Self-Deportation Is Real

National Review Online

Sunday, August 31, 2025

 

Anew tally by Pew Research indicates that as many as 1.5 million immigrants have left the U.S. so far this year. This is the first time the overall immigrant population has declined.

 

According to Axios, there are anecdotal reports of labor shortages in industries that are notorious for employing illegal labor: caregiving, agriculture, and meatpacking. Immigrants are declining as a share of the labor force — from 20 percent last year to 19 percent this June, a decrease of 750,000 workers.

 

Some of this number is due to deportations, but an enormous share are illegal immigrants who are reading the writing on the wall: namely, that the law is being enforced, and they are making the decision to return to a country in which they have legal residence. The Center for Immigration Studies shows that this phenomenon is not about cooking the books or alarmism but reflects real trends in migration.

 

In its own analysis drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Current Population Survey, CIS arrives at an even more dramatic figure, showing 2.2 million foreign-born people have exited the country, with a preliminary estimate that the illegal immigrant population of the United States has fallen by 1.6 million in just the last six months.

 

Axios portrays this phenomenon as a threat to the economy. In fact, the opposite is the case. Much of the job growth in the United States under the Biden administration reflected the illegal immigrant surge. Achieving growth this way has deleterious effects on the wages of low-skilled native workers, and deranging political effects. Illegal labor is in effect a different pool of labor, one less likely to call the cops about illegal work conditions. The derangement doesn’t end with the labor market but extends to other aspects of life. ICE comes in behind to check status. Chaos and lawlessness aren’t a good economic strategy. The numbers we are seeing now, with a growing share of the labor force being made up of native workers, are better signs of political and economic health.

 

We have faith that markets work and don’t require the government to neglect the law to create certain conditions, like an abundance of cheap labor. Employers who are denied illegal labor are more likely to raise wages or invest in productivity-enhancing automation that actually translates into long-term lower prices and standard-of-living increases for the rest of us. Respect for the law is good for legal immigrants and native workers, and in the long run it will be better for our economy.

 

The phenomenon of self-deportation, just like the phenomenon of mass illegal migration under Biden, shows us that attitudes toward the law are contagious. Trump’s vigorous enforcement is inspiring hundreds of thousands of people who broke our laws to suddenly change course and, of their own accord, obey them. For that, we should be thankful.