Latest news with #CenterForImmigrationStudies
CBS News
3 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Trump's deportation efforts could impact these industries and states that rely on undocumented workers
The Trump administration resumed more aggressive workplace immigration enforcement earlier this week after briefly pausing arrests at farms, hotels and restaurants last week. "The message is clear now that we're going to continue doing worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels, but based on a prioritized basis," President Trump's "border czar," Tom Homan, said Thursday, adding, "Criminals come first." The White House argues that undocumented workers drive down wages and take jobs from American-born workers. But some farming and hospitality industry leaders have warned the administration that large-scale deportations could disrupt operations, as many of these workers fill essential jobs that are difficult to replace with domestic labor. Undocumented immigrants make up a sizable slice of the workforce in not only hospitality and farming but also construction and manufacturing. Additionally, undocumented workers are spread across the U.S., including in blue states like California and New Jersey, and in states that supported Mr. Trump in the 2024 election, like Texas, Florida, and Nevada, which have some of the biggest shares of unauthorized workers. Here's a closer look at the industries most dependent on undocumented workers and the states where these workers are concentrated. Undocumented workers in key industries The Center for Immigration Studies estimated in 2024 that there are about 14 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. The most recent detailed breakdown by sector and state comes from the Pew Research Center's analysis of Census data from 2022. According to that study, there were an estimated 8.3 million undocumented immigrants who were part of the workforce, out of 11 million total in the country at that time. These workers made up 4.8% of the overall U.S. workforce, according to Pew, but they were a much larger share of the workforce in several essential industries. Nearly 1 in 5 household workers and landscapers, 16% of crop workers and meat processors, 14% of apparel manufacturing workers and 13% of construction workers were undocumented immigrants, Pew estimated. The numbers were even higher depending on the occupation. One-third of roofers and workers who install drywall and ceiling tiles were undocumented, as were a quarter of maids and housekeepers, and nearly one-fifth of brickmasons. Because the U.S. Census does not directly ask about legal status, the number of unauthorized immigrants and their participation in the workforce is inexact. Pew Research Center analyzed the American Community Survey from 2022, and Goldman Sachs produced similar estimates based on the 2023 version of the survey. The share of undocumented workers in a given industry may be even higher than estimates based on the Census. A survey by the Department of Agriculture from 2021 to 2022 found that 42% of 2,600 crop workers interviewed did not have work authorization. Industry leaders have said the renewed deportation push is making it harder to operate. American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall expressed disappointment on Tuesday in the administration's decision to restart immigration arrests on farms, forecasting that it could lead to inflated food prices for American consumers. "Unfortunately, domestic workers do not apply for farm jobs, despite aggressive hiring efforts. Without farm workers, vegetables will be left in the fields, fruit will remain unpicked, and cows will go unmilked. The end result is a reduced food supply and higher grocery prices for all of America's families," Duvall said in a statement. Research also indicates that deportation can also lead to fewer jobs for native-born workers. One study of the Obama administration's Secure Communities program, which deported nearly half a million undocumented immigrants, estimated that for every 1 million people deported, the number of jobs held by U.S.-born people would be reduced by 88,000. "You can think about foreign-born workers taking jobs like a construction worker or a dishwasher at a local restaurant, and then once people are in those jobs employers are also able to hire construction managers and waiters and waitresses. And those are jobs typically taken by U.S.-born workers," economist Chloe East, the study's author, told CBS News. Researchers at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, estimate that if all of the unauthorized workers in the country were deported, U.S. GDP could fall as much as 7.4% below baseline by 2028. Share of undocumented workers by state President Trump said in a recent post on social media that his administration would focus on deportation efforts in Democrat-led cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, which he characterized as the places where "millions upon millions of illegal aliens reside." But research indicates the undocumented population is spread across the country in both blue- and red-leaning states. Unauthorized immigrants make up the greatest share of both the population and workforce in Nevada and Texas — two states Mr. Trump won in 2024 — where the Pew Research Center estimates over 8% of workers were undocumented as of 2022. In California, where immigration enforcement raids sparked protests last week, Pew estimated that as of 2022, 7.2% of the workforce was undocumented. In New York, the figure was about 5%. Texas Restaurant Association CEO and president Emily Williams Knight told CBS News that some restaurants in the state are experiencing staffing issues because workers are afraid to come to work amid the crackdown. "You have to remember, if people stop going to work in restaurants, that means restaurants can't serve their community. That means the dollar that restaurants put into each community, for a dollar spent, goes away, and then those workers are also not spending," Knight said. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, "While the President remains focused on immediately removing dangerous criminal illegal aliens from the country, including those given safe harbor in Democrat-run sanctuary cities, anyone who is here illegally is liable to be deported." Jackson added, "Any suggestion that enforcing immigration law will hurt the workforce misses the forest for the trees — there is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force."
