Overview

• Paul Krugman writes that mass arrests and deportations would inflict outsized economic disruption because undocumented workers are concentrated in sectors like agriculture, meatpacking, senior care and construction.
• He estimates undocumented immigrants account for roughly 5% of the U.S. workforce, making targeted labor losses more harmful than the headline numbers imply.
• Krugman cautions that a rapidly expanded ICE could enable abuses by masked, unidentified agents and sweep up legal workers or citizens.
• Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says 1.6 million people without legal status have left the U.S. population in under 200 days and urges others to depart.
• Fresh research cited in new reporting points to early stress signals, including slower construction activity, agricultural labor declines and rising food prices.