Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent credited the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown for delivering outsized wage gains to the lowest-earning American workers, pushing back against what he called a persistent falsehood about the labor market’s winners and losers.
Speaking Tuesday at Breitbart News’s State of the Economy event in Washington, Bessent said that aggressive immigration enforcement and rapid deportations have boosted job prospects and pay for the bottom quarter of wage-earners — a group he said had been left behind under the previous status quo.
“We’re seeing, too, somehow supply and demand does matter in the labor market, especially when it comes to immigration,” Bessent told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle and Finance and Economics Editor John Carney.
The remarks come as the administration leans into economic arguments for its hard-line immigration policies, seeking to frame them not just as a national security matter but as a core pillar of its pro-worker agenda.
Wage Gains Concentrated at the Bottom
Bessent pointed to recent data showing that workers without college degrees are experiencing their best employment picture in more than a decade, a period he said extends back to President Donald Trump’s first term.
“We are seeing that workers without a college degree — their wages, their employment situation is the best that it’s been in over a decade, back to President Trump’s first term,” Bessent said.
The Treasury secretary highlighted a specific disparity in wage growth that he argued undermines the notion that immigration policy does little to affect native-born workers’ fortunes.
“And we’re seeing the bottom 25 percent of wage earners, the wages increased almost 3.5 or three times more than the top 25 percent, with a median at about three and a half,” he said.
Bessent’s comments echo a broader administration narrative that reducing the supply of low-wage immigrant labor tightens the market for American workers at the lower end of the income scale, pushing up their paychecks.
‘The Big Lie’
The secretary did not mince words when describing the conventional wisdom that prevailed before the administration’s immigration push — a view he said had been promoted by advocates of open-border policies.
“So, somehow, when we stopped the mass unfettered immigration, and add 2-3 million deportations, working Americans make more money and have more jobs,” Bessent said, delivering the line with evident irony.
The “big lie,” as Bessent framed it, was the claim that mass, unfettered immigration did not hurt the bottom workers in the American labor market.
According to the Treasury secretary, the recent wage data offers a direct refutation of that narrative, demonstrating that policy choices about immigration have measurable consequences for the country’s most vulnerable workers.
August Jobs Data Adds Context
Bessent’s remarks drew on recent economic reporting that underscored the trend he described. Breitbart News Finance and Economics Editor John Carney recently detailed key findings from the August jobs report, which showed that average hourly earnings jumped 3.1 percent over the last year.
Private-sector employees were earning an average of $37.75 an hour, according to that data, putting average weekly earnings at nearly $1,300.
Those figures, taken together with the bifurcated wage growth, suggest that the tightness in the labor market is translating into tangible gains for workers who have historically seen their wages stagnate during periods of high immigration.
Shift in the Foreign-Born Workforce
The administration’s policies have also coincided with a notable shift in the composition of the American labor force. The number of foreign-born workers holding U.S. jobs has dropped by nearly a million — a decline of about 3.1 percent — since President Trump took office.
That change, paired with Bessent’s wage data, is likely to be cited by administration officials as evidence that immigration enforcement and economic opportunity are not in tension but are complementary goals.
Critics of the administration’s approach have argued that mass deportations could disrupt industries reliant on immigrant labor and put upward pressure on prices, but Bessent’s comments suggest the administration is prepared to counter those criticisms with data on wages and employment for American workers at the bottom of the income ladder.
The event, hosted by Breitbart News, provided a venue for a senior administration official to make the economic case for its immigration policy in front of a friendly audience.
Bessent’s appearance comes as the administration continues to tout its economic record while fending off accusations from Democrats and immigrant-rights groups that its enforcement measures are inhumane and economically shortsighted.
The “big lie” charge is likely to sharpen the political debate over immigration, particularly as the 2026 midterm elections approach and both parties seek to frame the issue for voters.
For the administration, Bessent’s message is straightforward: restricting immigration is not merely a security imperative — it is an economic strategy designed to lift up the workers who have been most exposed to competition from cheap foreign labor.
Whether that argument holds up under broader economic analysis remains to be seen, but the Treasury secretary’s comments signal that the White House intends to make it a central part of its political pitch.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2026/09/08/exclusive-secretary-scott-bessent-on-more-american-workers-fewer-layoffs-higher-wages-under-trump-big-lie-was-that-mass-unfettered-immigration-did-not-affect-the-bottom-workers/