A pro-immigrant advocacy group, "America's Voice," released a report stating that President Donald Trump's immigration policies are damaging the U.S. economy. The report indicates that Trump's mass deportations are increasing the costs of food, housing, and healthcare, while simultaneously causing local economic contractions. The organization has dubbed these additional costs the "ICE Tax," named after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose aggressive enforcement tactics have sparked significant controversy this year.
On June 9, 2025, in the immigration court hall of the Jacob Javits Federal Building, ICE agents were patrolling. Following immigration court hearings, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) stepped up enforcement, with federal agents making arrests during routine check-ins for immigrants. The Trump administration ordered law enforcement to increase the number of daily detentions to 3,000. The pro-immigrant advocacy group "America's Voice" released a new report claiming that Trump's mass deportation policies have led to higher costs for groceries, housing, and healthcare, and have caused local economic shrinkage. The group refers to the resulting extra expenses as the "ICE Tax," a reference to Intercontinental Exchange.
On Wednesday, the organization made the data public for the first time, quantifying its argument that Trump's policies are having a negative economic impact. "Forcibly deporting hundreds of thousands of essential workers leads to higher food bills at checkout, soaring home construction costs, fewer customers at local shops after raids, and unfilled job vacancies when colleagues disappear," said Vanessa Cardenas, Executive Director of America's Voice, in a statement. "Instead of trying to lower living costs and improve affordability, the administration has turned on the deportation machine, making communities fearful, businesses suffer, and ultimately, every family pays the price," Cardenas continued.
The report calls on Congress and the White House to end the "ICE Tax." This advocacy campaign is launching three months before the 2026 midterm elections, where the cost of living and Trump's immigration policies are key issues. A nationwide economic survey from early July, which polled 1,000 voters, found that 60% disapprove of Trump's economic management. Respondents considered immigration and border security the third most important issue facing the U.S. today.
Trump's second term has set an ambitious goal of deporting 1 million people per year. CBS News reported that last month, Intercontinental Exchange detained over 46,000 people for suspected immigration violations, setting a monthly record for the Trump administration. This year, Intercontinental Exchange has been heavily criticized for its tough enforcement tactics, with Democrats and activists calling for reforms following several incidents involving deaths at the hands of enforcement officers. This latest report from "America's Voice" makes the economic case for reforming Intercontinental Exchange. The White House and Intercontinental Exchange, which are part of the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.
Analyzing 12 months of federal price data through June, "America's Voice" found that food items heavily reliant on immigrant labor saw the sharpest price increases. Lettuce prices rose 32.1%; canned fruit increased by 7.9%; and fresh citrus and apple prices surged by 6.3% and 7.1%, respectively. Over the same period, core inflation, which excludes food and energy, was 2.6%. The report also noted that factors beyond deportation, such as weather and fuel costs, influence prices. "No single data point can provide a definitive conclusion, but category after category shows the same trend: goods and services that rely most on immigrant labor saw significantly higher price increases than other parts of the economy. This cost increase is not a coincidence," the report stated.
While the report does not confirm a direct causal link, it observed cost increases in other industries that heavily depend on immigrant labor. The data shows that from the start of Trump's second term through June, construction employment in the five states with the highest reliance on immigrant labor declined by 1.3%, while it grew by 3.3% in the rest of the U.S. An analysis by the group found that 23% of construction workers in the Northeast are immigrants. From March 2025 to June 2026, permits for new single-family homes fell by 23.5%, and new home prices in the region rose by 15.4% from the first quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026. In the home healthcare industry, where 40% of workers are immigrants, costs rose by 10.7% over the past year.
Local economies have also been hurt. "America's Voice" cited a study from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School released in May, which found that when Intercontinental Exchange conducts enforcement operations in a metro area, local consumer spending is 6.2% lower than normal, and foot traffic at ordinary businesses falls by 2.7%. The Wharton report estimates that this consumption decline equates to 8.1 billion fewer in-store visits per year, with a potential loss of up to $140 billion in consumer spending. "This is the ICE Tax. It's not a tax voted on by the public, nor does it have an official rate. When the government uses resources to deport workers instead of focusing on lowering living costs, the various scattered and accumulating costs eventually fall on every family: more expensive food, higher housing costs, rising elder care expenses, the closure of the local bakery, and construction site shutdowns," the "America's Voice" report concluded.