Immigrant workers are a vital part of our workforce and a cherished part of Washington’s culture and community. They support our daily lives, provide jobs, and strengthen our state economy.
Yet in Washington, we have already begun to see the Trump administration’s unprecedented intensity of enforcement actions aimed at removing immigrants from their communities, their workplaces, and often from their families. In many cases, this may result in deportations or indefinite incarceration in detention centers. The new administration is also promising to radically reduce the number of new immigrants allowed into the country, and to strip some immigrants of the status and work authorization they currently hold.
There are far-reaching social and humanitarian implications of this type of enforcement regime, but there is also a quantifiable economic risk. Our new report co-released with the Immigration Research Initiative, “The economic and fiscal impacts of mass deportation: What’s at risk in Washington state,” reveals the financial consequences of removing immigrants from Washington state.
If 10% of people who are undocumented are deported, it would result in a loss of $100 million per year in state and local tax revenues. Washington can better maintain and strengthen our economy by protecting our state’s immigrants and granting undocumented individuals’ legal status.
Of note, the analysis shows that in 2022, people who are undocumented paid nearly $1 billion ($997 million) in Washington state and local taxes. If 10% of people who are undocumented are deported, it would result in a loss of $100 million per year in state and local tax revenues. The areas of Washington’s economy that would be most harmed by deportations of undocumented people are agriculture and farming; restaurants; care, service, and domestic work; and construction.
Washington can better maintain and strengthen our economy by protecting our state’s immigrants and granting undocumented individuals’ legal status. Read the full report.
Action alert: Speak out against detentions
In recent weeks in the Puget Sound region, University of Washington lab technician Lewelyn Dixon, Bellingham farmworker leader Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, and 37 construction workers in Bellingham have been detained. These are unnecessary and cruel acts by an administration that is engaging in fascist tactics. Find ways to call for the release of Lewelyn Dixon here and to call for the release of Lelo Juarez Zeferino here. In addition, Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network has resources in multiple languages about how to respond to ICE raids. You can also reach out to your state and federal elected officials to tell them to call on the Trump administration to halt these inhumane acts by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Families belong together.
