President Trump has not only halted but reversed the surge of illegal immigration seen under the Biden administration, according to early data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Preliminary analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies, based on the Census’s monthly survey, indicates that from January to May, the number of immigrants in the U.S. labor force declined by roughly 600,000, while the total immigrant population dropped by approximately 957,000, the Washington Times reports, citing the data.
“It looks like there’s been a Trump effect on the number of illegal immigrants in the country, based on the best data that we have,” said Steven A. Camarota, the lead author of the study. He now estimates there are 14.8 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.—a decrease of one million since January, when President Biden handed over control to President Trump.
Trump is mounting a full-scale effort to remove illegal immigrants from the United States. Deportation officers, no longer constrained by Biden-era limits, have been instructed to significantly ramp up arrests. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security is encouraging voluntary “self-deportation” before individuals are apprehended. The southern border has also been effectively sealed to illegal crossings at levels not seen in recent history, preventing new arrivals from replacing those who are removed.
Agricultural businesses have raised concerns that much of their predominantly illegal immigrant workforce is no longer showing up, posing a potential threat to the U.S. farming industry. Broader business groups have also sounded alarms about wider labor shortages.
However, Steven Camarota argued that the decline in illegal immigration presents a chance for American workers who had previously been competing with undocumented labor for jobs. “I think that this is good news particularly for less-educated Americans who are likely to see a rise in wages,” he said. “Maybe it’ll even be helpful in dragging some of these non-college-educated men who are working age back into the labor force.”
