Majority of US employers polled say immigration enforcement will impact their workplaces, cause staffing shortages

The employment law firm Littler recently surveyed 349 executives, in-house lawyers, and senior human resource professionals across various industries about their chief concerns in view of the federal government's shifting priorities. The Trump administration's clampdown on illegal immigration was apparently top of mind — a potential wink at big business' reliance on illegally imported labor.

When asked how great an impact the expected "enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security, and compliance with their respective requirements" will have on their workplace over the next 12 months, 26% of respondents said they anticipate a "significant impact," and 44% said they anticipate a "moderate impact." The remainder suggested there would be no impact at all.

When asked to what extent their organizations were concerned about "workforce staffing challenges as a result of the Trump administration's immigration policies," 32% of respondents answered "slightly concerned," 20% answered "moderately concerned," and 6% said "very concerned."

"Large employers are more concerned than their counterparts about ICE/DHS enforcement (84% expect a significant or moderate impact on their workplaces) and workforce staffing challenges (69% expressed concern, versus 58% overall)," said the report.

Employers in manufacturing and retail/hospitality were apparently the most concerned about the other shoe dropping when it comes to the administration's enforcement of federal immigration law.

'There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force.'

Eighty-three percent of employers in manufacturing, compared with 75% of all employers, listed immigration at the top of the policy changes that would impact their businesses over the next year.

Where retail/hospitality employers were concerned, 89% indicated ICE and DHS enforcement will have a significant or moderate impact on their workplaces.

The Pew Research Center indicated that as of 2022, there were roughly 8.3 million illegal aliens in the workforce. The largest share of illegal aliens in the workforce reportedly serve in construction.

"Though employers have reasonable cause for worry — it is anticipated, after all, that Trump 2.0 will increase ICE/HSI I-9 audits to up to 15,000 a year and ICE raids to more than 100 a year — workplace enforcement actions as of the writing of this report have not yet resulted in any formal ICE raids of employer worksites," said the report.

The report strongly insinuated that these concerns pertain to the impact of the administration's targeting of illegal aliens, as it notes "employers may be underestimating the impact of Trump 2.0 on legal immigration, which declined by about 40% during the president's first term and could have costly consequences for employers that are unable to bring in the necessary talent."

Jorge Lopez, chair of the firm's immigration and global mobility practice group, told Axios, "I was just flabbergasted by how high the concern was among our clients."

White House spokesman Kush Desai framed the potential staffing shortages as an opportunity to draw from neglected depths of the American talent pool.

"Over 1 in 10 young adults in America are neither employed, in higher education, nor pursuing some sort of vocational training," Desai told Axios. "There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force, and President Trump's executive order to modernize workforce training programs represents this administration's commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential."

The survey also found that nearly 85% of respondents anticipate that changes to workplace regulations and policies regarding DEI will impact their businesses during President Donald Trump's first year back in office.

According to Littler, 60% of organizations with over 10,000 employees are concerned about DEI-related litigation.

Despite these concerns, only 55% of respondents are considering making some changes to their DEI policies and programs, and the remainder are not contemplating new or further rollbacks.

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