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MiBolsillo Colombia: 800,000 Jobs Lost in the U.S.: Are Trump’s Tariffs to Blame?
800,000 Jobs Lost in the U.S.: Are Trump’s Tariffs to Blame?
The U.S. labor market is experiencing a turbulent phase in 2025, with job losses reaching alarming levels. Reports indicate that over 800,000 jobs have been cut in the first seven months of the year, marking a 75% increase compared to the same period in 2024. This surge in job cuts is the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which saw over 1.8 million layoffs.
A report by Challenger, Gray & Christmas highlights three primary causes for these job cuts. Among them, the economic conditions and uncertainty stemming from the tariffs imposed during Trump’s administration are significant contributors. These tariffs have increased the cost of essential inputs for many U.S. businesses, squeezing profit margins.
Andrew Challenger, a labor expert, noted that tariff-related concerns have directly impacted nearly 6,000 jobs this year. The lack of clarity on whether tariffs will remain, increase, or decrease adds to the economic uncertainty, making it challenging for businesses to strategize effectively. However, tariffs are not the sole factor in the current employment crisis.
The report also points to the controversial federal budget cuts enacted by the Trump administration, which have resulted in the loss of 289,679 jobs. These cuts have affected the federal workforce and its contractors, impacting non-profit organizations, the healthcare sector, and government operations. Agencies like the IRS are now struggling to fill critical gaps left by these reductions.
Technological advancements, particularly in Artificial Intelligence (AI), have emerged as another significant factor. The report indicates that automation and AI-related technological updates have led to the loss of 20,219 jobs, with an additional 10,375 cuts directly attributed to these advancements. This trend highlights a rapid shift in the labor market driven by the adoption of new technologies.
While Trump’s tariffs have undeniably contributed to economic uncertainty and job losses, the current wave of layoffs in the U.S. is the result of a confluence of factors. These include federal budget cuts and the rise of AI, which are reshaping the labor landscape. The interplay of these elements underscores the complexity of the employment challenges facing the nation.
News Nation: Report: 14K federal workers, including USCIS, assisting ICE
The Cato Institute says over 14,500 federal law enforcement officers from other agencies are working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to facilitate raids and make arrests nationwide, including new special agents from USCIS.
The Cato Institute this week reported that ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) is receiving assistance from nearly 17,000 non-ERO agents, according to data given to the nonprofit organization.
That includes diverting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees to help with ICE raids.
The Department of Homeland Security this week announced a new class of USCIS employees had been “newly minted” as special agents to work with ICE.
USCIS personnel will have the authority “to investigate and enforce civil and criminal violations of the immigration laws within the jurisdiction of USCIS. These authorities include, but are not limited to, the issuance and execution of warrants, the arrest of individuals, and carrying of firearms,” according to a notice posted Friday in the Federal Register.
This includes ordering expedited removals. USCIS says it plans to recruit and train special agents for these roles.
“As (Homeland Security) Secretary Noem delegated lawful authorities to expand the agency’s law enforcement capabilities, this rule allows us to fulfill our critical mission. This historic moment will better address immigration crimes, hold those that perpetrate immigration fraud accountable, and act as a force multiplier for DHS and our federal law enforcement partners, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement.
Edlow says this will allow his agency to handle investigations from start to finish, instead of referring some cases to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ERO agents.
The Cato Institute reports that other federal employees diverted to ICE ERO include:
- ICE HSI: 6,198
- FBI: 2,840
- Drug Enforcement Administration: 2,181
- Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives: 1,778
- U.S. Marshals Service: 650
- Border Patrol: 335
- Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations: 288
- Department of State – Diplomatic Security: 93
- CBP Air and Marine Operations: 68
- Department of Defense: 35
- IRS: 20
- Bureau of Prisons: 11
- U.S. Secret Service: 1
In addition, state and local law enforcement agencies have teamed up with ICE part of the 287(g) program. Cato reports that over 8,500 officers are contributing to ICE operations.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) is opposed to arming USCIS personnel to become an arresting arm.
