Working Americans’ exploding daily expenses don’t matter one iota to this president
It’s erroneously said that Marie Antoinette famously exclaimed “let them eat cake” when referring to the plight of the starving people of France. Equally out of touch are Donald Trump’s priorities – and it couldn’t be any clearer following the release of Congressional Republicans’ reconciliation bill this week, which is seeking $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to help fund the Mar-a-Lago-style White House ballroom that probably would’ve made the queen blush.
Recall that Trump has insisted that his now $400 million vanity project would be funded entirely by private donors like Amazon, Google, and Palantir — “companies that have billions of dollars in federal contracts with the administration,” as People notes. Wrong. Working families that are already struggling to pay for food, healthcare, and gas to get to school or work are now on the hook for this thing too.
And if you think that asking struggling Americans to fork over $1 billion to help fund a gaudy taxpayer-funded ballroom is outrageous, even that figure pales in comparison to the $70 billion that Republicans are also demanding to continue aiding Trump and Stephen Miller’s unfettered mass deportation obsessions. This would be in addition to the $190 billion in funding that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) already got last year.
Now they want even more – and with no guardrails in sight.
UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND UNCHECKED: ICE TRULY BELIEVES IT’S OUTSIDE THE LAW
The administration and its Republican allies are demanding working Americans shell out another $70 billion as ICE violates due process rights and has failed to comply with dozens of court directives as of Feb. 27. “At least 97 violations involving 66 different cases had been documented,” MS Now reported at the time, “along with an additional 113 alleged breaches of court orders in other matters.”
In just one recent example of due process violations, a federal judge ruled that the arrest of a Riverside, California immigrant “violated his constitutional rights and that only his immediate release could restore his status prior to arrest,” the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported. The man has no criminal record and was in compliance with ICE when he was abducted while on his way to work and, according to the judge, detained “virtually incommunicado” for weeks. “He was denied contact with the outside world for the first three days of his incarceration and had only been permitted one 20-minute call with his attorney,” the report said.
Not only do these kinds of due process violations ultimately put the freedoms of everyone at risk, we know our immigrant neighbors are suffering – and dying – in detention. One recent Washington Post investigation of internal ICE records found detention staff have used force 780 times in Trump’s second term, including using chemical agents against detained individuals demanding the basic dignity of clean water and food.
Just this week, so-called border czar Tom Homan threatened New York City with a massive surge of federal agents, stating that “You ain’t seen shit yet. This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.” This is nearly identical to what he said in 2024 when promising mass deportations. “They ain’t seen shit yet,” he said at the time. “Wait until 2025.”
What have we seen so far? Masked, unaccountable agents. Record in-custody deaths. Americans executed in the streets.
WRONG PRIORITIES: MASS DEPORTATION IS COSTING AMERICANS ALREADY STRUGGLING TO PAY BILLS
The Trump-Miller mass deportation agenda isn’t just driving up human misery, it’s driving up costs of living for all workers no matter their legal immigration status. One National Bureau of Economic Research study from this past April found that for every six undocumented workers who lose jobs to mass deportation raids, one U.S.-born worker with a high school degree or less also loses their job. The paper “validates prior research showing that immigration enforcement hurts U.S.-born workers,” The Washington Post reported. “They found that job losses for U.S.-born workers were concentrated in industries that rely heavily on undocumented men, including agriculture, construction and manufacturing.”
“The Trump administration has touted its efforts to deport undocumented workers as a way to help Americans in the labor market,” the report noted. “But the research shows that deportations are having a chilling effect.”
While Trump and Miller have touted arrests in areas governed by perceived political enemies, regions that think they’re on a friendlier basis with the administration shouldn’t be under the impression that they won’t be immune from the costly catastrophe of mass deportation. In Kentucky – where state lawmakers have proposed legislation mandating that local police aid in mass deportation efforts – restaurants, construction, and agriculture face severe economic impacts under this agenda. The construction industry alone employs 12,000 immigrant workers, 8% of the state’s construction workforce – a critical loss given Kentucky’s projected shortage of nearly 300,000 homes by the end of the decade.
And recall that just months ago, the administration itself admitted that its mass deportation agenda is posing an “immediate” danger to our food supply, which is largely harvested by immigrant workers. “Without prompt action, agricultural employers will face severe labor shortages,” Trump’s Department of Labor said, “resulting in disruption to food production, higher prices, and reduced access for U.S. consumers, particularly to fresh fruit and vegetables.” In Idaho, a regional economist found mass deportation would cut dairy output by 45%, slash agricultural production by 22.5%, and shrink the state’s gross product by more than $5.1 billion, triggering a recession on par with 2007–2010.
A BETTER WAY: WELCOMING OUR IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORS
This past May Day was yet another reminder of the critical role that our immigrant neighbors play in our lives. Not only are they a vital thread in the fabric of America, they are essential to industries like construction, agriculture, and healthcare. “Among clinical occupations, immigrants represent a relatively high share of physicians working in hospitals (27%),” KFF said last year. “About one in five (19%) physicians are naturalized citizens, and another 8% are noncitizen immigrants.” These professionals include the nearly 300,000 Black immigrants who work as physicians, registered nurses, and home health aides. Among Haitian immigrants alone, more than 100,000 work as healthcare workers.
Immigrant workers everywhere help sustain our public schools, libraries, fire departments, and essential federal programs like Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance to the benefit of us all. These workers paid $651.9 billion in tax contributions in 2023, including $419.8 billion in federal tax contributions and $232.1 billion in local and state tax contributions.
Undocumented workers specifically pay nearly $100 billion in taxes annually, helping sustain federal programs despite being ineligible for benefits themselves. And, unlike the richest Americans in the country, these immigrant workers contribute more than their fair share. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s research found that across 40 states, “undocumented immigrants pay higher state and local tax rates than the top 1 percent of households living within their borders.”
A better way forward would be to create a line for undocumented workers so they can finally apply for legal status. Not only would legalization allow their families to stay together, it would be to the economic benefit of us all. But instead, the personal vendetta that is the Trump-Miller deportation machine is stripping away constitutional protections, driving up costs, and depleting the workforce while actual public safety threats menacing our children and communities remain unaddressed. But at least Trump’s ballroom will get funded, right?
