Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas white paper shows the impact of illegal immigration in numbers
A white paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas concludes that the record number of illegal immigrants during the Biden administration had a big impact on housing prices, rents, and employment growth.
The Federal Reserve Bank says its working papers are preliminary drafts and that the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.
The working paper called "Impacts of Unauthorized Immigration on U.S. Labor and Housing Markets" was released in March.
The report says the large increase in unauthorized immigration into the U.S. from early 2021 to early 2024 added roughly "seven million people to the U.S. population, nearly double that of legal immigration." It also said illegal immigration is responsible for "roughly 30% of total employment growth over March 2021 to March 2024."
It also finds that "about 30% of the total growth in house prices" is to blame on the large increases in illegal immigration. And that same problem is responsible for "20% of the total growth in rents."
Republican Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne of Irving posted the report on her X account, and CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink spoke with her about it.
"We've actually been saying this for a number of months now," said Van Duyne. "I don't think people sometimes understand the ramifications of having so many folks enter your country illegally in such a short period of time and the financial disaster that it causes. And I want to make sure that people you know heard those numbers, it caused an increase in housing [prices] by 30%."
"It caused an increase in rental rates by 20%, which, you know, when President Trump was running for this position for a second time, he was very clear to say we have got to focus on deportations," Van Duyne continued. "There's a reason why. Look at what's happened to the housing market. And as a direct result, by the way, what you're seeing now is prices coming down. You've had over 3.5 million people either self-deport or have been deported, you know, through this administration. And it's having an immediate reaction in the market on housing. We have to continue that."
Van Duyne wrote a letter, with the signatures of other members of Congress, urging the Trump administration, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State to investigate allegations of H-1b visa fraud. Van Duyne told Fink, "The administration is absolutely taking it seriously."
"But one of the things I think drew my attention to was when you looked at the fraud numbers and the HB-1 numbers that were happening in visa numbers that were happening in North Texas, specifically in Irving, Texas, they're taking the letter serious," she added.
"I think we're taking a much more aggressive and much more engaging approach with the administration to prevent that from happening," said Van Duyne. "But look, we had jobs that were being created for these, these phantom visa holders that were affecting Americans, being able to get jobs that were effective, Americans being able to get paid with those job numbers were going for because all of a sudden, you had folks who were coming here from other countries that that were taking advantage of this program, getting paid much less than American workers for doing the same thing, which was driving down wage numbers."
Annual job fair in North Texas
Van Duyne is set to host a fifth North Texas job fair this year. This year, the fair will be held on Thursday, August 6, at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
In 2025, the job fair drew in more than 35,000 attendees.
"So this is not your typical job fair," said VanDuyne. "This now represents the largest job fair in the country."
"And for those people who want to find out what industries, it basically covers the gamut of industries," she added. "Healthcare, law enforcement, academics, tech, technology – really, there's an infinite number of industries from the starter jobs to CEO and C-suite level positions."
The event is free to all North Texans, and more information is available online.