601,000 Foreign-born workers leave U.S. labor force amid Trump immigration crackdown, study finds

06/24/2025 / By Laura Harris

An estimated 601,000 foreign-born individuals exited the U.S. labor force between January and May 2025, following President Donald Trump’s return to office and aggressive immigration enforcement.
ICE arrests have surged, DHS has promoted “self-deportation” and border policies have drastically limited new illegal entries, leading to a net population decline.
The estimated illegal immigrant population dropped from 15.8 million in January to 14.8 million in May, with the most significant decline among non-citizens from Latin America who arrived after 1980.
Industries reliant on undocumented workers, especially agriculture, report labor shortages; business groups warn of broader workforce disruptions.
Supporters argue the decline benefits less-educated American workers, possibly raising wages and drawing more U.S.-born men without college degrees back into the labor force.

The number of foreign-born individuals in the U.S. labor force has dropped sharply in the early months of 2025, with an estimated 601,000 exiting between January and May following the election of President Donald Trump and a series of high-profile immigration enforcement actions in his new term.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has moved aggressively to implement his immigration agenda. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, no longer constrained by Biden-era enforcement guidelines, have ramped up arrests. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has even encouraged voluntary “self-deportation,” urging those in the country illegally to leave before they’re caught.

At the border, the administration has implemented some of the strictest restrictions in recent history. With new arrivals curtailed, those leaving the country are not being replaced, compounding the drop in the illegal immigrant population.

As a result, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report, which is based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey (CPS), estimates that the number of immigrants in the U.S. labor force declined by about 601,000 between January and May 2025.

“It looks like there’s been a Trump effect on the number of illegal immigrants in the country, based on the best data that we have,” said Steven Camarota, research director and lead author of the CIS study.

Overall, the federal data indicates that Trump has not only halted but may have also reversed the surge in illegal immigration that took place during the Biden administration, with estimates showing a significant drop in both the foreign-born population and the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. workforce.

Shortage in foreign-born labor workforce is good news for less-educated Americans

The CIS estimates that the illegal immigrant population swelled under former President Joe Biden, growing from about 10.2 million in early 2021 to a peak of 15.8 million by January 2025.

This decline is particularly pronounced among non-citizens from Latin America who arrived in the U.S. after 1980. Between January and May 2025, this group shrank by 1.07 million, with a 1.45 million drop from December 2024 to May 2025.

However, the latest estimate of 14.8 million represents a sharp reversal from that trend. The analysis attributes the shift to a mix of voluntary departures, fear of deportation and potential underreporting among immigrants during federal surveys.

The rapid changes are being felt in key sectors of the economy.

For instance, agriculture businesses, heavily reliant on undocumented labor, report a growing labor shortage, with workers “not showing up.” Broader business associations have warned that the decline could lead to significant workforce disruptions across multiple low-wage industries. But then, supporters of stricter immigration enforcement argued the shift creates opportunities for American workers. (Related: U.S. citizens benefit as over 1 million foreign-born workers exit country’s workforce, Federal Reserve data shows.)

“I think that this is good news, particularly for less-educated Americans who are likely to see a rise in wages,” he said. “Maybe it will even be helpful in dragging some of these non-college-educated men who are working age back into the labor force.”

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