STUDY: Which Industries Will Be Impacted The Most By Latest Trump Immigration Laws

At Brooks Law Firm, we’ve been closely monitoring the impact of shifting immigration policies on the American workforce. According to the Department of Labor, U.S. businesses filed 37% fewer H-1B visa applications in April 2025 compared to the same time last year. This significant drop reflects the early ripple effects of the administration’s new immigration enforcement priorities.

To better understand these changes, we conducted a comprehensive study analyzing key U.S. industries and identified which sectors are most vulnerable to labor disruption under potential Trump-era immigration enforcement policies. We compared industries using key indicators such as the number of immigrant workers, estimated job changes, and projected labor losses tied to these new policies.

Key Findings:

• The information industry will be the most affected by the latest Trump immigration laws, with 416K immigrant workers currently in the workforce.
• The 2nd industry that will lose the most due to new policies is education and health services, with a projected 183.5K immigrant workers leaving the U.S. industry.
• Professional and business services have the second-largest share of immigrant workers at 15.8%

Our data came from publicly available reports by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau. We then calculated a final impact score based on these projections to give a clearer picture of how these enforcement changes could reshape America’s workforce.

Here is the summary of the findings:

*You can see the full research here.

We’ve analyzed how the latest Trump-era immigration policies could affect key U.S. industries, and the results are clear: the impact will be far-reaching and deeply disruptive across sectors that rely heavily on immigrant labor.

Our findings show that the information industry will be the hardest hit, with an impact score of 17.9. While immigrants make up just 1.4% of the industry’s workforce, this sector is the second-fastest growing in the U.S.—and that growth could slow significantly under new immigration restrictions.

Coming in second is the educational and health services sector, which earned a score of 14.9. This industry has the highest percentage of immigrant workers at 18.4%, and as many as 183,500 workers could be forced to leave the U.S., making it especially vulnerable.

Professional and business services follow in third, with an impact score of 12.8. With 15.8% of its workforce made up of immigrants, the second-highest rate after educational and health services, this sector stands to lose over 157,600 workers.

Public administration ranks fourth, with a score of 11.8. Although it has the slowest growth rate at just 0.1%, it currently employs 765,000 immigrant workers. The combination of low growth and potential worker loss could mean a longer recovery period.

Next is leisure and hospitality, with a score of 10.5. This industry employs over 3 million immigrant workers, and if the new policies are fully implemented, it could lose 101,700 of them—representing a substantial blow to a sector already facing labor shortages.

Financial activities take sixth place with an impact score of 9.5. Immigrants make up 5.4% of this workforce, and projections show a potential loss of 53,800 workers. With a growth rate of just 0.4%, recovery could be slow.

In seventh place is transportation and utilities, which scored 8.2. Immigrants account for 7.2% of this industry’s workforce—more than in finance or public administration—and the sector could lose 71,800 workers.

Other services rank eighth with a score of 7.6, employing more than 1.5 million immigrant workers—also 5.4% of the workforce. These jobs are at risk if immigration restrictions intensify.

Ninth on the list is wholesale and retail trade, with a score of 4. Despite the lower score, the industry still employs over 3 million immigrant workers, and stands to lose 101,700 of them, matching the potential loss in leisure and hospitality.

Manufacturing follows in tenth place with a score of 3.3. Like retail and leisure, it employs over 3 million immigrant workers and could lose as many as 105,700 under the new policies. Combined with a sluggish 0.1% growth rate, the industry could feel the effects for years.

Finally, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, mining, and construction round out the list in eleventh place, with a score of 2.4. This sector has the third-highest share of immigrant workers at 12.8%, and could see 127,600 workers leave the U.S. permanently. With 3.8 million immigrant workers in total, this industry is particularly vulnerable to enforcement-driven labor disruptions.

Our firm will continue to analyze, inform, and advocate as these policies evolve—because the future of our workforce, our economy, and our global leadership depends on it.