched. They’re getting the response that they deserve. Fuck ’em!

ICE enforcement actions have been met by protesters in several high-profile incidents, most recently in Camarillo, Calif., where 200 people without legal status in the U.S. were arrested in a raid at a marijuana farm. Agents used tear gas to disperse protesters, and one person died after falling from a roof during the raid.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have also targeted Democratic lawmakers on the basis of claims they have attacked immigration officers.

Rep. LaMonica Iver (D-N.J.), for example, pleaded not guilty to an assault charge stemming from an incident where her elbows appeared to come into contact with an officer during a crowded scene.

In his response to Nadler, Homan cited a DHS statistic released last week, claiming assaults against ICE agents are at an 830 percent increase, more than double the 413 percent increase it claimed in May. The agency claims that Democratic officials and media reports have encouraged assaults against agents.

Homan slams ‘buffoon’ Nadler over comments on ICE agent attacks
Border czar Tom Homan slammed Rep. Jerry Nadler (D) on Saturday over a comment the New York congressman made about assaults on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. “What attacks on ICE…

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5410275-homan-slams-buffoon-nadler-over-comments-on-ice-agent-attacks

L.A. Times: Immigration arrest outside Oregon preschool rattles parents

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Parents at a preschool in a Portland suburb are reeling after immigration officers arrested a father in front of the school during morning drop-off hours, breaking his car window to detain him in front of children, families and staffers.

“I feel like a day care, which is where young children are taken care of, should be a safe place,” Natalie Berning said after dropping off her daughter at the Montessori in Beaverton on Friday morning. “Not only is it traumatizing for the family, it’s traumatizing for all the other children as well.”

Mahdi Khanbabazadeh, a 38-year-old chiropractor and citizen of Iran, was initially pulled over by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers while driving his child to the school Tuesday. After asking whether he could drop off the child first, he continued driving and called his wife to tell her what happened, according to his wife, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of privacy concerns for her and her child.

His wife rushed to the school, took their child from his car and brought him inside. Khanbabazadeh stayed in the vehicle in the parking lot and asked whether he could move somewhere not on school grounds out of consideration for the children and families, his wife said. He pulled out of the lot and onto the street and began to open the car door to step out when agents broke the window and took him into custody, according to his wife.

Kellie Burns, who has two children attending the preschool, said her husband was there and heard the glass shatter.

“More than anything we want to express how unnecessarily violent and inhumane this was,” she said. “Everyone felt helpless. Everyone was scared.”

ICE said it detained Khanbabazadeh because he overstayed his visa, which his wife disputes.

“Officers attempted to arrest Khanbabazadeh during a traffic stop when he requested permission to drop his child off at daycare,” ICE said in a statement. “Officers allowed him to proceed to the daycare parking lot where he stopped cooperating, resisted arrest and refused to exit his vehicle, resulting in ICE officers making entry by breaking one of the windows to complete the arrest.”

Immigration officials have dramatically ramped up arrests across the country since May. Shortly after President Trump took office in January, his administration lifted restrictions on making immigration arrests at schools, healthcare facilities and places of worship, stirring fears about going to places once considered safe spaces.

After U.S. military strikes on Iran in June, officials trumpeted immigration arrests of Iranians, some of whom settled in the United States long ago.

Khanbabazadeh’s wife said he has always maintained lawful status. After he arrived on a valid student visa and they subsequently married, she said, they submitted all required paperwork to adjust his status and were waiting for a final decision following their green card interview months ago.

Khanbabazadeh is being held at the ICE detention facility in Tacoma, Wash., she said.

Guidepost Global Education, which oversees the Montessori school, called the incident “deeply upsetting.”

“We understand that this incident raises broader questions about how law enforcement actions intersect with school environments,” Chief Executive Maris Mendes said in a statement. “It is not lost on us how frightening and confusing this experience may have been for those involved — especially for the young children who may have witnessed it while arriving at school with their parents.”

Parents said they want to support the family and teachers.

“We know it’s happening across the country, of course, but no one is prepared for their preschool … to deal with it,” Burns said. “It’s really been a nightmare.”

Immigration arrest outside Oregon preschool rattles parents
Parents at a preschool in Oregon are reeling after immigration officers arrested a father in front of the school. ‘Everyone felt helpless. Everyone was scared,’ said one.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2025-07-19/immigration-arrest-outside-oregon-preschool-rattles-parents

Washington Post: Couple allege ICE arrested them after pretending to be cops in ruse

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The two LSU students say the agents claimed to have questions about a hit-and-run incident to lure them out of their apartment.

