As President Donald Trump intensifies his crackdown on immigration, U.S. businesses are warning of significant disruptions to labour supply and the broader economy.
From healthcare and hospitality to agriculture and cleaning services, employers report a steady erosion of their workforce , a trend that could stall growth, inflate costs, and tighten already strained labour markets.
Victor Moran, CEO of Maryland-based cleaning company Total Quality, has lost at least 15 workers since Trump revoked temporary deportation protections for Venezuelan and Nicaraguan immigrants. He fears hundreds more could be forced out if the administration expands these efforts.
“If this continues, we simply won’t have the staff,” Moran said.
The policy changes are part of Trump’s renewed deportation drive, which includes revoking Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several nationalities, resuming workplace immigration raids, and restricting access to student and refugee visas. While the crackdown focuses on undocumented immigrants, who make up roughly 4% of the U.S. labour force, legal immigrants with temporary permits are also being pushed out.
At Cambridge Caregivers in Texas, CEO Adam Lampert says his company, which provides in-home elder care, has already lost key workers.
“It’s the immigrants who answer the call,” Lampert said. “If they’re forced out, I’ll have to pay more and raise rates. It’s a recipe for inflation.”
Nearly 20% of U.S. workers were immigrants in 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, a sharp rise from less than 10% in 1994. Economists warn that removing such a critical labour segment could cause ripple effects throughout the economy.
Economic Headwinds and Inflation Risks
Giovanni Peri, an economist at the University of California, Davis, says the clampdown could deliver a blow to productivity and price stability. “The U.S. risks becoming a stagnant, slow-growing economy, like Japan, if immigration remains suppressed,” he cautioned.
The construction industry, already facing labour shortages, is feeling the pinch. Jim Tobin, president of the National Association of Homebuilders, says some work crews are disappearing altogether.
“This will slow projects and push up home prices even further,” Tobin said, noting the industry’s call for a specialised visa programme for construction workers has gained little traction in Washington.
Essential but Excluded
At Harris Health System, one of Texas’s largest public healthcare networks, CEO Esmail Porsa confirms they’ve lost personnel due to tightening immigration rules. “We can’t train replacements fast enough,” he warned. “As the population ages, we need these workers more than ever.”
Many immigrants under TPS fear their turn is next. Justino Gomez, a 73-year-old cleaner from El Salvador living in Maryland, says he lives in constant fear of deportation.
“Even going to the metro scares me,” he told the BBC through a translator. “But I’ve been working here for decades.”
Though some raids have reportedly been paused following pushback from Republican allies in agriculture and hospitality, the Department of Homeland Security says enforcement remains a “cornerstone” of Trump’s immigration agenda.
A Tipping Point
While some businesses are calling for reforms and new visa programmes, few expect major policy shifts soon. Instead, many are bracing for more disruption.
“This is not just a human issue,” said Lampert. “This is an economic crisis in the making.”
If current policies persist, economists warn, the U.S. may face not just a worker shortage but a fundamental transformation in its economic trajectory, one where growth slows, prices rise, and the country’s traditional edge in labour-driven innovation begins to erode.
