As the Trump administration executes an aggressive deportation campaign across the United States, a growing number of US companies warn that the crackdown could threaten their operations.
Since January, more than 40 companies have mentioned the impact of deportations in filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, with many saying it could hurt the labor force, increase the risk of a recession, or create more economic uncertainty, according to 74 filings reviewed by WIRED. The impacted industries span a wide cross-section of the US economy, including food production, tech, and construction.
“Many farms employ hard-working, non-criminal employees who have not yet achieved legal citizenship,” reads one filing from ImmuCell, which develops and sells drugs for animals in the beef and dairy industries. “Significant deportations of these individuals could have a negative impact on the operations of our customers and of our source farms.”
It’s highly unusual for companies to mention deportations in filings to the SEC. Between June 2020 and January 2025, just six SEC filings mentioned deportations. From June 2015 to January 2025, that number rose to 22.
Since taking office, however, President Trump has made cracking down on illegal immigration a cornerstone of his policy agenda. White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller has instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to work toward a minimum of 3,000 arrests of undocumented immigrants daily, and the agency has been orchestrating raids at workplaces, outside elementary schools, and even inside people’s homes.
The highly visible deportation campaign has sparked nationwide anti-ICE protests and helped energize the “No Kings” demonstrations that swept the country this past weekend. The Trump administration has reportedly told ICE to scale back its workplace raids, in part due to concerns over how they are affecting the agriculture, hospitality, and restaurant industries.
Zevin Asset Management, a “socially-responsible” investment firm that owns shares in Google’s parent company Alphabet, said in a proposal on behalf of two investors that mass deportations should prompt Alphabet to have a better “due diligence process” to determine whether its businesses "contributes to human rights harms in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.”
Google’s work as “one of the leading cloud computing providers” to ICE, US Customs and Border Protection, and the US government at large raised concerns of a “potential complicity in human rights harms” happening at the US Southern border, the proposal claims.
“These abuses include the separation of children from their parents, arbitrary arrests and detentions, poor detention conditions, and unlawful deportations to countries with poor human rights records,” the proposal claims.
Most of the other filings mention deportations in relation to risks to future business or net income.
Hawaiian Electric, the primary electricity provider of Hawaii, said in its SEC filing that “recession risks increase due to federal policies and actions, including trade policies, mass deportations, and spending cuts.” The filing cited an economic forecast from the University of Hawaii published in May that predicted “limited GDP growth for 2025 and a contraction in 2026, marking Hawaii’s first recession since the pandemic.”