A damning new study has revealed that President Donald Trump’s migrant crackdown has failed to produce the job gains he promised his supporters on the campaign trail.
Trump, 80, has long claimed that his mass deportation blitz would unleash an economic boom by freeing up jobs for Americans, declaring in 2024 that immigrants are “taking your jobs” and promising, “We’re going to save you.”
A bombshell study now reveals that Trump’s sweeping deportation blitz this term has had the opposite effect, with there even being a slight decline in employment among American-born men since he returned to office.
“We show no evidence of positive effects of the labor market outcomes of U.S.-born workers,” the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonpartisan research organization, wrote of their findings.
They add, “Instead, ICE activity lowers the employment rate of U.S.-born male workers, likely driven by a combination of complementarities in production and reductions in economic activity, both reducing labor demand for U.S.-born workers.”
The study found that in areas targeted by ICE, there was no evidence that employers raised wages to attract U.S.-born workers, nor did it find wage increases among U.S. born men.
The nonpartisan think tank Immigrant Research Initiative said that jobs commonly filled by undocumented immigrants often support and complement jobs held by U.S.-born workers.
“For instance, in the construction industry, a high concentration of roofers and construction laborers are immigrants, and are often undocumented, while a high concentration of electricians and plumbers are U.S.-born. Then when construction companies cannot find laborers, they build less, and hire fewer electricians,” the IRI writes.
The IRI also noted that mass deportation operations can harm local workforces and economies because fear of ICE means both undocumented immigrants and legal residents may “no longer shop at businesses, eat at restaurants, and pay taxes.”
This month alone, federal immigration agents shot and killed two people by firing into their cars, bringing the number of people shot at by deportation agents since his return to 23, according to The New York Times.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump touted the economy during a rally in Michigan on Monday. He claimed “the Golden Age of America is upon us,” despite gas and grocery prices remaining sky high a year-and-a-half into his term, and added that “we’re having the single greatest year we’ve ever had as a country.”
But the labor market experienced almost zero job growth in Trump’s first year back in office, adding just 181,000 jobs in 2025 compared with 1.46 million jobs added in 2024, according to NBC News.
The unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent in June, up slightly from 4.0 percent in January 2025, when Trump was inaugurated.
A CBS News survey conducted last week found that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy and 58 percent say his policies made them financially worse off.
