Fresh Evidence: “Mass Deportation is Making America Poorer, Weaker, and Less Safe”

Access online version of this press release HERE

Washington, DC — The Trump administration’s mass deportation crusade is coming at a tremendous cost: the safety and cohesion of American communities, our basic rights and dignities, and Americans’ economic security and major industries.

The following is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“Mass deportation is making America poorer, weaker, and less safe. At the same time, it’s trampling on the rights and dignities of all of us, U.S. citizens and immigrants alike.

What we continue to witness in Chicago and Portland, for example, should in no way be normalized or explained away as business as usual. We have children fearful about going to school, churches with empty pews due to the threat of arrest, U.S. citizens being ensnared in the dragnet, and legal residents being profiled and fined for not carrying their paperwork proving their status. This against the backdrop of ICE operating as a rogue agency and the President threatening to jail the Governor of Illinois and Mayor of Chicago while trying to deploy the military to provoke, instead of protect.

Meanwhile, we have fresh official reports from Trump’s own administration clearly stating that mass deportation is driving up food prices, harming Americans’ economic security, and endangering the future of the U.S. agriculture industry. The Department of Labor detailed in the Federal Register that the administration’s immigration crackdown risks ‘supply shock-induced food shortages’ and higher food prices for American families.

All of it underscores the tremendous costs – and misplaced priorities – of mass deportation and compels us to speak out and demand better – for immigrants, our nation and each other.”

Among the key clips and coverage underscoring the high costs of mass deportation include:

The Community and Public Safety Costs of Mass Deportation

• Jason Houser, former ICE Chief of Staff, in a New York Times op-ed, “This Isn’t Crisis Response. It’s Crisis Construction,” noting: “immigration enforcement has become the administration’s primary political weapon — not to solve problems, but to manufacture fear, provoke outrage and stage an illusion of control. This isn’t a crisis response. It’s a crisis construction … The blueprint is: Create chaos. Blame the chaos. Then offer yourself as the cure. This plan is already underway. The question now is if the rest of us will keep pretending this is law and order.”

• Tim Miller of The Bulwark interviews George Retes, the U.S. veteran and citizen who ICE detained for three days, including two in solitary confinement. As Miller stated, “the story absolutely shook me” (watch this disturbing excerpt of Retes describing his experiences here).

• Chicago Tribune, “ICE tickets Chicago man with legal residency $130 for not having his papers on him: ‘It’s not fair…I’m a resident’”

The Economic Costs of Mass Deportation for All Americans

• The American Prospect, “Trump Labor Department Says His Immigration Raids Are Causing a Food Crisis”
• Washington Post, “Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices”
• Fortune, “Trump’s own Labor Department quietly admits his immigration crackdown risks ‘supply shock-induced food shortages’ and higher prices”
• Newsweek, “Businesses Sound Alarm on Urgent Labor Shortages Amid Immigration Crackdown”
• Watch a recent virtual event convened by America’s Voice on mass deportation’s costs to key American industries and their workforce. Read the post event release here