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Average wages are increasing across the U.S., and a new report credits the rise in part to the nearly one million illegal immigrants who have left the country under a self-deportation policy launched by the Trump administration.
The Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research organization, said the Department of Homeland Security’s self-deportation initiative announced by Secretary Kristi Noem in February has led to a notable decline in the illegal immigrant population.
CIS law and policy fellow Andrew Arthur called the program “cheaper for taxpayers and arguably much more effective” than traditional enforcement methods.
“DHS can’t arrest and deport 15.4 million illegal aliens, but if it simply enforces the law, many aliens will get the message and leave on their own — as hundreds of thousands apparently already have,” Arthur wrote.
The Wall Street Journal reported a decline of 773,000 in the immigrant population since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term. Meanwhile, the Washington Post found that “more than a million foreign-born workers have exited the workforce since March.”
According to the Post, average hourly wages rose by 0.4 percent in May. Arthur argued that this wage bump is tied directly to the shrinking pool of unauthorized labor.
“With fewer illegal immigrants, businesses have had to raise wages to attract workers,” he wrote.
Arthur noted, however, that the program’s success hinges on the federal government maintaining a credible threat of enforcement. As of June 11, DHS reported 207,000 deportations since the start of the year.
CIS estimates that approximately 15.4 million illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration, a number the organization describes as conservative.
The Trump administration has emphasized mass deportations and strict enforcement of immigration laws, with the self-deportation program becoming a central component of that strategy. Officials say the policy encourages migrants to leave voluntarily rather than face arrest or detention, easing the burden on immigration authorities and reducing costs for the federal government.
“That represents a significant increase in the Administration’s deportations and may reflect the more sweeping and intrusive actions immigration officials have taken in recent weeks,” Newsweek reported.
