Joyful. Geographically, culturally and generationally rich. And here to stay.
Bad Bunny presented an unapologetically expansive vision of inclusion and opportunity in Sunday evening’s Super Bowl half-time performance, a sharp contrast to a more narrow definition of an America focused on exclusion. “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” declared the Jumbotron at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
From sugar cane fields to food stalls, to a real-life wedding and a party at “La Casita,” Bad Bunny’s signature rural-style house, the Puerto Rican mega-star presented the joys of family, community and a vibrant, local economy with a proudly Latin flavor.
The performance wasn’t explicitly about immigration or the Trump administration’s current crackdown, but of course it was. Bad Bunny reminded the record-breaking audience that Puerto Rico is, indeed, part of the United States (and its residents US citizens). Football in hand, he led dancing flag-bearers representing every country in all of the Americas, south, central and north.
At the conclusion, Bad Bunny lifted the football to the camera so viewers could read, “Together, we are America.” Then he spiked the football – touchdown!
Immigrant boost
“This wasn’t just entertainment; it was a powerful statement on belonging,” Refugee Investment Network’s John Kluge Jr. wrote on Substack. “When we invest in immigrants and refugees, fostering their integration and success, the benefits ripple out to everyone—reducing divides, boosting growth, and even balancing budgets.”
The positive economic benefits of immigration are becoming more apparent as they slip – or are ripped – away. The US population grew by only 1.8 million people last year, or 0.5%, one of the slowest gains ever, as immigration fell by half, according to the federal Census Bureau. With birth rates falling, immigration now makes up about 80% of net population gain.
Cutting that source of growth is accelerating the aging of the US populations and increasing the strain on Social Security and Medicare. A new report from the center-right Cato Institute, based on three decades of federal, state, and local data, shows that, through taxes and other contributions, legal and undocumented immigrants have been a net positive for budgets, reducing the US deficit by $14.5 trillion since 1994.
State officials are warning that the drastic actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are already cutting into tax revenues, as customers and workers stay home. The letter to President Trump last week was organized by For the Long Term, a group of state and local finance officials (Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, a leader of the group, joined ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact Call in 2021).
The economic costs of the immigration crackdown look set to go dramatically higher. Changes to the US Small Business Administration’s flagship 7(a) loan guarantee program could make it harder for many legal immigrants to access the capital they rely on to grow their businesses. The 7(a) program guarantees loans of up to $5 million to help small businesses refinance debt, purchase equipment, and fund other needs.
Starting next month, the SBA will bar small businesses owned directly or indirectly by non-US citizens, including legal permanent residents in the US, from receiving SBA-guaranteed loans. The change, the SBA’s Kelly Loeffler wrote last week to SBA employees and lenders, aligns with President Trump’s executive order, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” issued last month.
SBA financing will be limited to businesses that are 100% owned by US citizens, reversing longstanding policy that made legal permanent residents eligible. Even businesses with as little as 1% ownership by non-citizens or green card holders would be disqualified.
The SBA’s rule change could deal a major blow to the country’s immigrant entrepreneurs, who own roughly 20% of the country’s 36 million small businesses, as well as the funds that have catered to them. The shift could pressure owners to restructure or sell, or to find alternative sources of capital, opening them up to predatory lenders and other extractive practices. California, Texas, and Florida, home to large numbers of immigrant business owners, are likely to be among the most affected.
“This limit, it’s pretty substantial,” Kim Folsom of Founders First Capital, a San Diego-based lender to small businesses nationally, told ImpactAlpha. The SBA guarantees lets banks make loans to small businesses at the most affordable rates. At least one quarter of the small businesses in Founder First’s portfolio are owned by legal permanent residents.
“And now, if you are not a US citizen, you won’t get access to that debt to power the growth of value creation, job creation, wealth creation,” Folsom said. “This SBA ruling is going to have an impact on those businesses to be able to get access to SBA financing to grow.”
Pushing back
In her ruling last week blocking the Trump administration from ending “temporary protected status” for more than 350,000 Haitians, US District Judge Ana C. Reyes wrote that the administration “ignores the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy.”
The Trump administration is appealing and in Florida, Ohio and other states, businesses and customers are bracing for the loss of Haitian immigrants, who fill critical jobs in healthcare, manufacturing and other essential sectors. Small businesses, where Haitian TPS holders work as cooks, servers, housekeepers and construction workers, could be hit hardest.
Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has urged the Trump administration to preserve the TPS program, and has argued that it would devastate the economy of cities like Springfield, Ohio, which relies on tens of thousands of Haitian immigrant workers.
Under TPS, people from other countries facing war, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions can live and work legally in the US, though without a path to permanent residency or US citizenship. Since the 2021 assassination of Haiti president Jovenel Moise, Haiti has faced gang violence, humanitarian crises and the collapse of basic services, making it unsafe for people to return.
The US is becoming more unsafe as well. Municipal buildings, schools and other city offices in Springfield, Ohio, closed earlier this week following bomb threats “that referenced Haitians,” DeWine said. “The essence was, ‘Get rid of Haitians.’”
The aggressive tactics of militarized and masked ICE agents in Minneapolis and other cities is sparking a backlash against companies seen as complicit. This week, the Department of Homeland Security, which houses ICE and other agencies, could be temporarily shut down as Democrats insist on reforms to rein in what they say has become a rogue agency.
Employees of Amazon, Meta and Google have condemned their employers’ roles in supporting violence against civilians by ICE and border patrol officials. Nearly 800 Google employees last week demanded the search giant “disclose ties and declare red lines around use of our products for state violence and repression.” The employee group cited the use of Google’s cloud and AI software to support ICE surveillance efforts and to power immigrant tracking software offered by Palantir, the secretive data analytics supplier founded by Trump ally Peter Thiel.
Palantir, in particular, has become a flash point for investors as well. Homeland Security awarded Palantir a nearly $30 million contract last April to build an AI-powered system to find and track people targeted for deportation. The New York Times has reported that agents in Minnesota are tapping into a Palantir database to identify locations for individuals they are pursuing in real time.
Palantir expressly declined to support ICE’s enforcement and removal operations in 2020, but has since changed its position.
The fatal shootings in Minneapolis and ICE activities more broadly – as well as the protests and increased scrutiny that have ensued – “highlighted material reputational and human rights risks to Palantir,” NYC Comptroller Mark Levine wrote in a letter to the tech firm. Levine oversees New York City’s pension funds, which have more than $311 billion in assets and are “substantial long-term beneficial shareholders of Palantir.”
Levine called for an independent third-party human rights risk assessment of Palantir’s work with the Department of Homeland Security, including US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Levine also sent letters to Home Depot and Lowe’s calling for similar assessments.
The assessment and disclosure of its findings, Levine said, “would strengthen Palantir’s governance, ensure alignment with the company’s stated human rights commitments, mitigate material risk, and enhance long-term shareholder confidence.”
