The surge into the U.S. of immigrants lacking permanent legal status has emerged as one of the most politically charged issues of the 2024 presidential election.
Yet the wave of new arrivals has boosted the U.S. economy while helping temper inflation, a top issue for voters.
“It (immigration) is helping to reduce the labor shortage and push down wage pressures” that have fueled price increases, says economist Michael Reid of RBC Capital Markets.
Strong job growth and lower inflation make for an unusual, best-of-both-worlds tandem that has helped the nation avoid a recession.
Yet some recent studies question whether immigrants really have tamped down consumer price increases after figuring in their demand for products and services, which tends to push up prices. And Republicans argue immigrants are taking jobs from Americans, a contention Democrats refute.
Fact-checking RNC Day 4:What Trump, other speakers get right and wrong
At a hearing last week, Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, who Monday was announced as former President Donald Trump’s running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, suggested immigrants are depressing Americans’ wages.
Trump, meanwhile, would severely restrict U.S. entry at the southern border and he has proposed deporting millions of migrants living in the country without legal permission. Even conservative economists have said the strategy would reverse much of the progress on labor shortages and inflation.
President Joe Biden also wants to toughen…