“The Trump Administration has transformed USCIS into an enforcement agency, weaponizing the immigration system against American families, asylum seekers, and businesses. What’s worse, this rule states they now plan to arm potentially hundreds of agents at USCIS,” AILA President Jeff Joseph said.
“Congress established USCIS after 9/11 to process legal immigration applications. Enforcement actions were left to other agencies to ensure that immigrants felt safe submitting their personal information and appearing for interviews. The administration’s continued attacks on those who are following the rules and going through legal channels will only serve to push people further into the shadows. Their aim of driving people out of the country shows a shocking disregard for the value and contributions that immigrants make to America,” Johnson said.
The Atlantic: The President’s Police State
Trump is delivering the authoritarian government his party once warned about.
For years, prominent voices on the right argued that Democrats were enacting a police state. They labeled everything—a report on homegrown extremism, IRS investigations into nonprofits—a sign of impending authoritarianism. Measures taken by state governments to combat the spread of COVID? Tyranny. An FBI search of Mar-a-Lago? The weaponization of law enforcement.
Now that a president is actually sending federal troops and officers out into the streets of the nation’s cities, however, the right is in lockstep behind him. This morning, Donald Trump announced that he was declaring a crime emergency, temporarily seizing control of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and deploying the D.C. National Guard to the nation’s capital.
“This is liberation day in D.C.,” Trump said. Nothing says liberation like deploying hundreds of uniformed soldiers against the wishes of the local elected government. District residents have made clear that they would prefer greater autonomy, including congressional representation, and they have three times voted overwhelmingly against Trump. His response is not just to flex power but to treat the District of Columbia as the president’s personal fiefdom.
Trump’s move is based on out-of-date statistics. It places two officials without municipal policing experience in positions of power over federalization and the MPD, and seems unlikely to significantly affect crime rates. What the White House hopes it might achieve, Politicoreports, is “a quick, visually friendly PR win.” Trump needs that after more than a month of trying and failing to change the subject from his onetime friend Jeffrey Epstein.
But what this PR stunt could also do is create precedent for Trump to send armed forces out into American streets whenever he declares a spurious state of emergency. Some of Trump’s supporters don’t seem to mind that fact: “Trump has the opportunity to do a Bukele-style crackdown on DC crime,” Christopher Rufo, the influential conservative personality, posted on X, referring to Nayib Bukele, the Trump ally who is president of El Salvador. “Question is whether he has the will, and whether the public the stomach. Big test: Can he reduce crime faster than the Left advances a counternarrative about ‘authoritarianism’? If yes, he wins. Speed matters.”
Rufo seems to view everything in terms of a political battle to be won via narratives; the term authoritarianism appears to mean nothing to him, and maybe it never meant anything to others on the right who assailed Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Democratic governors. It does have a real meaning, though, and Bukele is its poster boy. Despite the constitution having banned it, he ran for a second term in office; his party then changed the constitution to allow “indefinite” reelection. Lawmakers in his party also brazenly removed supreme-court justices, and his government has forced journalists into exile and locked up tens of thousands of people without due process. This is apparently the America that Chris Rufo wants.
To justify the crackdown, Trump has cited an alleged carjacking attempt that police records say injured the former DOGE employee Edward “Big Balls” Coristine. But MPD has already arrested two Maryland 15-year-olds for unarmed carjacking. That’s good news. Carjacking is a serious crime and should be punished. But Trump has used the incident to claim that violent crime is skyrocketing in Washington. This is, put simply, nonsense. During a press conference today, Trump cited murder statistics from 2023, and said that carjackings had “more than tripled” over the past five years. He didn’t use more recent numbers because they show that these crimes are down significantly in Washington. Murder dropped 32 percent from 2023 to 2024, robberies 39 percent, and armed carjackings 53 percent. This is in line with a broad national reduction in crime. MPD’s preliminary data indicate that violent crime is down another 26 percent so far this year compared with the same timeframe in 2024, though as the crime-statistics analyst Jeff Asher writes, this drop is probably overstated.
