Donald Trump has never gotten along well with the media. But maybe that can change.
And this Leftist news outlet has made an insane claim about Trump that’s left him speechless.
Trump’s Deportation Plan Could Boost Construction Workers’ Wages by 17 Percent, Report Suggests
A fascinating ripple effect might soon hit the U.S. construction industry, with American workers potentially seeing a 17 percent wage hike thanks to President Donald Trump’s deportation policies, according to insights from a New York Times article. The piece dives into how the absence of low-cost migrant labor could shake up the economics of building high-end homes, spotlighting one builder’s experience as a case study.
The Times highlighted Nathan Anderson, a builder crafting a luxurious $2.65 million home aimed at America’s elite. Without immigrant workers, Anderson’s labor expenses could climb by 17 percent, tacking an extra $116,000 onto his budget. The article painted a vivid picture: “A shock to the labor market by a loss of workers through deportation and the fear of deportation could potentially drive up wages … Without immigrant workers, [Anderson’s] labor costs could jump by 17 percent, adding $116,000 to his budget.” For a house priced nearly six times the average new home cost in Arizona, that’s a hefty bump.
Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, scratched his head at the gloom. “Why is that so bad?” he mused. He pointed out a silver lining: “In this particular example … someone in the top 1 percent or 1/10 of 1 percent can afford that house, but they’re going to have to pay some more for it. Yet at the same time, working class Americans—bricklayers, concrete workers, carpenters, what have you—are going to make more money. So it seems like a really good redistribution of income from the very top to more middle-income people. That would be good.”
Digging deeper, the Times broke down the numbers. Last September, Anderson’s crew laid the foundation for that $2.65 million home, costing $59,000. On peak days, eight workers hammered away; on quieter ones, just three or four. Immigrants made up 90 percent of the team, with labor eating up $40,000—nearly 70 percent—of the foundation budget. Without them, costs could balloon to $49,800, a 20 percent leap.
But that 20 percent might be lowballing it. Back in 2018, Blaine Taylor, a U.S. construction worker, told Breitbart News that wages in California’s construction scene had cratered. In the late 1980s, workers earned $45 an hour; by 2018, after illegal immigration surged, that had shrunk to $11 an hour—a stark reminder of how migrant labor can squeeze American paychecks.
The New York Times piece fits into a growing chorus from media and financial circles. It nods to a contrast: President Joe Biden’s open-border approach has dragged wages down, while Trump’s deportation push is lifting them. “A reduction in labor supply means upward pressure on wages,” Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said to CBS MoneyWatch in January.
Matt Saunders, from John Burns Research and Consulting, chimed in mid-March: “The implication of what’s happening with deportations … is that we should expect continued wage growth in 2025” for construction workers. Even J.P. Morgan weighed in on March 26, noting, “Low-wage migrant workers might depress wage gains for other low-wage workers.”
For years, Breitbart News has flagged these admissions, which were whispers until Biden’s 2020 win. Then, business lobbies flipped the script, arguing cheap migrant labor could tame inflation—a convenient pivot from their old line that immigration barely touched wages. Camarota sees a political angle:
“There’s still the perception that business interests are in the Republican Party, and as such, it’s very tempting for [pro-migrant] reporters to say, ‘Look, you’re screwing your own people here—Republicans want this immigration!’ It lets the reporters who are generally progressives say ‘We’re concerned about businesses and we’re concerned about the availability of labor they have, and we’re looking out for this big part of your Republican constituents. Why aren’t you listening?’ Unfortunately, what it suggests is a lot of reporters [have] a deep concern for the plight of immigrants, not the wages of working class Americans.”
Another Times story from March 3 backs this up, warning of fallout from deportations: “Businesses across industries know what comes next when their work force disappears—restaurants, coffee shops and grocery stores struggling to stay open, food prices soaring, and everyday Americans demanding action,” said Rebecca Shi of the American Business Immigration Coalition.
The construction article’s reporter, Ronda Kaysen, explained her math: “Mr. Anderson sat down with The New York Times and estimated how his labor costs might change without immigrant workers, based on his personal experience, and using this house as a model. The Times also applied national and regional labor trends to his calculations, and analyzed construction industry work force demographics from census survey data. Given that Trump policies have affected both documented and undocumented immigrants, we did not differentiate between the two groups.”
Camarota argues this focus on labor shortages misses the bigger picture—like how employers could boost productivity instead of leaning on cheap labor. “Employers can respond to [wage gains] by changing their recruitment practices, but also adopting more productive production, such as [the use of] more pre-fabrication than trying to build everything on site,” he said.
“Labor-saving devices and techniques that increase productivity, ultimately, would be very good for [national] growth and prosperity.”
This isn’t just a blue-collar story. In white-collar fields, the H-1B visa program has funneled wages away from American graduates, stunting innovation. Trump’s team hasn’t reined it in yet, but some leaders see labor scarcity as a spark for progress.
Vice President J.D. Vance called cheap labor “a drug that too many American firms got addicted to” in a March talk, while BlackRock’s Larry Fink argued at a 2024 World Economic Forum event that shrinking populations could drive tech breakthroughs in places like Japan and China.
At its core, Camarota says, it’s about priorities: “The key question you have to ask when it comes to immigration is, who do you favor? Owners of capital or workers?” With income increasingly flowing to the wealthy, tighter immigration could tilt the scales back toward the working class.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
