Casten, 22 House Democrats Highlight Economic Turmoil Caused by Trump’s Immigration Policies
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Representative Sean Casten (IL-06) led 22 House Democrats in a letter to President Donald Trump highlighting how his immigration policies have increased the cost of living for Americans. The letter demands that the president reverse course or risk further economic turmoil.
“As President, you are tasked with improving the economy and growing the middle class,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, you have exacerbated Americans’ economic distress during your first 100 days in office.”
Unpredictable enforcement of immigration laws has threatened immigrants with legal status, including TPS recipients, who rely on the United States for safe harbor and work, and pursue higher education at high rates. The Trump Administration has refused to focus on reducing food and housing costs, instead choosing to displace workers in essential sectors such as construction, maintenance, material moving, and transportation, causing economic hardship and instability throughout the country.
Although the United States has long been a beacon for the world's best and brightest, President Trump's immigration policies have destabilized legal immigration and pushed those seeking to innovate, conduct research, and grow our economy away from the United States.
“We support protecting our borders and vetting individuals who wish to come to our country,” the lawmakers continued. “However, your immigration proposals are impractical and will increase costs for millions of Americans.”
In addition to Rep. Casten, the letter was signed by Reps. Beatty, Carbajal, Cisneros, Clarke, Connolly, Correa, Costa, Escobar, Espaillat, Fields, Sylvia Garcia, Goldman, Jonathan Jackson, McCollum, McGovern, Meeks, Norton, Quigley, Titus, Tonko, and Vargas.
A copy of the letter can be found here. Text of the letter can be found below.
Dear President Trump,
We write to you with concern about the negative humanitarian and economic impacts your immigration-related executive orders and policies will have nationwide.
Your immigration policies will increase costs for Americans, disrupt the job market, and slow economic growth. As President, you are tasked with improving the economy and growing the middle class. However, you have exacerbated Americans’ economic distress during your first 100 days in office.
Since your inauguration, the U.S. stock market is off to its worst start in a century. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by more than seven percent, the S&P 500 index is off by more than eight percent, the Nasdaq composite is down more than eleven percent and small-cap Russell 2000 have slumped by more than fourteen percent.
During your campaign, you repeatedly promised to lower food prices “immediately” if elected president. Yet, the latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average cost of a dozen eggs reached a record high of $6.23 in March. These prices will only increase due to your recent immigration policies.
Thus far, you have issued Executive Orders prioritizing strict enforcement of immigration laws, both at the borders and within the United States. For example, on your first day in office, you signed the Executive Order “Securing Our Borders,” which deploys the military within our own country and ends the CBP One process, which allows migrants to enter the country and be appropriately screened for internationally protected refugee status.
Additionally, you are recklessly attempting to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for as many as seven hundred thousand vulnerable individuals legally in the United States. This not only raises significant civil rights concerns but also risks serious economic consequences. Judge Edward Chen, who is presiding over a case brought on behalf of Venezuelan TPS recipients facing deportation, has noted that a reversal of TPS status would likely have an “adverse impact” on the economy, given that Venezuelan TPS holders pay taxes, hold jobs and pursue higher education at higher rates than the general public.
You also issued the Executive Order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” which directs a strict enforcement-first version of immigration policy, enlisting all departments to prioritize it above their own work, aiding the Department of Homeland Security in enforcing deportation and criminalization of immigrants. Your focus on deportation, rather than appropriate adjudication with regard to each immigrant’s unique circumstances, counters established international norms and damages our economy.
Data consistently shows that immigrants are primarily of working age, between 18 and 64 years of age, accounting for nearly 19% of the U.S. labor force in 2023, despite representing only 14% of the total U.S. population that year. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2025 Monetary Policy Report, job growth has consistently outpaced the growth of the labor force over the last few years. Last year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that immigration is a “big part of the story of the labor market coming back into better balance.” It is reasonable to conclude that removing working-age individuals from the economy will harm every business that seeks to build and grow in America.
We support protecting our borders and vetting individuals who wish to come to our country. However, your immigration proposals are impractical and will increase costs for millions of Americans. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that foreign-born workers are often employed in critical sectors such as construction, maintenance, material moving, and transportation. These sectors significantly influence housing costs. As housing inflation is expected to keep core inflation high, this effect will undoubtedly extend beyond the already overheated housing market, impacting the prices of other essential goods and services on which Americans rely.
According to a December 2024 Report from the Joint Economic Committee, it is projected that an aggressive deportation plan, similar to that outlined through the Executive Order “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” would reduce the real Gross Domestic Product of the United States by 7.4% and increase prices for American consumers by 9.1% by 2028. These are significant costs to the American people.
Your immigration policies will also severely undermine the American workforce and significantly affect vital sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, and construction. Your proposals could displace 1.5 million construction workers, 250,000 laborers from the agricultural industry, 1 million workers in hospitality, over 800,000 in manufacturing, and more than 400,000 in transportation and warehousing. This would harm essential American industries that drive our economy.
America’s success has always depended on being the destination of choice for the best and brightest from around the world. As you are aware, there is bipartisan support for strong border security to keep the “bad guys” out. However, it is important to recognize that the overwhelming majority of people coming to America today are not different from our own ancestors; they are coming here to build a better life for themselves, to work, worship and love without fear, and to pursue their entrepreneurial ideas in a country where the rule of law allows them to benefit from their efforts. There are many humanitarian reasons to protect our immigrant communities, but there are also self-interested reasons. A country that attracts talent is a country that out-competes the rest of the world and retains wealth that would otherwise develop elsewhere.
In that spirit, we urge you to reverse your current immigration policies that are financially harming small business owners and the middle class while providing no actual solutions to fix our broken immigration system. We are ready to work with you to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation that includes support for border patrol and enforcement, increases work visas to facilitate the flow of skilled labor, includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders and farm workers, grows our economy and maintains the promise of America as a place that has always been great – but who’s greatest days are still yet to come.
Sincerely,
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