The most recent monthly jobs report, for February 2026, released last week, conclusively demonstrates that one of those pillars, Trump’s myriad tariffs on American imports, has indeed weakened the economy. Fewer people have jobs today than they did in April 2025, when Trump imposed sweeping and illegal import taxes on Americans.
The other pillar, Trump’s mass deportation agenda — besides its gruesome and worsening human toll — is, according to local news reporting, reducing employment and business revenue where the presence of Trump’s hastily trained immigration enforcers are most concentrated. On March 3, Investigate Midwest reported that an analysis of labor survey data by the University of California, Merced’s Community and Labor Center shows a correlation between Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement surges and declines in employment:
