Fed's Powell Says Reduced Immigration Could Slow U.S. Economy

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, in written responses to a Democratic senator, said reducing immigration could slow the economy over the longer run by limiting growth in the U.S. labor force.

The comments came in a written response to Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat who asked Powell if he agreed with pro-immigration comments by Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari. Kashkari, whose parents came from India and wife is from the Philippines, called immigration “as close to a free lunch as there is” for the American economy, according to a Wall Street Journal opinion column in January.