Trump's immigration reset is lifting wages and forcing real economic reform
A video recently resurfaced of New York Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke saying that her Brooklyn district could "absorb a significant number of these (Haitian) migrants," because, she continued, "I need more people in my district, just for redistricting purposes…" This was about the time that former President Joe Biden's open border policies led to a humanitarian crisis with 11,000 migrants crowding under a bridge connecting Texas with Mexico in the Lone Star town of Del Rio.
Ironically, Rep. Clarke's desire for noncitizens to bolster Democrats' political power echoes arguments made during the 1787 Constitutional Convention, when Southern delegates wanted slaves to count as a full person for purposes of representation in the U.S. House, while delegates from the North argued for slaves to not count at all. They compromised on three-fifths.
Meanwhile, former community organizer, former California Assembly member, former member of Congress, and current Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass views federal enforcement of immigration laws as an existential threat to L.A. She called on ICE to end their enforcement of federal immigration law in Los Angeles.
Bass is correct in one aspect of her fears—that President Donald J. Trump's enforcement of U.S. laws will cause a drop in L.A.'s population. During the first Trump administration, California's population declined due to increased immigration enforcement and the state's draconian COVID-19 lockdown policies under Gov. Gavin Newsom. For more than 20 years, California's high taxes and high cost of living have pushed Californians to leave the Golden State, resulting in domestic net outmigration. But California grew by a bit because there were more foreigners—legal and illegal—moving in than Californians moving out.
Bass, and others, argue that illegal immigrants do the jobs that Americans won't do, but recent employment data says otherwise. After five years of foreign-born employment growth while the native-born lost ground, the data since Trump took office shows a reversal.
The annual increase in employment among native-born Americans shot up to over 1.7 million last month. Conversely, the number of foreign-born workers with jobs has risen less than 400,000 over that same period.
This is a stark contrast to the situation when Trump was inaugurated. In January of this year, annual job growth among foreign-born workers was almost 1.2 million higher than job growth among native-born Americans. Fast-forward to June and the situation completely reversed, with native-born Americans seeing annual employment gains of almost 1.4 million more jobs than foreign-born workers.
The better labor market for Americans, combined with low inflation, has also been driving up real wages, meaning wages adjusted for price changes. Under Biden, the average American's weekly paycheck did rise substantially, by almost 20 percent, but prices spiked even faster. During Biden's four years in office, real weekly paychecks bought about 4 percent less in purchasing power.
In less than half a year, Trump's economic and immigration policies have reversed that slide, and the average American's real weekly paycheck has risen about 1 percent. The progress is even better when looking at the real median weekly paycheck, which is higher now than at any point in the Biden administration.
For blue-collar workers who suffered so much from Bidenflation and were forced to go into debt to make ends meet, the real wage growth under Trump is a welcomed change, though it hasn't completely erased the damage of the prior four years, as evidenced by the fact that households are still in $1.2 trillion of credit card debt.
Yet there's more good news on the horizon, despite the doomsday predictions from today's Democrats, who assert crops won't be picked if illegal aliens are deported. Ironically, Democrats made a similar assertion regarding emancipation, asserting cotton wouldn't be picked if slaves were freed. Of course, agriculture will adapt as necessary just as it did in the nineteenth century, with automation and productivity enhancements.
Indeed, industries flooded with low-skill labor have suffered from a lack of investment, which will reverse as that artificially cheap labor is removed.
Ultimately, investment, especially in the age of AI, will lead to increased efficiency and lower prices for consumers.
E.J. Antoni, Ph.D., is Chief Economist and the Richard F. Aster fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a senior fellow at Unleash Prosperity.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Lula plans new 'national sovereignty' policy for strategic minerals
By Brad Haynes and Lisandra Paraguassu BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters on Wednesday of his plans for a new national policy treating strategic minerals as a matter of "national sovereignty" in order to avoid exporting minerals without adding value locally. "We won't allow what happened in the last century to happen again, where Brazil exports raw minerals and then buys products with very high added value," the president, known as Lula, said in the interview. "We want to add value in Brazil." Lula's comments came as a new 50% tariff hit U.S. imports from Brazil amid a political spat between the two countries linked to an investigation against the South American country's former president, Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro, under house arrest since late Monday, is standing trial on charges of plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 electoral defeat. Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing. U.S. President Donald Trump, seen as a Bolsonaro ally, has decried what he calls persecution of Brazil's former leader. Trump has long sought to secure U.S. supplies of critical minerals, complaining of China's near-total control of the industry and striking deals with Ukraine to secure critical minerals in exchange for defense help. Currently, Brazil lacks a complete mapping of its mineral wealth, Lula said, adding that his government would start this process by setting up the national council on mineral materials and standards. The council will safeguard Brazil's control of its mineral wealth, allowing the country to become a global leader in the energy transition, Lula said, adding that businesses will not face difficulties following the council's creation. "Few countries in the world have the opportunity that Brazil has in this area," Lula said. Sign in to access your portfolio
Axios
5 minutes ago
- Axios
SEPTA faces final countdown to avoid service cuts
