President Joe Biden’s administration has allowed over 9 million migrants into the United States, including approximately 6.5 million illegal and quasi-legal migrants, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
By early 2024, this tripled inflow does not account for those turned away at the border but is “nearly as many as the number that came in the previous decade,” the report notes, citing recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) findings.
This steady influx of new workers, consumers, and renters enables Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to highlight economic growth. However, critics argue that this growth stems from jobs created for low-wage migrants rather than better-paid opportunities for American workers.
WSJ graphic showing the net inflows of illegal immigrants under Biden
Less than 30% of foreign nationals entering the US under Biden did so legally
The influx of migrants under President Biden's administration is negatively impacting ordinary Americans’ wages, productivity, and wealth. Nearly 23 percent of these migrants lack high-school diplomas, compared to only 10 percent of the U.S. adult population. However, the influx also includes a slightly higher percentage of college graduates—36 percent of new legal and illegal migrants claim bachelor’s degrees from foreign universities, just above the 35 percent of Americans with four-year degrees.
For instance, 2.5 percent of Biden’s migrants work as software developers, compared to 1 percent of Americans. However, this influx of foreign graduates is suppressing U.S. graduate salaries, which have stagnated at 2008 levels. The Wall Street Journal cautiously summarized Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data, echoing Breitbart News' July reports, highlighting that migrants are “competing with existing workers with less education and putting downward pressure on their wages.”
The Journal explained that this immigration surge might slightly depress overall wages and productivity. Evidence suggests that the mass inflow benefits investors by enabling the hiring of cheaper, desperate labor, displacing American workers from jobs, housing, and wealth accumulation.
A separate New York Times report from September 5 emphasized declining job prospects for young American graduates. For example, Baily Hays, a 2023 Pepperdine University graduate, struggled for four months to secure employment, mirroring the difficulties faced by many of her peers. Despite this, polls show Vice President Kamala Harris maintains a strong 21-point lead among white graduates in key battleground states, with robust support from college-educated voters.
Additionally, the massive inflow of foreign workers is contributing to reduced U.S. productivity. The Wall Street Journal noted that 6.5 percent of Biden’s migrants now work in construction, compared to only 1 percent of Americans. However, productivity in the sector has plummeted—construction labor productivity in 2020 was about 40 percent lower than in 1970, causing significant economic damage. A report by the University of Chicago highlighted that if construction productivity had grown at just 1 percent annually, aggregate productivity—and by extension, income per capita—would be roughly 10 percent higher today.
Notably, the Wall Street Journal did not address the alternative low-immigration economic strategy proposed by BlackRock founder Larry Fink, who argued that countries with shrinking populations and restrictive immigration policies could benefit from rapid advancements in robotics, AI, and technology to offset demographic challenges.
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