ICE Immigration Enforcement Has Harmed U.S. Workers, Research Shows

Not that surprising:

New research finds that Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity has harmed U.S.-born workers. The findings contradict a central policy justification for ICE raids and arrest quotas in U.S. cities. Earlier this year, ICE and Border Patrol agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis and generated widespread protests. The new research shows ICE activity also caused economic disruption and failed to deliver on the administration’s promise to improve the economic situation of U.S. workers.

Immigration Surge Did Not Help U.S.-Born Workers

Under the Trump administration, ICE and Border Patrol agents surged into Minneapolis, Los Angeles and other major cities. Economists Chloe N. East and Elizabeth Cox at the University of Colorado Boulder examined the impact of immigration enforcement actions in a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. While immigration enforcement has increased nationwide during the Trump administration, the researchers compared areas that “experienced a sudden, large increase in ICE arrests” to places that did not.

One research finding is unsurprising: Among individuals identified as likely undocumented immigrants not physically removed from the labor market, ICE activity produced a “chilling effect” of interacting with ICE, leading to a 4% reduction in employment. According to the research, in an average area, approximately six undocumented immigrants dropped out of the labor force for every one ICE arrest. That may help explain why employers often express difficulties in finding workers well beyond the number of people arrested or deported.

The research finds ICE arrests have not helped and, indeed, likely harmed U.S.-born workers, including those with a high school education or less. “There is a negative and significant impact on employment of U.S.-born male workers with at most a high-school education, who work in likely affected sectors,” according to the study. “This is consistent with a model where undocumented immigrants and U.S.-born workers are complements, rather than substitutes for each other in the labor market.”

There are additional disappointing results for administration officials, such as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, to ponder: “We see no evidence that employers increase wages to attract U.S.-born workers to fill these jobs in the face of immigration enforcement,” write East and Cox. “Instead, our results are consistent with employers reducing labor demand overall, including for jobs more often taken by U.S.-born workers.”

Source: ICE Immigration Enforcement Has Harmed U.S. Workers, Research Shows