Press Releases

News from EPI New analysis finds that Trump’s deportation agenda will eliminate nearly 6 million jobs: Immigrant and U.S.-born workers will suffer job losses in every state

Trump’s deportation agenda will wipe out millions of jobs held by immigrant and U.S.-born workers, according to a new Economic Policy Institute report.

The Republican budget bill just signed into law will dramatically boost funding for immigration enforcement. If the Trump administration follows through on its stated goal of deporting 4 million people over four years, the analysis finds that:

  • Nearly 6 million jobs will be lost: There will be 3.3 million fewer employed immigrants and 2.6 million fewer employed U.S.-born workers.
  • The construction and child care sectors will be hardest hit: Almost half of the job losses will be in construction and child care—both sectors will shrink by more than 15%.
  • Every state will suffer job losses: California, Florida, New York, and Texas will have the highest number of job losses due to larger immigrant populations in these states.

Because jobs held by U.S.-born and immigrant workers are often complementary and economically linked, the shrinking supply of immigrant labor can adversely affect employer demand for jobs held by both groups of workers. Increased deportations and the threat of aggressive immigration enforcement also reduce aggregate demand by shrinking the number of consumers and business owners. Further, making immigrants’ employment situation more precarious limits their outside options and puts downward pressure on the wages and employment of all workers.

The analysis builds on recent economic research that found previous increases in immigration enforcement caused widespread job losses for both immigrant and U.S.-born workers. In addition to national estimates, the report also includes impacts of increased deportations by state for overall and construction-sector employment.

“Trump’s radical mass deportation agenda will destroy millions of jobs for immigrant and U.S.-born workers, particularly in construction and child care. While Trump and other conservatives claim that increased deportations will somehow magically create jobs for U.S.-born workers, the existing evidence shows that the opposite is true: they will cause immense harm to workers and families, shrink the economy, and weaken the labor market for everyone,” said Ben Zipperer, EPI senior economist.