Parisa Firouzabadi and Pouria Pourhosseinhendabad were drinking tea on a warm Sunday evening in Junewhen they heard a knock at their apartment door in Baton Rouge. According to court documents, two police officers said they were there to discuss a hit-and-run accident that the married couple had reported weeks earlier — might they see the damage on the car?

No criminals here! The Gestapo ICE thugs bust two law-abiding Ph.D. students, exactly the sort of people we want in our country.

The couple, immigrants from Iran studying at Louisiana State University, led the officers to their apartment’s parking lot. Then, without knowing why, their lawyers say, the two were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

After nearly a month in custody and two petitions challenging their detainment, a magistrate judge this week ordered that Firouzabadi, 30, and Pourhosseinhendabad, 29, be released and that all removal proceedings against them be dismissed. Norah Ahmed, one of their attorneys and legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Louisiana, said the case illustrates the risks immigrants face in their everyday lives under President Donald Trump’s push to increase deportations.

“There is a broader narrative out there that somehow the mass deportation efforts underway are somehow related to ‘criminals,’ right?” Ahmed said. “The reality is you’re taking two PhD students at LSU. … You’re taking in our friends, family, neighbors and loved ones — these are the people in these immigration jails.”

In certain cases, ICE officers can legally employ ruses, or deceptive tactics, to access private property. Officers could legally pretend to be from another agency and say they are investigating another crime to be allowed inside someone’s home, but they cannot misrepresent themselves as a probation officer or as a member of a health or safety organization. They also cannot coerce people through threats and intimidation, according to internal ICE memos. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security responded to requests for comment.

Ahmed said ICE’s tactics mean immigrants need to be less trusting of apparent officers showing up at their door.

“And that’s very sad,” she continued, “because it means that, as opposed to people feeling comfortable with law enforcement and state actors and contributing to make their communities better and safer, we are now encouraging people to, in fact, shut down.”

After their arrests, the two were held briefly in Baton Rouge and in Mississippi’s Hancock County before they were separated: Firouzabadi was moved to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and Pourhosseinhendabad to Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center, where they remained for several weeks.

The charges centered on their visa statuses after they were enrolled as students at LSU. The two arrived in the United States in 2023, when Firouzabadi, then 28, was accepted into a graduate program at LSU and granted an international student visa known as an F-1, according to court documents. Pourhosseinhendabad initially came to the U.S. on an F-2 visa, meant for spouses of international students, but was granted an F-1 visa earlier this year after he was accepted into LSU’s PhD program in mechanical engineering, according to court documents.

The U.S. revoked Firouzabadi’s visa in late September 2024, and when she was notified roughly a week later, school officials told her that her studies would remain unaffected, though she could not leave and re-enter the country, according to court documents. Both she and her husband applied for asylum; their application is still pending.

Firouzabadi was not initially given a reason for the revocation of her visa, but a week after she was arrested, her charging document said it was revoked because she had been suspected of espionage or sabotage against the U.S., according to Firouzabadi’s habeas corpus petition, which is a legal process to challenge a person’s detention. ICE then rescinded that allegation 10 days later, the petition says, to reflect that she was just being charged for overstaying her visa. Her husband’s charging document, known as a notice to appear, says he was arrested over losing his F-2 status in late 2023 — even though he had since obtained an F-1 visa, according to his habeas corpus petition.

Her lawyers argued that she was in the U.S. legally as she was still an active student and an employee of LSU on the date of her arrest. They also argued that the couple were unlawfully detained, as the government’s purpose for detention is solely to protect against danger and flight risk.

“Parisa’s detention — which occurred on the heels of the United States’ bombing of Iran and as part of a concerted, public effort by the Executive Branch to round up suspected Iranian terrorists — is unlawful, as it appears based solely on her Iranian nationality,” the petition says.

The two were among several Iranian immigrants arrested or detained in the days after the U.S. launched military strikes against Iran on June 21. Another Iranian woman from Louisiana, a 64-year-old grandmother named Mandonna “Donna” Kashanian who had been in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, was detained the same day Firouzabadi and Pourhosseinhendabad were taken into custody.

The DHS said the arrests reflected its “commitment to keeping known and suspected terrorists out of American communities,” and it issued a news release on June 24 identifying 11 Iranian men it had arrested. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the department had “been full throttle on identifying and arresting known or suspected terrorists and violent extremists that illegally entered this country.”