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Illegal border crossings at record lows as crackdown spreads
SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico ‒ The U.S.-Mexico border used to buzz with illegal migration at a scale President Donald Trump called an "invasion." Now soldiers surveil the desert from military vehicles, Border Patrol radios are silent and illegal crossings have fallen to record lows. Reaching far beyond the border, deep into the country's heartland, Trump insists America is under "invasion" and has continued to invoke wartime powers to stop it. He has transformed the borderland into a military base, made arrests by masked agents a common sight in America and packed detention centers with immigrants, the vast majority without criminal records. Trump's aggressive actions – and protestors' increasingly violent opposition – have touched off a furious national debate about civil rights, the rule of law and what the word "invasion" really means. Trump is known for his verbal flourishes, but declaring an "invasion" in numerous executive actions is one way to unlock extraordinary federal authorities, often reserved for wartime, said Jessica Vaughan, of the right-leaning Center for Immigration Studies. "It was not just meant to rile people up, or to just be used as a melodramatic description, but it was meant to trigger a certain response under certain authorities," she said. The word "invasion" appears in at least 12 of Trump's executive orders, proclamations and memoranda since he took office Jan. 20, according to a USA TODAY review. He has ramped up military rhetoric in official orders, even as his administration touts its success in stopping border crossings. In a May 9 proclamation, after months of increased border security, Trump declared that he wants to "end this invasion, remove the illegal-alien invaders from the United States, and protect the American people." The mass arrival of migrants under President Joe Biden pushed the United States to its highest percentage of foreign-born people in a century. Trump's moves to reverse it by deporting millions is transforming the country again, redefining what it means for the United States to be a nation of immigrants. From immigration raids at construction sites in Florida, dairy farms in Vermont and restaurants in California; to the detentions of college students in Massachusetts and targeting of alleged gang members in Colorado apartment complexes, the Trump administration is sending a firm message to millions of immigrants: You aren't welcome here. The president's most vocal supporters see a chief executive delivering rapid results. Craig Johnson, 67, rallied for Trump at a campaign stop in Las Vegas last year. The Navy vet supports the ramp-up in deportations – especially after the VA recently cut back his benefits, he said. He is appealing the cutback, but he also believes immigrants have drained resources. "There are so many people that were here illegally that were getting food stamps or medical," he said. "The impact it's had on citizens is just horrendous." But other Americans are growing increasingly concerned as the president's agents adopt aggressive, fear-inducing arrest tactics and widen their net to target otherwise law-abiding immigrants alongside murderers, rapists, and drug dealers. "They've created a war zone in our community for a war that's imagined," said Laura Lunn, director of advocacy and litigation for the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. "It's making us all feel less safe. People are losing trust in law enforcement." Some migrant advocates are becoming militant in their opposition to Trump's agenda, in some cases adopting tactics commonly associated with resistance fighters, mapping the movement of ICE agents and increasingly engaging in physical confrontations. On June 6 and 7, hundreds of protestors clashed violently with federal agents in Los Angeles, after dozens of immigrant arrests were carried out by masked agents riding in armored vehicles. The Trump administration dispatched U.S. Border Patrol tactical agents to the city in response and deployed 2,000 members of the National Guard. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass condemned how agents carried out the detentions. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of public safety in our city," she said in a statement. "We will not stand for this." Some former immigration agents and military personnel also have concerns about the new enforcement tactics. In California, retired Homeland Security Investigations special agent Patrick Comey dedicated three decades of his life to enforcing U.S. immigration laws. But the Trump administration's tactics – splashy arrests by agents in heavy tactical gear – are "becoming more and more distressing every day." "This is not the America that I was trained to serve," he told USA TODAY. Army veteran Jose Diaz was outside the Buona Forchetta Italian restaurant in San Diego on May 30, when immigration agents tried to drive their vehicles through an angry crowd and deployed two flash-bang grenades, one of which went off by his foot. Diaz said he had never seen soldiers overseas use such tactics on a crowd of unarmed civilians. 'We had much stricter rules of engagement than these agents had,' he said. On a morning in mid-May, near the rusted steel U.S.