Follow the Money: How Anti-Immigration and Racism Cost Every American

You are told that immigration is the problem. That immigrants are taking your jobs, depressing your wages, straining your services. You are told that if we just deport enough people and build enough walls, your life will get better. You are told this repeatedly, by politicians of both parties, by media personalities, by people who claim to care about your interests.

It is a lie. And it is a lie designed to prevent you from seeing who is actually taking your money, depressing your wages, and straining your life.

The truth is far more profitable than the lie. Anti-immigration policies and racism do not help working people. They cost everyone—including most of the people who support them—trillions of dollars. But they help a small group of elites: corporations that exploit labor, private prison companies that profit from detention, politicians who benefit from division, and employers who want workers so desperate and afraid that they cannot demand fair wages.

This is not a moral argument. This is arithmetic. Follow the money, and you will see who benefits from making you fight your neighbor instead of fighting the system that steals from both of you.

The Cost to You: Trillions in Lost Growth

Anti-immigration policies are destroying the economy. Not protecting it. Destroying it. And the cost is being paid by you.

Between 2025 and 2035, anti-immigration enforcement is projected to reduce cumulative GDP by $12.1 trillion, or $34,369 per person. That is money that would have been produced, jobs that would have been created, goods and services that would have been available. Instead, it is lost. Gone. The economy shrinks. Growth slows. Your job is less secure. Businesses hire fewer people. Wages stay flat or fall.

Just in 2025 and 2026 alone, immigration policy changes reduced GDP growth by between 0.3 and 0.75 percentage points annually. Translation: between $70 billion and $175 billion in lost economic output annually. That is money that would have paid for schools. Infrastructure. Healthcare. Instead, it is lost to policies designed to make immigrants leave.

By 2035, immigration restrictions could reduce average annual economic growth from 1.8 percent to 1.3 percent—a reduction of nearly one-third. This is not a small number. Over a decade, this compounds into trillions. And who suffers? Working people. The unemployment rate rises. Job creation slows. Businesses close because there are not enough workers to keep them open. Prices rise because there are fewer goods being produced. The economy contracts. Everyone is poorer.

But the elites who pushed for these policies? They profit. How? By holding wages down for everyone else.

Racism: $71 Trillion in Lost Wealth Over 30 Years

Racism is not just morally wrong. It is economically catastrophic. And the costs are astronomical.

Over the last twenty years, racism has cost the U.S. economy $16 trillion. That is the Citigroup estimate. That is roughly the size of the entire U.S. GDP. That is money that was not earned, investment that was not made, businesses that were not created, because people of color were denied access to opportunities that white Americans took for granted.

Over the last thirty years, the combined effects of gender and racial discrimination have cost the U.S. economy approximately $71 trillion in lost GDP. That is $71 trillion. That is more than three times the current annual GDP of the entire United States.

What does this mean in concrete terms? In 2025 alone, racial discrimination cost the economy $2.6 trillion. That is real money. That is your money. That is money that could have been spent in your community, that could have paid for your kid's school, that could have fixed your roads, that could have improved your healthcare. Instead, it was lost to discrimination.

Right now, Black unemployment stands at 7.2 percent compared to 3.7 percent for white workers. Black Americans face a 1.8 million job deficit compared with white employment rates. That costs Black America $87 billion in lost income annually. But it does not cost just Black America. It costs all of us. Those $87 billion in wages not earned are $87 billion in taxes not paid, $87 billion in consumer spending that does not happen, $87 billion in economic activity that is lost.

The median white worker makes 24 percent more than the typical Black worker. The median white household has ten times the wealth of the median Black household. These are not accidents. They are the result of systematic policies—redlining, discriminatory lending, exclusion from education, employment discrimination, mass incarceration—that were designed to transfer wealth from people of color to white Americans. And the cost is paid by everyone in the form of a smaller economy.

"If racism were ended and racial gaps were closed, the U.S. economy could add $5 trillion to GDP by 2025. But racism persists. And the economy shrinks. You are poorer because racism is legal."

Who Benefits: The Profiteers of Division

If anti-immigration policies and racism hurt the economy so badly, why are they so popular? Who benefits? Follow the money.

Private Prison Companies. Geo Group and CoreCivic are making hundreds of millions off immigration detention. In 2025 alone, Geo Group received more than $710 million in ICE contracts. CoreCivic received nearly $269 million. Over 90 percent of ICE detainees are held in privately run facilities nationwide. More arrests mean more money for these companies. ICE pays roughly $165 per day for each person held in detention. More beds filled means more profit. So these companies lobby for harsher enforcement. They donate to politicians who promise to deport more people. They lobby against bail reform. They want detention, not rapid processing. They want the system to expand, not shrink.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" will result in 290,000 deportations between 2026 and 2029, with about 50,000 immigrants detained per day. That is $2.9 billion per year in detention revenue for private prison companies. That is profit built on human suffering.

Corporations That Exploit Labor. Employers benefit from immigration restrictions by creating a climate of fear. When undocumented workers are afraid of deportation, they cannot organize, cannot demand fair wages, cannot report wage theft. An employer can pay an undocumented worker $5 an hour. That worker cannot complain because complaining means deportation. So wages stay low. Labor standards disappear. Workers are exploited.

But here is the trick: this suppresses wages for all workers. If an employer can hire someone desperate enough to work for $5 an hour, why would they pay $15 to a citizen? The whole labor market adjusts downward. Everyone's wages are depressed because employers always have the option of hiring desperate workers. Immigration restrictions do not create more jobs for citizens at higher wages. They create a larger pool of vulnerable workers that employers can exploit. And when all workers are vulnerable—when they fear job loss, wage cuts, no benefits—no one has bargaining power. Employers win. Workers lose.

