Jennifer Roff

Recent immigration enforcement raids have led to large disruptions in local communities, affecting spending at local businesses. Our research, which uses data from the Deportation Data project combined with card spending data, indicates that spending at local businesses in states where community ICE arrests have been most concentrated has been affected by these raids, with card spending falling nearly two percentage points in these states after January 2025. Given that these spending declines represent lost revenue, companies have a fiduciary responsibility to mitigate the harm of immigration enforcement.