“You’re talking about the activities of relatively affluent people that have been subsidized by Congress” via liberal immigration laws and enforcement, said Mark Krikorian, a longtime advocate for radically slashing the number of newcomers. “There’s not going to be a lot of tears shed over people having to pay 20 percent more for Uber Eats.”
The effect is indeed dramatic — most of all on immigrants who have seen their lives upended, and the neighbors who’ve witnessed troubling scenes of masked federal agents hauling people into unmarked vehicles.
But the impact on consumers is starting to be felt, too. Contractors say they are having trouble getting people to work jobs in D.C., delaying home-improvement projects and driving up costs for clients. Restaurateurs say even some duly documented workers are frightened to come in, leading to shrunken menus for diners. As moped-riding delivery drivers have become targets for ICE, wait times on food delivery apps have risen.
After a neighborhood group-chat erroneously reported that agents were rounding up nannies at a local park last month, parents in the tony Forest Hills neighborhood rushed to the playgrou
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