Migrant Crackdown Fears Are Skewing Jobs Picture, Goldman Sachs Says
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain a suspect during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Lyons, Illinois.
Photographer: Christopher Dilts/BloombergA Goldman Sachs analysis suggests that heightened immigration enforcement under the Trump administration may be discouraging foreign-born workers from participating in government surveys used to prepare employment data — and possibly from working altogether due to deportation fears.
“The number of immigrant respondents to the survey declined moderately in the first two months of 2025,” Goldman Sachs economist Elsie Peng said in a report published Monday. “This is consistent with early signs that a crackdown on unauthorized immigrants may have made some immigrants reluctant to participate in the government survey.”