A person is detained by federal agents outside an immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building in New York recently. Credit: Boston Globe

The Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies requiring the deportation of 3,000 immigrants a day is bound to have a disastrous effect on the economy, as several industries, such as agriculture, hospitality, restaurants and meat-packing are heavily dependent on immigrant labor.

Immigrants since time immemorial have always been a vital part of the American workforce, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) relentless targeting of undocumented immigrants, or those who commit violent crimes, has shown to be misleading since they’re detaining and deporting hard-working people who boost the nation’s economy.

President Donald Trump, in a surprise reversal, recently ordered ICE to pause raids and arrests in those industries, according to multiple news sources.

“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long-time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” Trump wrote recently in a social media post.

The administration’s immigration policies haven’t been based on finding criminals or people who cause harm to others; the point of these raids has been to evoke fear in some of the most vulnerable people in the country, who already live a life having to look over their shoulders.

ICE has already separated lots of children from their families, placed sick people in detention centers and has taken young people, with no contact with their families or legal representation.

Various studies have shown that immigrants don’t steal jobs; much of their work is necessary to keep the economy going. The big grouse with the Trump administration is removing immigrants from the workforce, when they pay taxes and contribute to the economy.

Undocumented immigrant households paid close to $90 billion in federal, state, and local taxes and held nearly $300 billion in spending power in 2023, according to data from the American Immigration Council.

There are concerns that Trump’s mass deportations would deepen the housing crisis, lower wages, and reduce jobs for other workers. Fewer consumers ultimately means a lower demand for goods, which in turn would lead to a reduction in the nation’s workforce.

Of the 59,000 immigrants now in detention, over 70 percent were arrested in the interior of the U.S., not at or near the border. Forty-seven percent have no criminal convictions; of those who do, the most common crimes are violations of immigration and traffic laws. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has so far apprehended only 6 percent of known immigrant murderers and 11 percent of immigrants convicted of sexual assault.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt — apparently unaware that living in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant is a civil, not a criminal offense (except for those apprehended while crossing the border) — told reporters that everyone arrested by ICE is a criminal “because they illegally broke our nation’s laws.” In fact, the immigrant population, both documented and undocumented, commit crimes at a lower rate than native-born citizens. In Texas, undocumented immigrants are 47 percent less likely to be convicted of a crime than those who were born here.

Facilities housing detainees are often grotesquely overcrowded. Medication is not always provided, detainees can spend a week between showers, and family members are not always told where their loved ones are. According to a report from the Americans for Immigrant Justice in Florida, “conditions were never great, but this is horrendous.” Between Jan. 1, 2025 and late June, 10 immigrants died while in ICE custody, two of them by suicide, almost three times the rate while Joe Biden was president.

Just as this current administration lacks an understanding of how tariffs work and who pays the price (Americans), empathy and understanding are absent from these immigration policies. As a country, America seems to have moved further to the right, accepting the rise of racism, homophobia, and xenophobia.

Even the discussions about the recent ICE protests—where Trump has ordered more ICE agents to sanctuary cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles— have taken over social media and have shown that there are people content with doing nothing and not advocating for people who make up part of the working class.

The Trump administration isn’t only targeting migrants who do manual labor. Throughout the past couple of months, Trump has gone to war with higher education institutions such as Columbia University and Harvard University, by threatening to revoke visas of immigrant students, as well as funding for the school.

The administration has also issued a travel ban from mostly Black, Arab, and Latin American countries; this also affects scientists and tech workers who require visas to perform their jobs in the U.S. 

Immigrants are part of the fabric of American society, no matter how much conservatives try to pretend that they aren’t. America’s history began with people traveling to the original colonies in search of religious freedom and a better life. The immigrants in this country deserve the same courtesy and respect an it’s high time everyone stands up to protect what’s left of the fabric of these United States of America.