Ahmed, the attorney, likened the arrests to the country’s internment camps during World War II, when the federal government rounded up and incarcerated citizens and residents of Japanese descent, justifying it by claiming they posed a security threat while the U.S. was at war with Japan.

“That it could be happening in 2025 is shocking, and it’s beyond deeply troubling,” she said.

Couple allege ICE arrested them after pretending to be cops in ruse
Parisa Firouzabadi and Pouria Pourhosseinhendabad say the agents claimed to have questions about a hit-and-run incident in order to get them out of their Baton Rouge apartment.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/19/iranian-students-lsu-ice-arrest-ruse

Raleigh News and Observer: Eighteen States Join Lawsuit Against ICE Operations

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Los Angeles has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing ICE of using unlawful tactics including racial profiling and excessive force. The lawsuit highlights how the deployment of armed agents, particularly at MacArthur Park, has created a climate of fear and intimidation within the community. City officials argued the actions violate residents’ rights and have demanded accountability for the enforcement practices.

Mayor Karen Bass said, “I got alerted that there was an ICE operation, military intervention — who knows — at MacArthur Park.

City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto expressed concern that armed agents and military vehicles are frightening residents.

Legal reps allege ICE and CBP have conducted unconstitutional stops and detentions based on race and ethnicity.

Soto said, “The federal government has concentrated thousands of armed immigration agents, many of whom lack visible identification, and military troops in our communities, conducting unconstitutional raids, roundups and anonymous detentions, sowing fear and chaos among our residents.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by 17 other states, filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit and urging an end to the enforcement actions.

Eighteen States Join Lawsuit Against ICE Operations

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/eighteen-states-join-lawsuit-against-ice-operations/ss-AA1IUCx1

Bradenton Herald: Trump’s Plan for Undocumented Farm Workers Sparks Fury

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President Donald Trump’s proposal to allow agricultural and hospitality workers to remain in the U.S. through employer sponsorship has sparked backlash among MAGA supporters. Many within the movement, who have supported mass deportation as a cornerstone of Trump’s immigration policy, view the move as a betrayal of their hardline stance. The division has come amid ongoing tensions within the base over Trump’s leadership, including controversy surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein case.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump is fulfilling his promise to the American people to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history. There will be no amnesty. Only deportations of the violent, criminal illegal aliens that Joe Biden welcomed into the country.”

Which is bullshit — most of the people they are deporting have no criminal records.

…

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed the Administration will continue mass deportations with a more strategic approach. Officials have denied plans for amnesty thus far.

Whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean, when King Donald has promised some kind of magical “employer sponsorship” program.

Trump’s Plan for Undocumented Farm Workers Sparks Fury

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-plan-for-undocumented-farm-workers-sparks-fury/ss-AA1IVnrF

YouTube: ‘The brick wall of reality’: Stephen Miller’s anti-immigrant pitch doesn’t hold up to scrutiny

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‘The brick wall of reality’: Stephen Miller’s anti-immigrant pitch doesn’t hold up to scrutiny
“What would Los Angeles look like without illegal immigrants,” asked Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller to himself on Fox News. He painted an i…

Newsweek: Economic Warning as More Than Half-Million People Could Leave US This Year

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The U.S. could see hundreds of thousands leave the country this year thanks to President Donald Trump‘s immigration agenda, but experts believe his aggressive campaign of deportations and entry limitations could shrink the foreign-born labor force to the detriment of the economy.

In a paper recently published by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI), researchers estimated that U.S. net migration could end up between a negative 525,000 and 115,000 this year, which they said reflects “a dramatic decrease in inflows and somewhat higher outflows.” This compares to nearly 1.3 million in 2024, according to Macrotrends, and 330,000 in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic brought global travel to an abrupt standstill.

If their lower-end forecasts prove correct, it would represent the first time the U.S. has seen negative net migration in decades.

Given much of the American labor force consists of foreign-born workers—19.2 percent, per the Department of Labor—and immigrants also make up a significant share of the spending market, such a decline could put downward pressure on the labor force and consumer spending and reduce GDP this year by up to 0.4 percent.

This echoes the findings of another paper, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas last week that estimates the decline in immigration could mean a 0.75 percent to 1.0 percent hit to GDP growth this year.

“The drop in migrant inflows, and the drop in the foreign-born population more broadly, will have adverse effects on growth in the U.S. labor force, which will spill over into almost every sector of the economy,” Madeline Zavodny, one of the authors of Dallas Fed paper, told Newsweek.

