Salazar Warns Less Immigrant Labor Will Harm US Economy

Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL) lamented the negative economic impacts on the economy of some of President Donald Trump’s recent deportation and immigrant law enforcement efforts. 

In a hearing with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Representative Salazar sought the latter’s economic expertise to support claims that decreased numbers of immigrant workers harm the economy. 

Salazar commended President Trump’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants who’ve committed crimes but underscored the economic damage of general decreases in immigrant labor. 

“We’re already feeling the impact of losing thousands of workers in construction, hospitality, and agriculture due to recent immigration actions,” said Salazar. “These industries keep our economy running and growing, and we rely on these workers to survive.”

Salazar asked Chair Powell his opinion on the economic impact of waning immigrant worker numbers in the US economy. 

While Powell qualified that he was not “in charge” of immigration policy, he argued that “when you slow the growth of the labor force, you will slow the growth of the economy.”

Powell projected that “growth will slow” if immigrant labor - and consequently the overall labor force - lessens, adding that “actually growth is slowing this year, and (decreased immigrant labor) is one of those reasons.”

Salazar further asked if native-born citizens would be able to compensate for the loss in immigrant labor and thus offset any negative effects of decreasing immigration. 

“Probably not,” responded Powell, adding that Artificial intelligence and other solutions to increase productivity would similarly not be able to help the US recover from the economic consequences of a shrinking immigrant population. 

Trump recently commented on fears similar to those raised by Salazar.

Addressing farmers complaining of increased labor costs driven by decreasing immigrant labor, Trump promised policy changes.

“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 said. “That is not good…Changes are coming!”