-Mexico border fence in southern New Mexico, soldiers surveilled the desert from inside an eight-wheeled Stryker vehicle. Hours went by without a single illegal crossing. Trump's aggressive new policies helped drive down illegal migration at the Mexican border, accelerating a sharp decline that began in the last year of the Biden administration. Citing the "invasion," Trump deployed troops to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California and declared a strip of land along the border a "National Defense Area." Migrants who enter that territory can be charged with illegal entry and trespassing on a military installation. The administration is already shifting its focus from the border to the country's interior. "The prior administration allowed unchecked millions of aliens to illegally enter the United States," Trump said in an April 28 executive order. "This invasion at the southern border requires the federal government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the states." Stephen Miller, Trump's top immigration advisor, has long argued that vast government powers and the military should be deployed to combat the migrant "invasion." Miller, who as White House deputy chief of staff has helped shape Trump's muscular new approach to immigration enforcement, argues liberal Americans are more interested in sob stories about law-breaking immigrants than they are about protecting their country. On social media, he called the protests in Los Angeles "an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States," adding in a comment directed to Bass, the mayor: "You have no say in this at all. Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced." But Trump's reliance on the military to combat the "invasion" has some critics worried that a president who grows accustomed to using the military in one arena may be increasingly willing to deploy soldiers elsewhere inside the country. The border military build-up "is part of an effort to take on internal missions," said Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight for the left-leaning Washington Office on Latin America. "The authoritarian needs an enemy to start, to galvanize the population," he said. "You use the word invasion; it's immigrants for now." Courts around the country have put the brakes on some of Trump's efforts to reverse or combat the "invasion." Federal judges have been quick to thwart his more controversial efforts, from his invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport certain immigrants without due process; to his targeting of pro-Palestinian protesters because the White House didn't like what they said. Prof. Michael Kagan, who runs the Immigration Clinic at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas law school, said Trump's use of wartime language reflects the administration's deliberate effort to sway both the courts and public opinion by invoking national security. During war, he said, the courts and the general public have given the president broad deference to exercise powers that could never be justified during peacetime. Kagan cited the preemptive incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II as an example of a presidential action that was at the time endorsed by the courts but later widely deemed both unconstitutional and morally wrong. "They're hoping to tap into a broader norm in America, where the courts allow the executive to get away with a lot more during a war," he said. Kagan said current efforts targeting immigrants are akin to to the military testing new weapons systems: a small number of agents trying different tactics against a relatively small number of people to find the most effective path forward to meeting Trump's 1-million-per-year deportation goal. "They're seeing what can we get away with," said Kagan, adding the courts should block any effort to curb due process before the practice becomes widespread. Congress appears poised to pour $150 billion in new funding to back Trump's efforts, according to an analysis of a reconciliation budget bill by the American Immigration Council. That's more than double the current Department of Homeland Security budget and would represent a dramatic expansion of the department's reach. "If you think bad things are happening now, wait till they get tons more money," said Matthew Soerens, vice president of advocacy and policy for World Relief, a Christian humanitarian organization. The organization has argued against deporting people who benefitted from Biden-era immigration programs and followed the rules at the time. Soerens says what happened wasn't an "invasion." "We want DHS to have enough money to deport violent criminals and ensure secure borders," Soerens said. "We don't want them to have enough money to deport people who came here under the rules we gave them." Contributed: Eduardo Cuevas This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump claims new wartime powers to step up immigration crackdown
Washington Post
30-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
What is a 'sanctuary jurisdiction' and how was the US list of them made?
The U.S. government's list of 'sanctuary jurisdictions' that includes hundreds of communities, both red and blue, is confounding critics. They have noticed the list included misspellings, communities with small immigrant populations, and those with strong support for cooperation with federal authorities. Jessica Vaughan is director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors anti-sanctuary policies and started publishing a list of sanctuary jurisdictions 10 years ago. The center's list is different from the government's. Vaughan noted that the center discloses its methodology and frequently updates its list.
Associated Press
30-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
What is a 'sanctuary jurisdiction' and how was the US list of them made?
