As immigration continues to be in the headlines, communities across the country are coming together to discuss the future of immigration policies and enforcement in the U.S.
“The past year has changed some of the fabric of our immigration system,” says Erin Murphy Barbato ’02, an associate professor of law and director of the UW’s Immigrant Justice Center.
On January 20, 2026, the UW Now Live hosted experts who discussed recent developments in immigration policies and the effect they have on the economy and our communities. Mike Knetter, an economist and former CEO of the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, moderated the discussion, which focused on the Trump administration’s policies.
A New Era of Immigration
Barbato began the evening’s discussion by describing the current state of immigration enforcement, highlighting ways U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics have changed since the start of the second Trump administration, leading to increased deportations, arrests, and detentions.
Barbato said ICE now prioritizes immigration enforcement upon all people in the U.S. without authorization, rather than immigrants with criminal records. The U.S. has also eliminated protected status for schools, churches, hospitals, and some courts, allowing apprehensions in those areas.
She said the U.S. has also eliminated the legal status of many people who were already in the country by canceling temporary protections, which has made a large group of immigrants newly deportable.
The number of deportations, Barbato said, has risen from 270,000 in 2024 to almost 600,000 in 2025, and refugee resettlements have also hit a historic low with only 506 refugees admitted into the country in 2025. Of them, 342 were white South Africans. She said these statistics are moving the U.S. toward a negative net migration, meaning more people are leaving the country than entering it.
“We, as a country, detain more people in immigration custody than any other country in the world,” Barbato said. “ICE detention has increased substantially over this past year in Wisconsin.”
When it comes to the effect on higher education, Barbato said there has been a large drop in enrollment of international students at U.S. institutions because visas have become more difficult to obtain.
The Costs and Benefits of Changing Policies
Smith shifted the discussion to the financial implications, as he shared how Barbato’s key points will shape America’s economy and workforce. By 2050, he said, the U.S. is projected to hit a population growth of zero, which will add to the financial struggles of the U.S. Social Security system.
“We need to be doing something about Social Security and Medicare before they run out of money,” Smith said. “That intersects with immigration policy, although that’s not the only way to address those problems.”
Economically, immigration is a net positive at both state and federal levels long-term. But in the short term, he said, local and state governments can be strained by costs, especially for public K–12 schooling.
When it comes to higher education, Smith built on Barbato’s earlier points, emphasizing that educational institutions — including the UW — are feeling the effects of new immigration policies. Smith said he’s seen enrollment of international students in his department drop significantly because of difficulties with immigration and visas, and he said the new immigration policies have made students feel unwelcome.
“At the upper education levels, immigrants are responsible for a lot of innovation,” he said. “A lot of researchers and professors would not be excited about the $100,000 price on H-1B visas.”
Smith said we need to take into consideration the cost and benefit of immigration policies, pointing out there is a large amount of money being spent on immigration enforcement.
After each guest spoke, they answered viewer questions and discussed immigration and deportation statistics as well as employment and population outlooks.
