Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is harmful, false

Last month at the Republican National Convention, former President Donald Trump revived the long-standing myth that immigrants are taking American jobs, claiming that of jobs created under President Joe Biden, “107% of those jobs are taken by illegal aliens.” This statement is false, as U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that both U.S.-born and foreign-born workers have experienced job gains during Biden’s term.

In June, during an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he aimed to pit Black Americans against immigrants, asserting that “Black people are going to be decimated by the millions of people that are coming into the country” and that “the Black population in this country is going to die because of what’s happened, what’s going to happen to their jobs — their jobs, their housing, everything.” At an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists last month, Trump warned that “coming from the border are millions and millions of people that happen to be taking Black jobs … They’re taking the employment away from Black people.”

There is no evidence to support such hyperbolic claims; rather, it appears to be an attempt to divide Black voters by contrasting their interests with those of immigrants. This rhetoric is not only false and misleading but also harmful to the well-being of immigrant communities, including in Baltimore, which, with a nearly 62% Black and 8% foreign-born population, has long been home to thriving Black and immigrant businesses.

Data from various government sources and academic studies consistently shows that immigrants are not taking jobs from U.S.-born Americans, including Black Americans.

In fact, the opposite is true. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unemployment rate for U.S.-born citizens remains at a nearly all-time low. In May 2024, the rate was 3.8%, lower than the country’s overall unemployment rate of 4%. The labor-force participation rate of Black Americans has improved under Biden, with a peak of 64% of the U.S. Black population in the workforce compared with 63.2% under Trump. This disproves the claim that migrants are taking jobs away from Black Americans.

So, what role do immigrants play in the economy and workforce?

Studies show that immigrants complement the labor market by filling positions in industries with labor shortages and undertaking jobs others may be less willing to do.

Historically, when the U.S. labor market has had needs that American workers could not or would not fill, immigrants have moved in to fill those jobs. For example, during and after World War II, Mexican immigrants were instrumental in alleviating labor shortages. The Bracero Program, a labor agreement between Mexico and the United States established in 1942, was designed to address acute labor shortages in various industries, particularly agriculture and railroads, as many American workers went off to war. Further back, in the 1860s, Chinese immigrants built the transcontinental railroad in the western United States.

Generally, the entry of immigrants into the U.S. workforce benefits the economy and raises the GDP. The Bush Institute found that this “immigration surplus” contributes an additional $36 to $73 billion to the American economy each year. Undocumented immigrants contributed $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022.

In Maryland, immigrants account for 19% of the state’s economic output, contributing approximately $83 billion to the state’s $438 billion economy and having $27.6 billion in spending power after taxes in 2018.

Negative and false rhetoric can lead to harmful resentment toward migrants. Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, harmful rhetoric by far-right groups soon surfaced on social media. Many of the posts attacked DEI, a movement among public and private sector institutions to increase diversity, equity and inclusion, questioning whether the accident was the fault of a “DEI hire.”

By overlooking the six immigrant victims who lost their lives that day, the far-right groups failed to account for the important role of immigrant labor in the economic well-being of Maryland and the DMV in general. Immigrants are among the most vulnerable and least-protected workers in the United States. According to George Mason University’s Institute for Immigration Research, immigrants make up 39% of the construction industry workforce in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metropolitan areas.

Rather than allowing discrimination to divide us, we should remind ourselves that, as Maryland Delegate Joseline A. Peña-Melnyk said after the Key Bridge’s collapse, immigrants “represent what makes our country great. They contribute to the very fabric of what it means to be a Marylander.” As the election season progresses, it is important to remember that instead of pitting marginalized communities against each other, we should work toward a future where all marginalized people are empowered, supported and have equal opportunities to thrive.

Karla Madera Tejada ([e-mail]) is a recent graduate from George Washington University with a degree in political science and criminal justice. She serves at the George Washington University Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute and the Im/migrant Well-Being Scholar Collaborative.