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Former President Joe Biden’s border policies forced Americans to shoulder economic burdens through rising rents and lower wages, former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey argued Monday.
“The American people overall are the losers on illegal migration,” Fahey told FOX Business’ Cheryl Casone.
“Certainly, certain industries benefit from it, but the overall, it makes more sense what President Trump and his administration are doing, which is focusing on policies that protect American workers and make their wages rise.”
BIDEN’S ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION SURGE CAUSED HIGHER RENT AND HOME PRICES, FED STUDY FINDS
Joining “Mornings With Maria” following the July 4 weekend, Fahey criticized the previous administration’s approach to illegal immigration, pointing to a Federal Reserve working paper that found the record surge in illegal immigration during Biden’s tenure was associated with higher home prices and rents.
The paper, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, combines immigration court records with government administrative data to measure how the unprecedented wave of illegal immigration between 2021 and 2024 affected local labor and housing markets.
The authors caution the study is a preliminary draft circulated for professional comment and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.
BIDEN-ERA ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DROVE UP HOUSING COSTS, FED ECONOMISTS FIND
Previous reporting found the influx of illegal immigrants boosted employment with little measurable effect on wages but significantly increased housing demand.
Fahey made a similar argument, linking the population surge to increased demand across multiple sectors.
“That’s really just common sense. You bring in over 10 million people. They didn’t bring any homes with them. Prices are going to rise,” he explained.
“But we also had wages [go] down during the Biden administration because of it. Also, things like health care gets more expensive. No doctors, nurses, or hospitals came across the border, or very few doctors and nurses or anyone else, so that made that more expensive.”
The preliminary report’s findings, however, suggested that a 1% increase in unauthorized workers relative to a local labor force corresponded with roughly a 1% increase in overall employment, with no evidence that the immigration surge reduced average wages.
At the same time, the population increase was associated with a roughly 2.2% rise in home prices and a 1.4% increase in rents, reflecting an additional demand shock in an already strained housing market.
FOX Business’ Amanda Macias contributed to this report.