Trump’s descriptions of Washington as a lawless hellscape bear little resemblance to what most residents experience. Not only is D.C. not “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World,” as Trump claims, but his prescription seems unlikely to help. He said he is appointing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Terry Cole, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, to help lead the federalization effort and MPD, but neither has any experience with municipal policing. They have not said what they will do differently. If the administration deploys its forces to high-profile areas such as the National Mall, they won’t have much impact on violent crime, because that’s not where it happens; if they go to less central areas with higher crime rates, they won’t get the PR boost they seek, because tourists and news cameras aren’t there.
Throughout his two presidencies, Trump has treated the military as a prop for making statements about which issues he cares about—and which he doesn’t. He deployed the D.C. National Guard during protests after the murder of George Floyd in summer 2020. Earlier this summer, he federalized the California National Guard and sent Marines to Los Angeles to assist with immigration enforcement, but they were sent home when it became clear that they had nothing to do there. Yet according to testimony before the January 6 panel, Trump did not deploy the D.C. National Guard when an armed mob was sacking the U.S. Capitol in 2021 to try to help Trump hold on to power.
Good policing is important because citizens deserve the right to live in safety. Recent drops in crime in Washington are good news because the district’s residents should be able to feel safe. But Trump’s militarization of the city, his seizure of local police, and his lies about crime in Washington do the opposite: They are a way to make people feel unsafe, and either quiet residents’ dissent or make them support new presidential power grabs. Many of Trump’s defenders are angry when he’s called an authoritarian, but not when he acts as one.
The President’s Police State
Trump is delivering the authoritarian government his party once warned about.
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/08/trump-national-guard-dc/683839
Guardian: IRS commissioner’s removal reportedly over clash on undocumented immigrant data
Trump removed Billy Long from post months after agency said it couldn’t release information on some taxpayers
The removal of the Internal Revenue Service commissioner Billy Long after just two months in the post came after the federal tax collection agency said it could not release some information on taxpayers suspected of being in the US illegally, it was reported on Saturday.
The IRS and the White House had clashed over using tax data to help locate suspected undocumented immigrants soon before Long was dismissed by the administration, according to the Washington Post.
Long’s dismissal came less than two months after he was confirmed, making his service as Senate-confirmed IRS commissioner the briefest in the agency’s 163-year history. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner, making him the agency’s seventh leader this year.
The outlet reported the Department of Homeland Security had sent the IRS a list of 40,000 names on Thursday that it suspects of being in the country illegally. DHS asked the tax service to crosscheck confidential taxpayer data to verify their addresses.
The IRS reportedly responded that it was able to verify fewer than 3% of the names on the DHS list, and mostly names that came with an individual taxpayer identification, or ITIN number, provided by DHS.
Administration officials then requested information on the taxpayers the IRS identified, which the service declined to do, citing taxpayer privacy rights.
The White House has identified the IRS as a component of its crackdown on illegal immigration and hopes that the tax agency help locate as many as 7 million people in the US without authorization. In April, homeland security struck a data sharing agreement with the treasury department – which oversees the IRS.
But Long appears to have resisted acting on that agreement, saying the IRS would not hand over confidential taxpayer information outside its statutory obligation to the treasury.
Related: Trump removes IRS commissioner Billy Long two months after he was sworn in
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson rejected the notion that the IRS was not in harmony with administration priorities.
“Any absurd assertion other than everyone being aligned on the mission is simply false and totally fake news,” Johnson told the Post. “The Trump administration is working in lockstep to eliminate information silos and to prevent illegal aliens from taking advantage of benefits meant for hardworking American taxpayers,” she addedIn fact, undocumented immigrants paid $96.7bn in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, including $59.4bn to the federal government, helping to fund social security and Medicare, despite being excluded from most benefits, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy thinktank.
