A new report links the operations of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with a widespread increase in the prices of goods and services in the United States, ranging from food to housing and healthcare.
The study "End the ICE Tax" by America's Voice, published in early August, indicates that the reduction of the immigrant workforce caused by the immigration operations of the Trump administration is shifting costs directly to the pockets of American consumers.
The report, which is based on academic research from the Brookings Institution, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California, Irvine, coins the term "ICE tax" to describe the economic cost that, according to America's Voice, deportations generate in various sectors and communities across the country.
The numbers are striking: home healthcare saw an increase of 10.7%, landscaping services rose by 10.8%, and the construction of new homes in the Northeast of the country—where 23% of the sector's workforce was born abroad—registered increases of up to 15.4% between the first quarter of 2025 and the same period in 2026.
In the food sector, the price increases also greatly surpassed the core inflation rate, which was 2.6% in the 12 months leading up to June 2026. For example, lettuce rose by 32.1% during that same period; whole milk increased by 9.0%; apples by 7.1%; fresh citrus fruits by 6.3%; and canned fruit by 7.9%.
The impact on employment is equally significant. According to the report, the immigration measures implemented in 2025 would have led to the loss of about 668,000 jobs nationwide. Of that total, between 51,000 and 297,000 positions would have corresponded to workers born in the United States, not to immigrants.
The Brookings Institution, in an analysis of 86 metropolitan areas that experienced waves of ICE arrests, calculated that average employment fell 0.73% below expectations after the operations, and that each arrest is associated with the loss of approximately 13 jobs in total.
In the Rio Grande Valley (Texas), employment in construction fell by 5%. Nationally, permits for single-family homes dropped by 9.5% between March 2025 and June 2026. In the five states most reliant on immigrant labor, employment in construction declined by 1.3%, while in the rest of the country it grew by 3.3%.
An analysis by the University of Pennsylvania estimated that ICE operations resulted in 8.1 million fewer customer visits to businesses (and between 3 billion and 14 billion dollars in unspent revenue). In Minneapolis, the city government calculated nearly 200 million dollars in losses for local businesses in just two months.
Florida is among the states most vulnerable to this disruption, with the construction, hospitality, landscaping, and agriculture sectors particularly at risk.
Raids in Little Havana, Miami and other areas in South Florida have heightened fears among immigrant communities, which has also led to a decrease in foot traffic in businesses, even among those with legal status.
Dr. C. Daniel Pérez Listón, an economics professor at the University of Houston, consulted by Telemundo 51, summarized the mechanism: "A reduction in the labor force can decrease production and contribute to rising prices."
The Trump administration, for its part, argues that deportations improve job access for workers born in the United States and raise wages in certain manual trades, although this position is not the conclusion of the independent academic studies cited in the report by America's Voice.
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