(The Center Square) – University of Illinois Chicago researchers say heightened federal immigration enforcement corresponded with about $1.26 billion in foregone retail and restaurant activity in Cook County, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security dismissed the correlation between a good economy and illegal immigration.
Matthew Wilson co-authored the report by UIC’s Great Cities Institute that examined the heightened enforcement period beginning in January 2025.
“Retail trips from high Latin American-born neighborhoods to businesses elsewhere in the county fell about 9%. Restaurant trips fell by about 10%,” Wilson said, adding that the retail effect was more pronounced in suburban Cook County than it was in Chicago.
Wilson said the study did not find evidence that the revenues simply shifted to other areas.
Speaking on the one-year anniversary of the Trump administration’s launch of Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the heightened enforcement that began in January 2025 also corresponded with $107 million in foregone sales tax revenue.
“These are more than numbers on a page. They represent real strain on workers, families and our local economy,” Preckwinkle said.
Chicago Alderman Gilbert Villegas said the economic impact across the country might have been $1 trillion.
“You had industries that were particularly upset, where you have the construction industry which has predominantly been work that immigrants have done, farmers, slaughterhouses, the jobs that most Americans don’t want to do but immigrants find as an opportunity to get involved in the economy,” Villegas told The Center Square.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said former President Joe Biden would have had a booming economy if there was any correlation between rampant illegal immigration and a good economy.
“Removing these criminals from the streets makes communities safer for business owners and customers.” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Center Square.
DHS said nearly 70% of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests nationwide involve illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.
“Operation Midway Blitz achieved what Chicago’s sanctuary politicians have refused to do for decades: decrease crime and remove the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who put the American people in danger,” the statement said.
DHS provided The Center Square with a list of people arrested by ICE, including gang members and individuals with convictions for murder, predatory criminal sex assault, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated battery on peace officer, explosives possession, burglary, domestic violence, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
