This analysis looks at the financial/taxpayer costs of staffing up ICE and Customs and Border Patrol.

This research brief finds that most Americans do not feel excluded from their local communities, but nearly half experience an “in-between” sense of belonging—feeling some connection without consistently feeling that they have a voice or meaningful role. It argues that local investments in participation, relationships, community organizations, and local media can strengthen belonging, with agency—the ability to influence local decisions—emerging as the biggest area for improvement.

This report argues that the Trump administration’s mass-deportation and immigration-enforcement policies are worsening the affordability crisis by disrupting labor markets, suppressing wages, eliminating jobs, and increasing costs in immigrant-dependent industries such as construction, hospitality, and caregiving. It advocates for a broad pathway to citizenship, arguing that greater stability and worker protections for immigrants would raise wages, create jobs, strengthen local economies, and improve affordability for immigrant and U.S.-born workers alike.

This report finds that increased ICE arrests and deportations reduce employment not only among immigrants but also among U.S.-born workers, finding that every 1,000 immigrant arrests are associated with a 0.54% decline in employment among U.S.-born men in affected areas, with no corresponding wage increase. The authors argue that deportations shrink local workforces and consumer spending and create a broader “chilling effect” among immigrant workers, ultimately reducing economic activity and employment across interconnected industries.

The UC Merced Community and Labor Center analyzed Current Population Survey data for the periods before and following escalations in federal immigration enforcement actions in California. The center examined changes in the number of workers in California and the rest of the US, for the weeks of May 11, June 8 and July 6, 2025, and found that persons reporting private sector work in California decreased by 4.9%—with citizens forming a greater share of the decrease. The state’s downturn in work is comparable with the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic, and has profound implications for policymaking.

This analysis finds that the U.S.’s 2.3 million direct care workers—who provide essential long-term care to older adults and people with disabilities—are disproportionately women, people of color, immigrants, and low-wage workers, with many relying on Medicaid themselves. Federal changes including Medicaid spending reductions and work requirements, tighter immigration policies, and proposed rollbacks of labor protections could worsen already significant staffing shortages and make it harder to recruit and retain these workers as demand for long-term care grows.

This report finds that intensified federal immigration enforcement has significantly disrupted Los Angeles County’s economy, where undocumented workers generate an estimated $253.9 billion in economic output and support 1.06 million jobs; 82% of surveyed businesses reported negative effects, including reduced sales, customer traffic, and workforce disruptions. It concludes that the economic consequences extend well beyond people directly targeted by enforcement, as fear and reduced mobility suppress consumer spending and labor participation, with immigrant-heavy communities and consumer-facing businesses experiencing particularly severe impacts.