California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) visited the United States-Mexico border on Thursday to repeat big business talking points about tariffs and President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to deport millions of illegal aliens with no legal right to be in the U.S.
In recent weeks, Trump has threatened 25 percent tariffs on Mexico for refusing to get a handle on the drug cartels’ billion-dollar illicit drug and human smuggling business at the southern border.
“This tariff will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last month.
Newsom, repeating big business talking points ripped from the pages of the Wall Street Journal, claimed such tariffs would spur inflation, eliminate American jobs, cause food shortages, and crush small businesses.
“[These tariffs] would lead to, an example … upwards of you having to spend $3,000 more to purchase a car coming from Mexico,” Newsom claimed, repeatedly calling such tariffs a “25 percent tax increase.”
Likewise, Newsom trashed Trump’s plans to carry out the largest mass deportation program in American history, claiming such plans will drive up food prices and increase housing costs.
“When you look at farmworkers, roughly half are undocumented,” Newsom said. “Close to 90 percent have been in this state for years and years and years … the impact of mass deportations on the cost of food in this state and this nation are off the charts. This is serious business.”
“[In the] construction industry … we estimated 13 percent are undocumented … [this] will impact housing costs,” he claimed.
Just days ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story highlighting the construction industry’s opposition to mass deportations as well as tariffs. One construction boss claimed such deportations will “absolutely” cause a labor shortage, even as wage data suggests otherwise.
Like Newsom, the construction industry executives claim driving down illegal immigration will increase housing costs for Americans, even though research in the U.S. and around the world is clear that mass immigration is partly responsible for surging home prices.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
