Trump has promised an immigration crackdown if reelected. That could backfire on the economy

If voters return former President Donald Trump to the White House, he’s promised to launch an unprecedented crackdown on immigration and even conduct mass deportations.

If voters return former President Donald Trump to the White House, he’s promised to launch an unprecedented crackdown on immigration and even conduct mass deportations. Trump recently told Time that he would aim to deport 15 million to 20 million people, perhaps by using the National Guard. Some economists worry that Trump’s proposed immigration crackdown — if it survived legal challenges — would backfire on the US economy by worsening worker shortages, reigniting inflation and forcing the Federal Reserve to keep borrowing costs high for even longer. “If he follows through in deporting a significant amount of immigrants, that’s going to be very difficult for businesses,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s, told CNN. “It’s going to cause them to raise wages and prices.” Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, said the problem is that the supply of native-born workers simply cannot meet demand. “We need to import workers,” Brusuelas said. “If either party oversteps in reducing the flow of workers, it’s likely we would face a serious shortage of workers and a renewed bout of inflation. You would drive the unemployment rate down to 3% and wages would pop. You’d get classic inflation.”