50 years of economic policy killed American Dreams

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed he will deport millions of undocumented immigrants and their family members who are U.S. citizens. It may be a great soundbite. But this action is not only an injustice; it’s bound to devastate our economy. Our economy’s problems will not go away by blaming immigrants or by claiming that by deporting them, the nation will be great again.

Why Deportation

In a recent Pew Research Center survey of registered voters in 2017, approximately 77% of the respondents believed that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to remain; 22% rejected this idea. This year, 55% supported allowing undocumented immigrants to stay; 41%  rejected the idea. 

Clearly, some people have long believed that undocumented immigrants should be deported, but the majority have rejected this notion, and the support for undocumented immigrants has dramatically decreased. 

What about the American Dream? 

Raj Chetty and his colleagues compare Americans born in 1940 to those born in 1980. Some 92% of children born in 1940 did better than their parents; this rate fell to 50% for the generation born in 1980. Many studies have documented the trail of this degeneration since the mid-1970s; it occurred consistently during every administration, regardless of political affiliation. 

A recent study by Rand Corporation shows that from 1975 to 2018, some $47 trillion had been transferred from the aggregate taxable income for those below the 90th percentile to the top 10%, notably the top 1%. It should not surprise anyone that the labor share of revenue in the United States declined; 75% of this decline has occurred since 2000. There is a stark disparity in productivity and wage growth, with net productivity growing 59.7% from 1979 to 2019, while a typical worker’s compensation grew by only 15.8%. Before 1979, wages and productivity dovetailed with one another. 

Let us admit that the American economy has transitioned from “labor” to “capital,” and the role of organized labor has been significantly diminished. 

Why Immigration

Not all immigration is voluntary, and not all immigrants are criminals. Millions of people emigrate to escape political violence, hunger, deprivation and the pressures brought about by climate change. According to a May 2024 report by the European Commission, the number of forcibly displaced people globally has reached 120 million. A total of 43.4 million refugees and people needed international protection; 68.3 million people were internally displaced. 

The United States and other wealthy countries do not offer significant help in hosting refugees and displaced people. Some 75% of refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries and 20% in least-developed countries. 

Blaming people for the challenges they face, which could easily be us in years to come, is insane and inhumane. It’s a cruel act that lacks empathy and understanding of the shared human experience. It’s time to look beyond blame and division and work toward a global solution. 

Unlike other bodies of law, which may only apply to specific groups or situations, international human rights law always applies to all people. This includes not only a state’s citizens but everyone within the state’s jurisdiction or effective control. This means all migrants are entitled to the same international human rights regardless of status. 

Building a wall and closing our borders do not solve our economic problems. Instead, it separates us from humanity and compassion for one of society’s most basic needs: the search for a better life and safety. The best way to manage immigration is to create peace instead of conflicts, work toward a sustainable economy, and help other countries, particularly our neighbors, overcome their economic challenges, which will also improve our economy. 

Jamshid Damooei is a professor of economics at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He is also the executive director of the California Lutheran University School of Management’s Center for Economics of Social Issues (CESI). In 2024, he released the report “Demographic Profile and Economic Impact of Undocumented Immigrants in California: Separating Myths from Realities.”