America first? Only with the help of immigrants

“The Economy Is Roaring. Immigration Is a Key Reason,” reads a headline in the Washington Post. But Gallup reports, “Immigration Surges to Top of Most Important Problem List.”

American politics are caught in a profound contradiction. Inflamed by Donald Trump’s incessant and cynical attacks on foreign “others,” a record number of voters, 28%, now rank immigration as the most serious issue facing the country. And yet the facts could not be clearer: the increase in immigration under the Biden administration that Trump denounces is fueling a thriving economic revival.

Trump’s hold over his supporters is so great that they are ignoring the reality in their own lives and communities. Who is going to finance the retirement benefits of those aging white men in red MAGA hats screaming at Trump rallies to build walls and deport foreigners? Immigrants, that’s who.

“Immigrants are an integral part of our labor market, filling gaps caused by demographic changes in the United States and contributing to strong economic growth,” concludes the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. “The idea that immigrants are making things worse for U.S.-born workers is wrong. The reality is that the labor market is absorbing immigrants at a rapid pace, while simultaneously maintaining record-low unemployment for U.S.-born workers.”

That verity has not stopped Trump, who has long embraced a doctrine of “alternative facts” that he alone decrees. And he is only the latest in a long line of demagogues who have, throughout our history, demonized foreigners for political profit.

Today, Trump’s main targets are Latinos and Muslims, with some anti-Asian slurs thrown in. If anything, he’s stepping up his anti-immigrant crusade, accusing foreigners of “poisoning the blood” of native-born citizens and vowing to begin “the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.”

President Joe Biden’s chaotic and confused response to the huge influx of undocumented migrants along the southern border has given Trump a political gift, and in the latest ABC/Ipsos survey, just 18% approved of Biden’s handling of the immigration issue, while 63% disapproved.

But Biden’s missteps should not hide a basic truth: Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign is based on a big lie, comparable in audacity to his totally false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. When he insists that immigrants are bad for the country, Trump — who married two different immigrants — is incoherently and incontrovertibly incorrect.

“Immigration has propelled the U.S. job market further than just about anyone expected, helping cement the country’s economic rebound from the pandemic as the most robust in the world,” writes the Washington Post. The New York Times agrees: “The U.S. economic recovery from the pandemic has been stronger and more durable than many experts had expected, and a rebound in immigration is a big reason.”

There are many factors at work here. The U.S. birthrate has dropped to 1.6 children per woman, far below the rate of 2.1 that is needed to keep the population stable. Meanwhile, Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are leaving the workforce, and those two trends alone could create a demographic disaster.

Then came COVID-19, and, as the Post reports, “The labor force that emerged as the pandemic ebbed was smaller than it had been: Millions of people retired early, stayed home to take over child care or avoid getting sick, or decided to look for new jobs entirely.”

Trump’s draconian restrictions on immigration only aggravated those problems, and Biden’s reversal of his policies gave the economy a major lift. “A resumption in visa processing in 2021 and 2022 jump-started employment, allowing foreign-born workers to fill some holes in the labor force that persisted across industries and locations after the pandemic shutdowns,” reports the Times.

“Since January 2020, the number of foreign-born workers in the U.S. has risen by roughly 2.8 million,” writes Business Insider, and today, immigrants comprise 18.6% of the U.S. workforce, a record level. As economist Bill Adams of Comerica Bank puts it, “foreign-born labor force participants have accounted for all of the job growth over the last year, offsetting the effects of an aging native-born workforce.”

The impact of these workers will be even more significant looking ahead. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that immigrants will add $7 trillion in economic growth over the next decade — if they are not throttled again by a Trump comeback. So, in a critical way, Trump’s supporters would not only be voting against their own self-interest. They would be darkening the future for their children and grandchildren as well.

Steven Roberts teaches politics and journalism at George Washington University.

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