“At What Cost?” The Economic Toll on Ag, Construction, Senior Care and Hospitality of Trump & GOP’s Mass Deportations

NYTimes deep dive looks at fears, labor shortages and economic devastation facing key industries and downstream effect on American economy and consumers; Access online version of this press release HERE

Washington, DC — As America’s Voice has been highlighting in our new “At What Cost?” campaign, all Americans will pay a high price because of Trump and Republicans’ chaotic and cruel immigration agenda and mass deportation obsessions. As their early enforcement actions underscore, and plans to turbocharge their current deportation efforts further make clear, the Trump administration is not targeting public safety threats and the “worst of the worst” as promised, but instead is seeking to purge as many immigrants as possible.

This includes valued and essential workers for major economic sectors. A New York Times story, “A Chill Sets In for Undocumented Workers, and Those Who Hire Them,” focuses on several key industries heavily reliant on immigrant labor: construction, agriculture, senior care and hospitality. As Rebecca Davis O’Brien and Miriam Jordan write, “Fear has gripped America’s undocumented workers. Many are staying home. The impact is being felt not only in immigrant homes and communities, but also in the industries that rely on immigrants as a source of willing and inexpensive labor, including residential construction, agriculture, senior care and hospitality. American consumers will soon feel the pain” (see below for additional excerpts, categorized by each of those four industries).

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“Mass deportations will harm both our America’s interests and values – splitting apart families, dampening the economy and gutting key industries such as ag, construction, senior care, and hospitality. As economic worries surge, including renewed inflation concerns, at what cost will the Trump administration continue to pursue their unsparing, random and directly harmful mass deportation obsessions? Consumers and employers are already asking that question, knowing that from tariff chaos to anti-immigrant obsessions, the Trump agenda is directly harmful to America.”

Below, find key quotes and details from the New York Times reporting on several key industries’ fears about mass deportations.

• Construction: “In construction, up to 19 percent of all workers are undocumented, according to independent estimates — and the share is higher in many states. Their contribution is even more pronounced in residential construction, where industry leaders have warned of an acute labor shortage. ‘Any removals of construction workers is going to exacerbate that problem,’ said Nik Theodore, a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. ‘Inevitably, it will slow the work, which leads to cost increases, because of the production delays.’ This would have a profound impact on the construction industry and everybody involved, from developers to private homeowners.”

• Agriculture: “Tom Deardorff, who runs [Deardorff Family Farms in Oxnard, Calif, said], ‘These people have come into our country to do this work … We owe them not just ‘thank you.’ We owe them the common decency and dignity to not be threatened by government draconian penalties.’ The U.S. farming sector has suffered a labor shortage for decades. Immigrants, mainly from Mexico and Central America, have filled the void: Farmers say they cannot find American-born laborers to do the strenuous work. More than 40 percent of the nation’s crop workers are immigrants without legal status, according to estimates by the Department of Agriculture, yet many have lived in the United States for decades.”
• Senior Care: “Kezia Scales, vice president at PHI, a national research and advocacy organization focused on long-term care for older adults and people with disabilities, said her industry was already facing a ‘recruitment crisis.’ ‘If immigrants are prevented from entering this work force or are forced to leave the country by restrictive immigration policies and rhetoric,’ she said, ‘we will face systems collapse and catastrophic consequences for millions of people who rely on these workers.’”

Resources

• Read about the new America’s Voice “At What Cost” campaign and visit the accompanying website. The campaign will illustrate the indiscriminate and obsessive nature of Trump’s efforts and his allies in Congress to separate our families, deport our established friends and neighbors, and wreak havoc on our economy.