While the personal tolls of the immigration sweeps are immeasurable, the economic cost for the country is starting to be visible, reports Jason Ma of Fortune.
A recent analysis by Deutsche Bank highlights the consequences that current immigration enforcement actions will have on the economy, especially in the workforce.
“While everyone is focused on the impact of tariffs, the real story for the U.S. economy is the collapse in immigration: down more than 90% compared to the run rate of previous years, equivalent to a slowing in labour force growth of more than 2 million people,” said George Saravelos, head of FX research at Deutsche Bank.
The workforce loss is already happening as reported by Augusta Saraiva and Jonnelle Marte of Bloomberg. The U.S. Department of Labor published its monthly employment report, which showed a contraction in the national labor force during May, with foreign-born workers experiencing the steepest consecutive declines since 2020.
In California — where major raids happened last weekend leading to protests — the state’s economy largely relies on foreign-born labor, report Laurence Darmiento and Samantha Masunaga of the Los Angeles Times.
Speaking of the raids in Los Angeles, some of those migrants detained at their workplace have already been deported, report Arelis R. Hernández and Marianne LeVine of The Washington Post.
In an interview with the Post, the family of Juan Fernando, a 23-year-old Mexican, recounted how he was dropped off at an international bridge and told to walk back to Mexico after signing what he thought was a consent form for a coronavirus test.
“The way they deported him wasn’t right,” said Fernando’s father. According to the family, the deportation took place so quickly that Juan Fernando was unable to have an attorney.
Yesterday, other families spoke at a press conference in Los Angeles outside of the Ambiance Apparel warehouse where their relatives were arrested and have yet to be heard from since, reports Maanvi Singh of The Guardian.
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s assistant VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Jillian Clark, Callie Jacobson, Broc Murphy and Becka Wall. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected].
WARTIME POWERS — Trevor Hughes and Lauren Villagran of USA Today analyze how the White House continues to invoke wartime powers to control immigration. One of the president’s recent actions has been to deploy the National Guard in response to immigration protests in Los Angeles. Yesterday, the administration announced that another 2,000 National Guard troops along with 700 Marines will be sent to the city, reports a team at the Associated Press.
NEW PRIORITIES — Under new leadership, the FBI has shifted its focus to violent crime and immigration, reports Eric Tucker of the Associated Press. Tucker notes that these new priorities — accompanied by structural changes— align the bureau with President Trump’s vision. Former officials have expressed concerns on how the changes may affect national security: “If you’re…looking for… lower-level criminals, you’re going to miss…the more sophisticated strategic issues,” said Chris Piehota, former FBI executive assistant director.
OVERLOOKED — Over 500 local police departments have signed 287(g) agreements to assist with immigration enforcement despite multiple reports criticizing a lack of oversight, reports Rafael Carranza of Arizona Luminaria and Gabriel Sandoval of ProPublica. A previous 2018 Department of Homeland Security report highlights that limited training and oversight of local officers has led to racial profiling and legal challenges. Separately, Jack Fink of CBS News Texas highlights a bill awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) signature that requires local jails to collaborate with ICE.
ABREGO GARCIA — After a series of court battles and much public discussion, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in the United States, two months after the federal government admitted to mistakenly deporting him to El Salvador, reports a team at ABC News. The Baltimore father now faces charges accusing him of participating in a conspiracy to bring migrants from Texas into the more interior states.
