A new national economic report predicts that Arkansas will lose 24,000 jobs if the Trump administration reaches its target numbers for mass deportations. Of those, 11,000 jobs would be those held by U.S.-born citizens.

A joint report published this month by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) asserts that the federal government’s mass deportation policy is making life more unaffordable in America. As more immigrants are arrested, detained and deported, it’s harder for businesses to hire workers, which slows economic growth and adds to our existing affordability crisis.

The report is called Citizenship and the Affordability Agenda: A Path to Better Jobs, Higher Wages and Prosperity. It is available at this link.

There’s a common assumption that mass deportation will free up jobs for U.S. citizens that were previously held by immigrants. Rather, mass deportation policies enable workplace exploitation, which drives down wages for all workers, drives up prices when businesses can’t find workers, and kills jobs, the report explains.

“In contrast to claims from this administration that mass deportation policies would create more jobs for U.S. citizens, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that continued pursuit of this anti-immigrant agenda will result in the loss of six million jobs, with nearly half of people put out of work being U.S. citizens,” the report states. “In our interdependent labor market, harm to one group of workers spills over to all those who labor alongside them or within the same supply chain, regardless of immigration status,” the report continues.

According to an accompanying fact sheet with state data, of the 24,000 predicted job losses in Arkansas, most job losses would be in construction: about 14,000. About 5,000 of those construction job losses would be held by U.S.-born citizens.

The report recommends the United States adopt policies that would enable a path to citizenship for immigrant workers, creating an economic stimulus that will boost the overall workforce. That would stabilize and strengthen the state’s workforce and economy.

The Economic Policy Institute predicts that under such a policy, 84,000 people in Arkansas would see their wages rise by an average of 15%. For some workers, it could result in even bigger gains. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, for example, have seen their wages triple over ten years after they received their work permits.

The Economic Policy Institute reports that 161,000 immigrants live in Arkansas, making up about 5% of the population. Immigrant workers fill 8% of all jobs in Arkansas and contribute 7.2% of the state’s economic output.

Here’s a list of the industries in Arkansas that have the highest share of immigrant workers:
1. Construction (16%)
2. Manufacturing (12%)
3. Leisure and Hospitality (9%)
4. Professional and business services (8%)
5. Other services (7%)

Immigrants are also entrepreneurs and business owners. EPI estimates that 14,000 immigrants are business owners, making up about 10% of the state’s entrepreneurs.