DHS told the Post that its agreement with IRS “outlines a process to ensure that sensitive taxpayer information is protected, while allowing law enforcement to effectively pursue criminal violations”.
Pressure on federal agencies to conform to administration priorities has also led to pressures on the Census Bureau to conduct a mid-decade population review as well as the firing of Bureau of Labor head last week after it published a unfavorable job report.
After being dismissed on Friday, Long, a former six-term Missouri congressman, said that he would be the new US ambassador to Iceland.
“It is a honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland,” Long said in post on X. “I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead!”
He followed that up with a more humorous entry that referred to former TV Superman actor Dean Cain’s decision, at 59, to join to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agency.
“I saw where Former Superman actor Dean Cain says he’s joining ICE so I got all fired up and thought I’d do the same. So I called @realDonaldTrump last night and told him I wanted to join ICE and I guess he thought I said Iceland? Oh well.”
IRS commissioner’s removal reportedly over clash on undocumented immigrant data
Trump removed Billy Long from post months after agency said it couldn’t release information on some taxpayers
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/09/billy-long-irs-removal-immigrant-data-trump
Explicame: 7 Million Immigrant Taxpayers Could Be Investigated Over Shared IRS Data
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has initiated a controversial data-sharing program with immigration authorities, targeting up to 7 million immigrants. This move is part of a broader deportation effort under the Trump administration, following an agreement between the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agreement allows the DHS to access taxpayer information to locate immigrants facing deportation orders or federal criminal investigations.
In April, the IRS and DHS signed an agreement to share taxpayer data, marking a significant shift in policy. The IRS, which traditionally maintains strict confidentiality of taxpayer information, is now providing personal details such as names, addresses, and tax data. This initiative aims to assist the DHS in confirming the locations of individuals with final deportation orders or under federal criminal investigation.
Impact on IRS and Its Employees
The decision to share data has caused internal turmoil within the IRS. Employees were reportedly shocked by the DHS’s request to access data on 7 million immigrants. Concerns over the legality of this collaboration have led to the resignation or imminent departure of several high-ranking IRS officials. The controversy also coincides with the removal of Billy Long as IRS commissioner, further highlighting the agency’s internal challenges.
Despite the DHS’s request for information on 1.23 million individuals, the IRS shared data on less than 5% of those requested. The lack of exact matches between ICE’s data and IRS records limited the amount of information shared. This outcome has reportedly displeased the White House, which expected a more substantial data exchange to support its immigration enforcement efforts.
The data-sharing agreement raises significant legal and ethical questions. While IRS data is generally confidential, exceptions exist for law enforcement investigations. However, it remains unclear if the DHS has provided sufficient evidence to justify accessing IRS data for non-tax-related investigations. Immigration advocates argue that this agreement breaches the IRS’s duty to protect taxpayer information and sets a concerning precedent for future data sharing.
Many immigrants register with the IRS and pay taxes to demonstrate their compliance with U.S. laws, hoping it will aid their immigration cases. The new data-sharing initiative undermines this trust, potentially deterring immigrants from fulfilling their tax obligations. The fear of deportation may discourage immigrants from engaging with the IRS, impacting tax revenue and complicating immigration cases.
Washington Examiner: Trump fires IRS commissioner two months into tenure
One of King Donald’s suck-up losers gets canned:
Analysts noted that Long was a unique choice for IRS commissioner, given his relative inexperience in the field. He served as a real estate broker for 32 years and an auctioneer for 31 years before being elected to Congress as representative for Missouri, a position he held from 2011 to 2023.
His biography on the IRS website listed his only other relevant experience regarding the IRS as a stint as a morning talk show host from 1999 to 2006, “hosting a show on which the IRS was always a hot topic.”