The U.S. government's list of 'sanctuary jurisdictions' that includes hundreds of communities, both red and blue, is confounding critics. They have noticed the list included misspellings, communities with small immigrant populations, and those with strong support for cooperation with federal authorities. Jessica Vaughan is director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors anti-sanctuary policies and started publishing a list of sanctuary jurisdictions 10 years ago. The center's list is different from the government's. Vaughan noted that the center discloses its methodology and frequently updates its list. 'That's one thing that I feel is missing from the (government's) list is some documentation as to why they're appearing on the list,' she said. A message was left Friday seeking comment from DHS. The list is part of the Trump administration's efforts to target communities, states and jurisdiction s that it says aren't doing enough to help its immigration enforcement agenda and the promises the president made to deport more than 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal authorization. What are the stakes? The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney general will send them official notice to the 500 jurisdictions on the list 'regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law,' according to an executive order from President Donald Trump. The list could be updated when the administration receives new information, but those that remain on the list could face serious financial consequences, including suspended or terminated federal grants and contracts by the Office of Management and Budget. It is not clear what legal actions the government will pursue. How was the list made? DHS said it used several factors to make the list, including whether the cities or localities identified themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions, how much they complied with federal officials enforcing immigration laws, if they had restrictions on sharing information with immigration enforcement or had any legal protections for people illegally in the country. But experts noted that the list is too broad and it is difficult to understand the criteria used to make it. 'It seems quite arbitrary because not all of these states or specific jurisdictions have a policy that limits cooperation with ICE,' said Nithya Nathan-Pineau, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. How did communities that support Trump's policies end up on the list? That's unclear. Several communities said they have been outspoken supporters of the president and his stringent immigration policies and do not understand why they have been included. Among them: Shawano County, Wisconsin; Alexandria, Virginia; and Huntington Beach, California. Jim Davel, administrator for Shawano County, thinks the administration may have confused the county's vote in 2021 to become a 'Second Amendment Sanctuary County' that prohibits gun control measures with it being a safe haven for immigrants. He said the county has approved no immigration sanctuary policies. What is a sanctuary city? There is no clear definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but it is generally understood to apply to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. DHS said it took into account 'factors like compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens.' The notion of sanctuary dates back to Medieval Europe, when civil law enforcement entities were not allowed to enter churches, Cesar Garcia Hernandez, a professor at Ohio State University's College of Law, explained Friday. The term evolved into the 'sanctuary movement' among U.S. churches and other religious institutions that would house Central Americans fleeing civil war in the 1980s. 'There there was no legal guarantee of immunity for people who were who were spending their time inside church buildings, but there was policy' that prohibited immigration arrests, Garcia Hernandez said. That changed under the current Trump administration. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a nongovernmental organization, said that when compiling its own list of sanctuary jurisdictions, it considers how they limit interactions with ICE and federal law enforcement, and how they protect information. ___ Associated Press writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, also contributed.
The Independent
30-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
What is a 'sanctuary jurisdiction' and how was the US list of them made?
The U.S. government's list of 'sanctuary jurisdictions' that includes hundreds of communities, both red and blue, is confounding critics. They have noticed the list included misspellings, communities with small immigrant populations, and those with strong support for cooperation with federal authorities. Jessica Vaughan is director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors anti-sanctuary policies and started publishing a list of sanctuary jurisdictions 10 years ago. The center's list is different from the government's. Vaughan noted that the center discloses its methodology and frequently updates its list. 'That's one thing that I feel is missing from the (government's) list is some documentation as to why they're appearing on the list,' she said. A message was left Friday seeking comment from DHS. The list is part of the Trump administration's efforts to target communities, states and jurisdiction s that it says aren't doing enough to help its immigration enforcement agenda and the promises the president made to deport more than 11 million people living in the U.S. without legal authorization. What are the stakes? The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. attorney general will send them official notice to the 500 jurisdictions on the list 'regarding its defiance of Federal immigration law enforcement and any potential violations of Federal criminal law,' according to an executive order from President Donald Trump. The list could be updated when the administration receives new information, but those that remain on the list could face serious financial consequences, including suspended or terminated federal grants and contracts by the Office of Management and Budget. It is not clear what legal actions the government will pursue. How was the list made? DHS said it used several factors to make the list, including whether the cities or localities identified themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions, how much they complied with federal officials enforcing immigration laws, if they had restrictions on sharing information with immigration enforcement or had any legal protections for people illegally in the country. But experts noted that the list is too broad and it is difficult to understand the criteria used to make it. 'It seems quite arbitrary because not all of these states or specific jurisdictions have a policy that limits cooperation with ICE,' said Nithya Nathan-Pineau, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. How did communities that support Trump's policies end up on the list? That's unclear. Several communities said they have been outspoken supporters of the president and his stringent immigration policies and do not understand why they have been included. Among them: Shawano County, Wisconsin; Alexandria, Virginia; and Huntington Beach, California. Jim Davel, administrator for Shawano County, thinks the administration may have confused the county's vote in 2021 to become a 'Second Amendment Sanctuary County' that prohibits gun control measures with it being a safe haven for immigrants. He said the county has approved no immigration sanctuary policies. What is a sanctuary city? There is no clear definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but it is generally understood to apply to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. DHS said it took into account 'factors like compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions, and legal protections for illegal aliens.' The notion of sanctuary dates back to Medieval Europe, when civil law enforcement entities were not allowed to enter churches, Cesar Garcia Hernandez, a professor at Ohio State University's College of Law, explained Friday. The term evolved into the 'sanctuary movement' among U.S. churches and other religious institutions that would house Central Americans fleeing civil war in the 1980s. 'There there was no legal guarantee of immunity for people who were who were spending their time inside church buildings, but there was policy' that prohibited immigration arrests, Garcia Hernandez said. That changed under the current Trump administration. The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a nongovernmental organization, said that when compiling its own list of sanctuary jurisdictions, it considers how they limit interactions with ICE and federal law enforcement, and how they protect information. ___ Associated Press writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, also contributed.
