(NewsNation) — According to The Washington Post, the United States could lose more immigrants than it gains in 2025 in what would be a 50-year first.
Economists are saying that the United States may be entering uncharted territory, according to a soon-to-be-released paper from the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute.
The report suggests this rare occurrence is coming to fruition due to the Trump administration’s tighter border restrictions, visa cancellations and the stripping of protections for migrants.
Experts also warned that the labor gap is likely to continue growing over the next few years. The foreign-born workforce has already shrunk by more than 1 million people since March.
President Trump has now directed ICE to pause raids when it comes to certain industries, including the restaurant industry, hospitality and farming.
The president has expressed concern about the impact of how aggressively these ICE raids have been conducted nationwide and at work sites across the country. He added that business owners in farming and hospitality industries are reporting that immigration rates are removing long-time workers who are difficult to replace.
Despite Trump’s shift on deportation policy, ICE is still expected to hit an aggressive target of 3,000 arrests per day, which could still impact the workforce. On Truth Social Sunday, President Trump announced that ICE would be doubling down on those operations in Democrat-run cities.
On Tuesday, NewsNation was on the ground in Omaha, exclusively reporting on ICE conducting the agency’s largest workplace enforcement operation in Nebraska.