Research: the cost of a single U.S. immigration restriction

On June 22, 2020, President Trump passed an Executive Order drastically cutting the number of highly skilled international workers eligible for non-immigrant visas to the U.S. To quantify the impact of this policy, the authors examined the immediate change in stock price for over 400 top U.S. firms following Trump’s announcement, and found that the immigration restriction cost the U.S. economy a total of $100 billion. This finding — along with substantial prior research demonstrating the detrimental effect of restricting immigration on both domestic employment rates and long-term economic health — suggests that easing these restrictions will be key to supporting the American people through the current crisis and beyond.