This is exacerbated by the country’s low birth rate—already a source of economic unease—which is leading to a shrinking share of the population in the “working-age” bracket.

“The U.S. population is aging,” Zavodny said, “and we rely on new immigrants to help fuel growth in the labor force and key sectors, from agriculture to construction to health care.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, in response to some of these fears, told Newsweek: “President Trump’s agenda to deport criminal illegal aliens will improve Americans’ quality of life across the board. American resources, funded by American taxpayers, will no longer be stretched thin and abused by illegals.”

“President Trump is ushering in America’s golden age and growing our economy with American workers,” she added.

Bullshit!!!

Giovanni Peri, a labor economist and professor at the University of California, Davis, said that the jobs impact of a sustained decline in net inflows will be felt the strongest in lower-skilled areas such as construction, agriculture, hospitality and personal services, and roles where American-born workers are unlikely to offset declining migrant inflows. As a consequence, he told Newsweek, prices in these sectors will likely increase.

Stan Veuger, senior fellow in economic policy studies at AEI and one of the authors of the working paper, similarly said that the agriculture, leisure and construction sectors will be hit hardest by the drop in labor supply. He added that, on the demand side, a drop in foreign-born workers will impact real estate, as well as the retail and utilities sectors, the most.

“Large firms may be able to attract some more workers to replace them, usually paying higher wages,” Peri said, “while smaller firms will be more at risk of staying in business as they have smaller productivity and margins.”

Zavodny also said that small businesses will suffer the most—given these traditionally struggle to access temporary worker programs such as H-2A and H-2B visas—but that large employers will be affected too, and that “everyone will lose part of their customer base.”

The American Immigration Council estimates that the country’s foreign-born population possesses about $1.7 trillion in spending power—of which $299 billion comes from undocumented immigrants—and paid $167 billion in rent in 2023.

As outlined in AEI’s paper, lower spending will reduce business revenues, prompting layoffs and putting another form of pressure on the labor market besides the declining workforce.

Despite the potential economic fallout, Trump shows no signs of relenting on his campaign promises regarding immigration, with deportations in full swing and the president having recently signed the GOP reconciliation bill that frees up about $150 billion to help enforce that part of his agenda.

“I would hope so, though I am not optimistic,” said AEI’s Stan Veuger, when asked whether the impact on economic growth could prompt a reconsideration of the administration’s stance.

“I think the people driving immigration policy in the White House do not care about the economic [or humanitarian] impact of their immigration policies.”

Giovanni Peri, a labor economist and professor at the University of California, Davis, said that the jobs impact of a sustained decline in net inflows will be felt the strongest in lower-skilled areas such as construction, agriculture, hospitality and personal services, and roles where American-born workers are unlikely to offset declining migrant inflows. As a consequence, he told Newsweek, prices in these sectors will likely increase.

Stan Veuger, senior fellow in economic policy studies at AEI and one of the authors of the working paper, similarly said that the agriculture, leisure and construction sectors will be hit hardest by the drop in labor supply. He added that, on the demand side, a drop in foreign-born workers will impact real estate, as well as the retail and utilities sectors, the most.

“Large firms may be able to attract some more workers to replace them, usually paying higher wages,” Peri said, “while smaller firms will be more at risk of staying in business as they have smaller productivity and margins.”

Zavodny also said that small businesses will suffer the most—given these traditionally struggle to access temporary worker programs such as H-2A and H-2B visas—but that large employers will be affected too, and that “everyone will lose part of their customer base.”

The American Immigration Council estimates that the country’s foreign-born population possesses about $1.7 trillion in spending power—of which $299 billion comes from undocumented immigrants—and paid $167 billion in rent in 2023.

As outlined in AEI’s paper, lower spending will reduce business revenues, prompting layoffs and putting another form of pressure on the labor market besides the declining workforce.

Despite the potential economic fallout, Trump shows no signs of relenting on his campaign promises regarding immigration, with deportations in full swing and the president having recently signed the GOP reconciliation bill that frees up about $150 billion to help enforce that part of his agenda.

“I would hope so, though I am not optimistic,” said AEI’s Stan Veuger, when asked whether the impact on economic growth could prompt a reconsideration of the administration’s stance.

“I think the people driving immigration policy in the White House do not care about the economic [or humanitarian] impact of their immigration policies.”

Economic warning as more than half-million people could leave US this year
Predicted decline in net migration will have impact that one economist said could “spill over into almost every sector of the economy.”

https://www.newsweek.com/economic-warning-half-million-leave-us-2100225