Politicians and Media. Division sells. Fear sells. Telling you that your neighbor—the immigrant, the person of color, the person on the other side of the country—is your enemy, is taking your stuff, is the reason you are struggling. That narrative is profitable for politicians who want your vote and media companies who want your attention. It is far easier to blame immigrants than to explain how the CEO made 300 times your salary. It is far easier to blame Black welfare recipients than to explain how redlining stole wealth from entire communities. Division is profitable. Unity is not.

Enforcement Contractors. The "One Big Beautiful Bill" provides $170 billion for immigration and border enforcement, including $29.9 billion to ICE operations and hiring of 10,000 ICE officers. That is money flowing to contractors. To technology companies providing surveillance. To transportation companies. To facilities. Massive amounts of federal money going to companies that profit from enforcement. These contractors donate to politicians. They lobby for more enforcement. They need the system to expand to grow their profits.

The Real Cost: What You Pay So the Elite Can Profit

Every person in America loses money when immigration is restricted and racism is allowed to persist. Here is what it costs you:

Lost Jobs. The economy shrinks when fewer workers are available. Businesses close. Construction projects cannot be completed because there are no workers. Farms cannot harvest crops. Restaurants cannot staff. Healthcare facilities cannot operate. Jobs that would have been created are not created. Your job security declines.

Lower Wages. When the labor market is flooded with desperate, vulnerable workers, wages fall for everyone. Employers always have the threat of hiring someone more desperate. You cannot organize because you fear job loss. You cannot demand a raise because someone else will take the job. Your wages are suppressed. Your ability to build a life is diminished.

Higher Prices. When goods and services cannot be produced because there are not enough workers, prices rise. Labor shortages in agriculture means food prices go up. Construction shortages mean housing prices stay high. Healthcare worker shortages mean healthcare costs rise. You pay more for everything because the economy cannot produce enough.

Fewer Taxes, Worse Services. Immigrants contribute billions in taxes every year. When they are deported, that tax revenue disappears. Federal, state, and local governments have less money. Services suffer. Schools are underfunded. Roads decay. Police and firefighters are laid off. Your community gets poorer.

Economic Collapse. The baby boom generation is retiring. The U.S.-born population cannot fill the labor gap on its own. Without immigration, the labor force shrinks. Fewer workers support more retirees. The economy cannot grow. Eventually, the entire system becomes unsustainable. Social Security fails. Healthcare for the elderly collapses. You pay the cost.

How the System Works: Division Suppresses Wages for Everyone

You have been divided into fighting each other. This is not accidental. This is intentional. Here is the mechanism:

The system is not broken. It is working exactly as designed. Division prevents unity. Fear prevents organizing. When workers of different backgrounds blame each other instead of the employer, the employer wins. Wages stay low. Benefits disappear. The economy contracts. But profit concentrates at the top.

Who Gets Rich: The Distribution of Profits from Division

Every company and politician listed above profits from keeping workers divided and wages low. They lobby for harsher enforcement. They donate to politicians who promise cruelty. They benefit when you fight your neighbor instead of demanding fair wages.

Why This System Persists

If these policies hurt everyone, why do they continue? Because division is profitable for a small elite. And because the people who benefit have all the power.

Politicians benefit from xenophobia and racism because they are easy to exploit. You do not have to explain complex economic policy. You do not have to tell the truth about CEO pay or tax loopholes. You just tell people that immigrants are the problem. That people of a different race are the problem. Blame them. Vote for me and I will stop them. Politicians win votes through division.

Media companies benefit because division generates engagement. Stories about dangerous immigrants get more clicks than stories about wage theft by corporations. Stories about "inner-city crime" get more views than stories about systemic discrimination. Fear sells. Truth does not.

Corporations benefit because workers divided against each other have no power. A worker who blames immigrants for low wages will never organize with immigrant workers to demand higher wages from the employer. A white worker who blames Black workers will never organize with Black workers to demand fair treatment. As long as you are fighting each other, you are not fighting the system that steals from all of you.

This is the great insight of Mike Quin, the labor journalist whose spirit guides this broadsheet. Division serves the system. Unity threatens it. The system will work endlessly to keep you divided—by race, by immigration status, by nationality, by anything that prevents you from seeing that your interests are aligned with workers who look different from you.

"The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." The greatest weapon in the hands of employers is workers divided against each other. When you fight your neighbor, you lose. When you unite with your neighbor, the system trembles.

The Path Forward

You have two choices. You can continue to blame immigrants and people of different races for your problems. You can vote for harsher enforcement, taller walls, more raids. You can send more people to private detention centers. You can feel temporarily satisfied by the cruelty. And your wages will continue to fall. Your jobs will continue to disappear. Your economy will continue to shrink. The wealthy will continue to get wealthier. You will continue to get poorer.

Or you can see the system for what it is: a structure designed to divide you so you do not unite against the people who are actually stealing from you. You can refuse to blame immigrants. You can refuse to believe the racist narrative. You can organize with all workers—regardless of immigration status or race—to demand fair wages, good benefits, dignified treatment. You can demand that your government invest in the economy instead of in detention. You can demand that corporations share the wealth they create instead of hoarding it. You can build a system where everyone has power instead of only the wealthy.

The economic case is clear. Immigration restrictions and racism cost you trillions. They make you poorer. They shrink your economy. They eliminate your jobs. They suppress your wages. Stopping them would be worth $12 trillion over a decade. Ending discrimination would unlock $71 trillion in lost potential. These are not small numbers. These are the difference between prosperity and decline.

But the political case is also clear. The wealthy benefit from your division. They profit when you blame immigrants instead of holding CEOs accountable. They profit when you blame people of color instead of demanding systemic reform. They profit when workers of different backgrounds fight each other instead of uniting for power.

You have the power to change this. But you will only have it if you use it together. Not alone. Not divided. Together.