The Republican Party — my party — has lost its values because of immigration | Opinion
It has been odd to watch the Republican party, my party, slip into an alternate universe and abandon its pro-business stance to actively work against employers.
Republicans have long championed free markets, labor growth and economic pragmatism. Now they’re abandoning that legacy with an all-out attack on immigration — and America is feeling the consequences. We need an immigration policy that supports economic growth, not a shock and awe campaign meant to terrorize communities of color and undermine the businesses the GOP claims to defend.
It’s clear by now that this is no longer the party of Ronald Reagan. Yet, I’m still perplexed by how far the GOP has strayed from conservative ideology, most notably when it comes to the link between the economy and immigration.
Back in 1980, when Reagan and George H.W. Bush were discussing immigration during the Republican presidential primary debate, neither candidate brought up mass deportations. Rather they understood the impact that shutting down the border would have on America’s economy. Both men recognized the importance of immigrant labor. Treating immigrants with dignity wasn’t a liberal idea. It was a conservative value.
That type of pragmatism is absent in today’s Republican Party. And the consequences are playing out across the country. Key industries that are the backbone of America’s economy, such as agriculture, construction and meat packing, are now feeling the impact of immigration enforcement.
In Tallahassee, over 100 construction workers were detained by immigration agents last month. Rusty Payton, CEO of the Florida Home Builders Association, told WCTV, “We do have a workforce shortage, which means it’s harder to get our trades out and schedule our trades. When we have to shut down for whatever law enforcement or regulatory authority is showing up, it’s harder on the back end” to complete projects.
In June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided Glenn Valley Foods, a meat packing plant in Omaha, Nebraska, and arrested 67 people. After the plant reopened, about a third of the remaining staff came back — others stayed home because they were afraid or traumatized. As a result, production dropped by 20% on that day, according to the president of the company Chad Hartmann.
Farms in California are also experiencing large-scale immigration raids in fields. Economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, told me workers aren’t showing up to work out of fear of being targeted. “We’re seeing the impact of near-term fluctuations in immigration,” he said. “Businesses are vocal about the difficulty in finding workers, and this will get worse over time.”
These aren’t isolated incidents. They are a preview of what happens when ideology ignores economic reality.
Holtz-Eakin warned that a labor shortage could cause food prices to rise. He noted: “That’s been one of the flashpoints in the economic discontent that got Trump elected in the first place.”
Supporting immigration policy doesn’t mean abandoning border security. We can have secure borders and economic growth.
President Donald Trump seems to be second-guessing his wrecking-ball style approach to immigration, posting last month on Truth Social : “Our great farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace. That is not good… Changes are coming!”
Sounds like reality is setting in. Economic projections by Brookings in December 2024 predicted Trump’s immigration policy could reduce America’s GDP growth by between 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points, or by $30 and $110 billion.
The GOP has forgotten economic growth and prosperity require pragmatic policies that work alongside market forces, not against them. A truly conservative approach, as expressed by Reagan and Bush, recognizes the role that labor — immigrants, naturalized and native-born — plays in keeping America’s economy running.
Until the GOP remembers and gets back to foundational conservative principles of pro-growth and pro-freedom, it will continue to damage the businesses — and workers — it has long claimed to champion.
Mary Anna Mancuso is a member of the Miami Herald Editorial Board. Her email: mmancuso@miamiherald.com
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 2:42 PM with the headline "The Republican Party — my party — has lost its values because of immigration | Opinion."