The Pro-Worker Case for Trump’s Deportations
3rd February 2025
Donald Trump returned to office issuing a range of executive orders that toughened up immigration enforcement. These include using the armed forces to facilitate deportations, boosting the number of troops at the border, and reinstating the Remain in Mexico policy, which requires asylum-seekers to apply in Mexico, while blocking those who trek to the US border. To the surprise of pundits, polls suggest robust public backing for many of these measures, not least mass deportations.
One clear reason is economic: Mass low-wage migration depresses wages, especially on the lower rungs of the labour market. Progressives would do well to come to grips with this reality, even as the Trumpians would be wise neither to overstep their mandate nor to limit their policy to showy and polarising deportation actions.
To see why, it’s worth examining the history. Between 1965 and 1995, the share of Americans who favoured lower immigration rates rose to 65%, up from a third. The shift in attitudes corresponded with a dramatic rise in low-skilled legal — and especially illegal — immigration. Migrant encounters at the US-Mexico border reached 1.64 million in 2000, more than double the rate in 1980 (the 2000 peak would be surpassed under Team Biden).