Increased ICE enforcement in 2025 hurt local employment, analysis finds

September 18, 2026 / 2:59 PM EDT / CBS News

Employment fell last year in U.S. cities where Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests surged the most, according to a recent study.

In cities where ICE arrests increased fastest in 2025, employment fell 0.4% below its expected trajectory both immediately after those detentions and for up to one year after a metro area was targeted, researchers with the Brookings Institution said in the report. On average, each arrest in cities where ICE's presence significantly increased was associated with four lost jobs, the nonpartisan think tank said.

"We found that employment fell in the cities where ICE activity surged, and not just among immigrants, but there were broader effects, including for Americans," Marcela Escobari, the report's lead author and a former special assistant to the White House National Security Council during the Biden administration, told CBS News.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis dismissed claims that ICE enforcement tactics led to reduced employment in cities where arrests spiked.

"The surge in illegal immigration under President Biden threatened the long-run fiscal health of the country, contributed to record high inflation and suppressed the wages of American workers," she said in a statement to CBS…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/moneywatch/