Trump's mass deportations are hurting local economies

Trump’s mass deportations are hurting local economies
From rotting crops to shuttered assembly lines, we will all soon feel the effects of Trump's cruel policies

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published July 31, 2025 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) One of the desired effects of Donald Trump’s “flood the zone” strategy is to make it impossible for the news media to focus on anything long enough to fully capture the public’s attention before the next atrocity is revealed. The administration’s executive orders and drastic policy changes — including, most recently, the EPA’s intention to eliminate a 2009 finding that greenhouse gas emissions are dangerous to people and the planet — have proven to be successful distractions and diversions from the worst actions of Trump 2.0. None of them have created more human misery than White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s heartless mass roundup and deportation program.

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Because of its large immigrant population and Hispanic character, L.A. was always going to be one of the main targets of Trump and Miller’s mass deportation policy. The City of Angels is the poster child for everything the MAGA movement hates about America. L.A. still hasn’t recovered from the devastating wildfires that destroyed an estimated 16,000 homes in January. With a mass recovery effort underway, the city needs its immigrant labor force more than ever before. But the administration’s cruel actions have forced a wide swath of workers, businesses and customers into the shadows, leaving them terrified and paranoid. They have good reason to feel that way.

These ICE and CPB raids, though, aren’t just separating and traumatizing families. They’re hurting the city’s economy. “In LA’s Boyle Heights, businesses reported losing 50% or more of their customers or revenue over the last several weeks,” Padilla recently posted on X. He encouraged people to “protest with your wallets” and support small businesses in communities targeted by the raids.

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But it isn’t just small businesses in urban centers that are being impacted. ICE has raided farms, detaining workers or scaring them into not going to work, which has left farms with crops unpicked and rotting on the vine. Factories are also being targeted. This week, the New York Times reported that a once-thriving meat processing plant in Omaha, Nebraska, had lost the majority of its workforce, resulting in a 70% drop in production. It’s happening in manufacturing, with companies forced to shutter assembly lines and actually lay off American citizens. Home health caregivers are being affected. Nursing home staffs — which are around 40% foreign-born, many of whom are from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela — have had their legal status unceremoniously yanked by Trump. In construction, immigrants make up 34% of the construction workforce and aren’t replaceable by Americans, who often don’t possess the required skills. .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/31/trumps-mass-deportations-are-hurting-local-economies/