During his time in Congress, he supported legislation to abolish the IRS altogether. After leaving Congress, he lobbied for the controversial Employee Retention Credit, a benefit meant to prevent layoffs during the pandemic. The IRS warned that the program was rife with fraud.
Despite concerns over his experience, Long was easily approved in the Senate in a 53-44 vote.
Trump fires IRS commissioner two months into tenure
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as interim commissioner until a replacement is found. No reason was given for Long’s removal so soon into his term.
Straight Arrow News: National Guard, DEA raid illegal marijuana farms in Southern California
More than 300 National Guard troops initially tasked with aiding law enforcement in the Los Angeles protests and subsequent unrest assisted federal agents during the week of June 15 in a large-scale raid targeting three suspected illegal marijuana farms in Thermal, a desert community in Riverside County, California. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led the operation, which spanned approximately 787 acres in the Coachella Valley.
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However, California officials argue that extending the Guard’s role to operations far from Los Angeles exceeds Trump’s authority. In a federal court filing cited by The Los Angeles Times, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office stated that the marijuana farm raids were not related to protecting federal property or personnel in Los Angeles, and questioned whether the president’s order remains legally valid, given the changed circumstances.
The dispute centers on whether Trump’s extended use of the National Guard violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement without congressional approval. Bonta’s office asked the court to review whether federalized troops can operate in areas where no violence or protests are occurring. Defense Department documents indicate that the deployment could last 60 days or longer, at the discretion of the secretary of defense.
National Guard, DEA raid illegal marijuana farms in Southern California
A federal raid in Thermal sparked a legal fight over Trump’s use of National Guard troops for immigration enforcement far from Los Angeles.
https://san.com/cc/national-guard-dea-raid-illegal-marijuana-farms-in-southern-california
Daily Caller: Feds ‘Tracing Money’ Behind LA Riots In Expanding Probe
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is “currently tracing money” connected to the recent left-wing riots in Los Angeles in partnership with other agencies, Trump administration officials announced Tuesday.
IRS, FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) leaders said in a video posted to X that their agencies are working together to investigate financial support for anti-deportation riots that rocked Los Angeles for several days starting June 6. The unrest has led to nearly $20 million in costs for Los Angeles so far and more than 550 arrests on charges such as resisting, obstructing or delaying, attempted murder, looting and vandalism.
There’s surely a grand conspiracy in there somewhere. If the feds can’t find one, they’ll invent one.
DOJ prosecutor Bill Essayli noted the Thursday arrest of a man on charges of conspiracy to commit and aiding and abetting civil disorders for allegedly handing out face shields to rioters. “These violent agitators put peaceful demonstrators at risk,” he said.
If you believe the feds, every one of them is a hardened murderer in desperate need of deportation. The reality is that most “rioters” are peaceful demonstrators being assaulted with tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber bullets. There is no reason why lawful demonstrators should be denied face protection.
https://dailycaller.com/2025/06/18/feds-tracing-money-behind-los-angeles-riots-fbi-irs-doj
CBS News: Hundreds of border agents to help ICE with arrests in U.S. interior
The Trump administration is planning to dispatch hundreds of border agents to different parts of the country so they can help Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest unauthorized immigrants in the U.S interior, three sources familiar with the plan told CBS News.
The plan would be the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to muster the vast resources and personnel of agencies across the federal government to support ICE in its bid to carry out what the president has vowed will be the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
The effort is expected to involve around 500 personnel from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including green-uniformed Border Patrol agents in charge of interdicting the illicit entry of migrants and drugs, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal governments plans that have not been announced.
Wonderful, the Gestapo just got larger. 🙄
Trump administration planning to send hundreds of border agents to support ICE arrests in U.S. interior
The Trump administration is planning to dispatch Border Patrol agents to help with ICE arrests, part of a wider gambit to boost deportations by enlisting agencies across the government.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-ice-arrests-border-agents