For the first time in 50 years, America's immigrant population is shrinking, thanks to President Trump's hardline policies.
It makes for a stunning reversal after a historic Biden-era influx that drove the foreign-born population to its highest level ever.
As reported by the Washington Post, the immigrant population is heading for a net loss for the first time in half a century, owing to a stark drop in border crossings and other pathways to entry being closed off.
Immigration advocates warn that a decline in the immigrant population could have economic downsides, with fewer foreign laborers paying taxes and performing low-skill jobs that Americans supposedly refuse to do. But to the millions of Americans who support Trump's deportation drive, this new trend is an encouraging sign that America is finally regaining control of its borders after years of uncontrolled mass immigration.
The Trump administration dismisses the gloomy predictions of economists, citing the "untapped potential" of Americans forced to the sidelined by an influx of cheap foreign labor.
"There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force, and President Trump’s agenda to create jobs for American workers represents this Administration’s commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential while delivering on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws," White House spokesman Kush Desai said.
Under Trump's predecessor, millions of aliens poured across America's borders, bringing the foreign-born share of the workforce to a record 19%. But after just five months of Trump's polices, the trend is reversing.
The prediction comes from a forthcoming policy paper authored by two Washington think tanks, the left-leaning Brookings Institution and conservative American Enterprise Institute.
“For the year as a whole, we think it’s likely [immigration] will be negative,” said Wendy Edelberg, of the Brookings Institution. "It certainly would be the first time in more than 50 years.”
Within weeks of entering the White House for the second time, Trump sealed the border, sending crossings dropping to historic lows. Trump also shut down so-called legal pathways that the Biden administration tapped to flood the country, like a "humanitarian parole" program that admitted 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has ramped up interior enforcement at worksites in order to reach Trump's ambitious deportation targets, with officials calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to make 3,000 arrests a day.
Trump's aggressive immigration crackdown sparked a violent backlash this month in majority-minority Los Angeles, as rioters attacked police with bricks and waved Mexican flags. Roughly a third of the population in the Democratic city is foreign-born.
In a reversal, Trump ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to resume enforcement in farming and hospitality, industries that disproportionately hire illegal aliens. The president had faced backlash from his own MAGA base after he backed away from targeting those locations, citing concerns about the economy.
"Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability," Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. "These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and expose critical infrastructure to exploitation."
