Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that the recent slowdown in U.S. job growth is partly due to the departure of two million illegal aliens from the American workforce since President Donald Trump took office. Speaking at CNBC’s Invest in America Forum in Washington, D.C., Bessent defended the administration’s policies, stating, “In terms of Americans having jobs, we’re doing quite well.”
Bessent cited both deportations and voluntary returns as major factors in the labor shift. “With the securing of the border, and then maybe between deportations and voluntary deportations, we’ve seen two million people leave the workforce,” he explained.
The Department of Homeland Security recently confirmed that roughly 1.6 million illegal aliens have self-deported since January 20, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported over 400,000 and is on pace to hit nearly 600,000 by year-end. DHS added that for four consecutive months, no illegal migrants were released into the U.S. interior — a sharp contrast to Biden-era policies.
In addition to labor supply shifts, Bessent pointed to cuts in federal employment as another contributing factor to slowed job growth. “I think we are starting to see the rightsizing of the federal government,” Bessent said. He described the federal workforce as “bloated” and claimed that trimming it down will spark a private-sector capital expenditure boom.
Asked whether this transition is underway, Bessent replied, “We are right on the cusp of that, and government needs to get out of the way, reopen, and create the conditions for this boom.” He blamed the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 15th day, on Senate Democrats, despite pushback from CNBC host Sara Eisen.
“How’s that?” Bessent said, responding to claims Republicans would be blamed. “Mike Johnson passed a clean CR. Three Democratic senators have come over. Thune has a vote every day, and they want to negotiate. We’re saying reopen the government. Negotiate.”
When asked about the shutdown’s economic impact, Bessent warned, “I’ve seen numbers that are starting to hurt the economy, maybe up to $15 billion a day.”
