Trump’s immigration siege is rattling hospitality industry, workers say

wDonald Trump’s immigration policies are having a chilling effect on the hospitality industry, where nearly a third of workers are immigrants, according to the largest hospitality union in the US.

The number of employed hospitality workers dropped by 98,000 from December 2024 to December 2025, according to a report from Unite Here, which represents 300,000 workers across the hospitality, food and tourism industries in the US and Canada.

Union leaders say the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown has not only scared workers but has also discouraged international tourism. The US saw a decline of $1.2b, or a 5.5% drop, in tourism revenue from September 2024 to September 2025, according to the report.

“We need immigrant workers. They’re an important part of our workforce. They’re my members, they’re my neighbors, and the way they’ve been treated in this time is really abhorrent,” said Wade Lüneburg, political director for Unite Here Local 17 in Minneapolis, which represents 6,000 workers in Minnesota, including workers at the Minneapolis-St Paul international airport.

Because of the federal government’s immigration crackdown, “many of our members have been afraid to go to work,” Lüneburg said. Sixteen airport workers were detained by immigration enforcement earlier this year, Lüneburg said. “These are workers that are authorized to work and passed TSA background checks,” he added.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the White House did not comment on these members being taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Even as Minnesota seeks to recover from Operation Metro Surge, Trump’s immigration policies – from cancelling temporary protected status, expanding travel visa bans, to having tourists detained – have driven a slump in tourism across the US.

International visitors to the US declined by 2.5 million in 2025, even as international tourism increased around the world, according to Unite Here’s report.

Lüneburg said regional declines of Canadian tourism to Minnesota drove a 15% decline in overall international air travelers to Minnesota in 2025 and a recent plunge in Canadians attending the World Junior Hockey championships. Small businesses in Minneapolis reportedly lost up to $81m in revenue in January 2026.

“The economic ramifications of what is happening are much further reaching than just to immigrants and their families, as horrific as that is,” said Gwen Mills, president of Unite Here, during a panel introducing the report last week. “The scenes of violence on the streets in our major cities, the anti-immigrant rhetoric, the fear mongering, it’s discouraging domestic travel, it’s discouraging foreign visitors from coming to the United States.”

The slowdown is being felt in other cities. In 2025, a record number of restaurants closed in Washington DC while restaurant openings slowed by 30%. Meanwhile, tourism in Las Vegas dropped 7.5% in 2025.

Shaleah Taylor, a guest room attendant in Las Vegas, said in the report that “you can feel that business has slowed down.”

“People are spending less, and some of my coworkers who depend on tips are seeing a real drop,” Taylor said.

Moana Molly, a hotel housekeeper in Atlantic City, New Jersey, said during the panel that several coworkers left due to the immigration crackdown, increasing the workload for herself and the remaining workers.

“We don’t have the staffing that we need and nobody’s applying,” said Molly.

A July 2025 report by the Economic Policy Institute found Trump’s deportation goals of 4 million people would result in job losses of 3.3 million for immigrants and 2.6 million for USx born workers.

But the policies are creating fear among US citizens, too. Greg Barney, a line cook at St Anselm in Washington DC, said there was a significant drop off in visitors to the restaurant.

“I wasn’t afraid about being scooped up myself, but a lot of my close friends were, and everyone, all my coworkers, regardless of whether they were born here or not, could feel that fear and that tension, and it was hard on all of us,” Barney said during the panel.

Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, told the Guardian that “if there was any correlation between rampant illegal immigration and a good economy, Biden would have had a booming economy.”

“Removing these criminals from the streets makes communities safer and more welcoming for business owners, customers, and for tourists,” she added.

In an email to the Guardian, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, cited an article that pointed to a 8.9% youth unemployment rate in 2024, saying “there is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force.”