Trump Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Spurs Job Gains for American Workers

by Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

(Worthy News) – The latest jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor suggests a striking shift in the American labor market: native-born Americans are now the exclusive beneficiaries of job growth under the Trump administration, thanks in part to an aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration.

According to June’s labor statistics, foreign-born employment fell by 348,000 from May and has dropped more than 543,000 since January. In contrast, U.S.-born employment surged by 830,000 in June alone–bringing the net increase in native-born jobs since President Donald Trump took office to more than 2 million.

“For the FOURTH month in a row, jobs numbers have beat market expectations with nearly 150,000 good jobs created in June,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “American-born workers have accounted for ALL of the job gains since President Trump took office and wages continue to rise. The economy is booming again.”

This marks a stark reversal from labor trends under President Biden, when foreign-born workers gained over 1 million jobs during the same timeframe last year, nearly matching the job gains among native-born workers.

Economics editor John Carney described the shift as “fundamental,” noting in a recent podcast, “The net increase in jobs is going to Americans … not just to legal residents, but to American-born people. That’s who the country is supposed to work for–and it is working for them again.”

Carney emphasized that the trend is also driving up wages. “Businesses can no longer rely on importing workers,” he said. “Now, they’re forced into bidding wars for American labor. As a result, wage growth is now outpacing inflation–another reversal from the Biden years.”

Even some left-leaning economists agree the deportation policy is reshaping wage dynamics. Wendy Edelberg of the Brookings Institution noted that the Trump administration’s immigration policy is likely to result in “negative net migration” for the first time in decades. “We’re going to see stronger wage growth in some occupations, especially agriculture and home health care,” she said.

The labor tightening comes as the administration increases workplace immigration raids and detains undocumented workers. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t track legal status, it does differentiate between foreign- and native-born workers–suggesting the recent drop may reflect both illegal and legal immigrant job losses.

E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, explained the underlying logic: “The labor market is a market like any other. If you reduce the supply of unskilled labor, the price–wages–go up.” He added, “Many illegal aliens weren’t working to begin with. Their removal isn’t hurting the labor supply–it’s finally clearing space for American workers to compete and thrive.”

A Bloomberg report noted that industries such as agriculture, construction, and food processing–long dependent on illegal labor–are facing labor shortages. Yet the administration maintains that these short-term challenges are necessary to rebalance the economy and restore upward mobility for American workers.

With more deportations, workplace enforcement, and reforms promised in the pending “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the Trump administration shows no sign of slowing down. And for now, the numbers suggest it’s delivering on a long-promised goal: putting Americans back to work.

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