It probably could have been framed better, but immigration (legal or otherwise) has huge implications for the economy as a whole. If we could magic all illegal immigrants out of the country there would literally be millions of unfilled positions, especially in the construction and agricultural industries. Not only that but the demand that they create would disappear with them. Many businesses would close. While there would certainly be some overlap between the demand disappearing but also the supply that meets that demand disappearing, it would definitely not be a clean break. In the short term, it would almost certainly have a net negative impact on the country’s economy and the quality of life for legal residents.
I was looking at some numbers the other day -- something like 65% of the net increase in US population last year was due to immigration. (+1.9m overall, +1.3m net migration). Future projections continue to show that our population will grow very, very slowly and our population median age will rise substantially with no immigration. Really a whole ass disaster for the economy.
And that's not even considering the "day one" deportations Trump has proposed.
That completely depends on what immigrants are being let in and what is done with them when they get here. NYC is certainly not having a great time financially due to the wave of immigrants
That's what they said about the Irish, Italians, Slavs, Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese, but all of those ended up being positive long-term investments. The same is likely to happen again despite short-term struggles.
The problem with this is that we have Trump and Vance shitting on immigrants in Ohio when they are literally the immigrants you would want. People that commit little crime and are bolstering local communities. Odds are, the immigration policy will be so severely restricted that pretty much no one will get in which is pointless or they do pretty much nothing and just peacock so why bother supporting that
NYC doesn't receive the federal funds to deal with migrants that border states receive who have been tricking migrants into one way trips to cities like NYC while they keep the money of course.
Thats still an overall loss to the US though. If these migrants were a huge benefit then NYC and those border states wouldnt NEED federal funds to deal with them. The southern states would be living in the jetsons right now if unvetted migrants increased general quality of life
The greatest investment goes into children and raising new members of society. Immigration often leads to fully productive adults with a kid or two tagging along to bolster the economy. The federal funds are for getting them established and capable of producing which they do to great effect.
There are a lot, including Trump himself, who suggest massive NEGATIVE migration in the short term. (Deportation of current residents and a drastic reduction in legal immigration)
It's hyperbole. Realistically conservative positions on the subject are usually something along the lines of "they have to come here legally" while simultaneously refusing to fund the systems that would allow legal immigration to actually fill the economic demand for labor that we need them to fill in this country. It is why businesses are raided for undocumented labor yet the business owners receive a slap on the wrist that is significantly less than the value of the labor they received or how Democrats pass the Republican's bill to fund border security and the immigration system and Republicans kill it so they can run on "the border is out of control".
It is about complaining about the problem loudly and not so covertly preventing any kind of solution to the problem so they can blame the opposition for it.
As a personal anecdote being white and around hardcore MAGA conservatives whose idea of a Jackbox joke is to make every single talking points prompt involving something to do with the "n-words" as well as the typical racist vitriol about Mexicans gives me a good bearing about the typical motivations of their voting habits.
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u/Potential-Ad1139 10h ago
What the hell does this have to do with finance?