More Immigration, More Inflation, More Bankruptcies

Bankruptcy filings increased by 16% in the first quarter of this year, compared with a year ago, and the familiar Red Lobster chain is shuttering 87 of its restaurants. Far from helping our economy, the 10 million new illegal aliens allowed in by Biden are driving up food and housing costs, while they cannot afford to keep Red Lobster in business.

Nearly thirty years ago, researcher John Lott published his influential book entitled, “More Guns, Less Crime.” In it he demonstrated how gun availability would decrease the overall crime rate, and that is what has happened as law-abiding citizens are allowed to keep and bear arms in nearly every state.

“More immigration, more inflation” should be a sequel to that classic work. We have been victimized by the worst inflation of any president since Jimmy Carter, and a cause is that Biden has allowed the greatest influx of illegal aliens in American history.

Migrants drive up costs for necessities of food and housing, and the spike in demand caused by their relocation here increases prices. The “Law of Demand” is a fundamental principle that economics students learn in their first course: greater demand for something results in higher prices for it.

Already this year, the popular Family Dollar store has had to close 620 of its stores. Rue21 has closed 543 of its locations, while 99 Cents Only Stores have had to shut down 371 of its outlets.

Texas is known for its affordability, but today has among the worst inflation in our country as Texas struggles with many millions of illegals allowed in by Biden. Texas residents suffer from some of the worst “inflation stress” of any state, as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Trump is far ahead of Biden in Nevada, which pundits struggle to explain in light of how Biden supposedly won that state easily last time. The “inflation stress” in Nevada is particularly high, and that flips voters against the man causing it: Joe Biden.

Inflation stress is also particularly bad among voters in Georgia, another key battleground state that has turned against Biden in polling. The inflation rate in Georgia is among the worst in our country.

Americans are having to spend more of their household budgets on food now than at any other time in more than 30 years. Housing prices have also spiked as 10 million illegals have picked up the more affordable locations, often with taxpayers footing their bills.

This is a replay of what happened in Poland last year, when an election was held after the incumbent political party allowed in millions of Ukrainian migrants. With a population merely one-tenth of the United States, allowing in so many migrants caused a shock to Poland’s economy which the ruling party apparently did not anticipate.

Inflation skyrocketed to nearly 20% last year in Poland, amounting to a terrible hidden tax that the voters would never have approved. Moreover, the adult migrants were more than 80% women, which creates a gender imbalance that will not straighten out for generations to come.

The result in the Polish election was predictable: the incumbent “Law and Justice” party lost by a wide margin, despite having enjoyed popular support since 2015. Now, with Leftists in charge, the mayor of Warsaw in that Catholic country has banned displays of the Crucifix and requires workers to recognize others by their preferred transgender pronouns.

In his recent speech in Minnesota, the strikingly fit and trim Trump laid out the immense harm caused by Biden’s inflation. With humor, Trump pointed out that he stopped eating bacon after it became so expensive under Biden.

Eggs also shot up in price as the illegals poured across our border. Breakfast is a never-skip meal in Mexico, which shattered the world record for egg consumption in 2021 with 409 eggs per person annually compared with only 281 per capita in the U.S.

Most of our country saw an increase in unemployment in the latest data, compared with a year earlier. California and Nevada, which are both destination states for illegals, have seen their unemployment increase to 5.3% and 5.2%, respectively.

The pivotal battleground states of Arizona and Wisconsin, both must-win states for Biden to return to the White House, had increases of nearly a half-percent in their unemployment rates. There is also an uptick in unemployment in Michigan.

Trump does not need to win all these states to prevail in November. Winning Minnesota would be mere icing on the cake, and Trump trails there by only a few percentage points.

Trump promised his audience in the North Star State that as president he would ensure “massive deportation” of those who are illegally in our country. Less illegal immigration will mean less inflation.

John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.