SEPTA has one week to fill its $213 million budget shortfall and avoid massive cutbacks — a reality the transit agency is facing without a once-reliable plan B. Why it matters: The impending service cuts will impact commuters and students returning to schools later this month, and they could interrupt the city's planning for big-ticket events in 2026. The big picture: Pennsylvania's divided government is weeks late in hammering out a budget deal. Amid the biggest sticking points: state transportation funding, including the money SEPTA needs to avert its doomsday service cuts. While Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and the Democratic-controlled House have backed more SEPTA funding, the Republican–controlled Senate has balked at the proposal and called for more agency oversight. Threat level: SEPTA faces an Aug. 14 deadline to get state funding to shore up its budget gap, agency officials said Wednesday. Barring that, a 20% reduction in service across rail, buses and trolleys will begin Aug. 24. What they're saying: SEPTA general manager Scott Sauer said during a Wednesday news conference that the deadline is necessary to schedule service changes across the system, set staff assignments and prepare vehicles. "Time is of the essence," he said. Sauer warned that even if state funding arrives after Aug. 14, SEPTA will need at least 10 days to restore full service. Meanwhile, it appears unlikely that Shapiro can count on an alternate plan to fund SEPTA, as he did last year. Flashback: In 2024, after SEPTA failed to secure more funding in the state budget and faced service cuts, Shapiro directed the transfer of $153 million in federal highway funding to the agency in a maneuver known as " flexing." Shapiro didn't need state lawmakers to sign off on the transfer. But the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), then under former President Joe Biden, had to review and sign off on the transfer. The intrigue: Now without a fellow Democrat in the White House, Shapiro could face a chillier reception to such a request — especially considering Shapiro and President Trump have sparred in the past. SEPTA has not heard of flexing federal funding for the agency being an option so far, agency spokesperson Andrew Busch tells Axios. FHWA spokesperson Angela Gates declined to discuss hypothetical flexing requests. But Gates noted that the federal agency has approved four requests from the state this year for flexing federal funding, but declined to identify them. A spokesperson for Shapiro declined to comment. The spokesperson referred Axios to Shapiro's previous comments in which the governor said budget negotiations were making slow progress. The bottom line: It's likely state budget or bust for SEPTA.
Miami Herald
5 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
You'll need more than luck in the Visa Lottery: Trump administration wants to change the rules
The rules for the popular Diversity Visa Lottery — which allows thousands of people each year to legally immigrate to the United States and apply for a green card — could soon change under a new proposal from the U.S. Department of State. The proposed measures, published Tuesday in the Federal Register, are aligned with several immigration and national security policies reinstated under the Trump administration. Officially known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) Program, the initiative is now under review to improve 'vetting and combatting fraud.' The Department of State's proposal would increase screening for applicants to the program, whose immigrant visas are granted through a computerized lottery. The agency is seeking to require DV applicants to submit 'valid, unexpired passport information and a scanned copy of the passport biographic page and signature page uploaded with their electronic entry form.' Another change would involve replacing the term 'gender' with 'sex,' in compliance with Executive Order 14168, as well as using 'date of birth' instead of 'age' in an effort to improve 'the accuracy of information collected and maintained by the Department throughout the immigrant visa process.' The DV Program is administered by the Department of State and benefits countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S.: specifically, nationals of countries from which fewer than 50,000 people have immigrated to the U.S. over the past five years. According to official data, millions of applicants submit their DV entries every year through an online registration form. The Department of State says the proposed requirements would strengthen the security framework against fraud in the DV application and adjudication process. 'Requiring passport information with the DV entry would make it substantially more difficult for unauthorized third parties to submit entries on behalf of individuals with partial information,' the rule states. 'This requirement would also enable the Department to more effectively and efficiently confirm the identities of entrants. The Department also anticipates that this requirement would reduce the number of fraudulent marriages that occur within the DV Program.' Early identification of potential fraud would reduce the need to dedicate 'significant resources' to resolving inconsistencies between the DV entry and the visa application, and to 'determine whether the explanation provided by the applicant is credible or whether the entry was fraudulent.' Each year, 55,000 Diversity Visas are made available to those who meet eligibility criteria and qualify under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and State Department regulations. The proposal includes amending certain visa application forms to require 'a passport number or unique identification number associated with the applicant's valid, unexpired passport; the name on the passport; the country or authority that issued the passport; and the expiration date of the passport.' Additionally, DV applicants would be required to submit a scanned image of the passport's biographic and signature pages. This would, according to the proposal, 'significantly enhance' the department's ability to verify applicants' identities — part of the response to Trump's Executive Order 14161, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States, issued on January 20, 2025. With access to a scanned passport image, the department 'seeks to reduce the likelihood of a falsified passport number' and enable adjudicators 'to compare the spelling of the principal entrant's name in the native alphabet on the passport with the spelling of the entrant's name in English as provided on the entry form.' Under the new rules, some applicants would need to obtain a valid passport at the time of submitting their DV entry, rather than after being selected for an interview at a consular office or embassy. The proposed rule is open to public comment for 44 days and is scheduled to close on September 19, 2025.
