Grow the Economy? Not With These Immigration Restrictions

According to the White House and congressional Republicans, the new budget law will spark economic growth of more than 3%. Reaching that goal, however, will be made far more difficult by a provision they see as central to the law: the $150 billion-plus it adds to immigration enforcement. The administration’s agenda of sharply lower immigration and mass deportations is bad for growth.

Unauthorized immigrants — persons who entered the country illegally or received a temporary, humanitarian status at entry — are the administration’s primary focus as it restricts entry into the US, revokes humanitarian visas and deports those already in the country without authorization. To bolster those efforts, the new law includes $70 billion to increase border security and $75 billion for interior enforcement operations. It raises fees for applying for humanitarian visas and work authorizations and imposes a 1% excise tax on remittance transfers.