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@dcosta.bsky.social

300 followers 820 following 29 posts

Researching law and data at the intersection of immigration and labor for EPI.org Visiting Scholar at UC Davis, Global Migration Center. [Views expressed are personal] Stop the wars, respect international law. Clean the air, wear a mask 😷

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Dec 1

The pseudo-populist so-called "new" right scapegoats immigrants for problems in the economy - while ignoring how employers take advantage of immigration status - and ignoring pro-worker policies that would actually raise wages and improve labor standards:

Why Trump Allies Say Immigration Hurts American Workers (Gift Article)

JD Vance and others on the “new right” say limiting immigration will raise wages and give jobs to sidelined Americans. Many studies suggest otherwise.

www.nytimes.com

DC @dcosta.bsky.social · 3d

As @ddayen.bsky.social and now the @washingtonpost.com have reported - the Trump administration has admitted their immigration enforcement efforts will lead to a spike in food prices. Their solution? Cut wages for farmworkers, already some of the lowest paid workers in the country

Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices

U.S. farmers face labor shortages and potential food price hikes due to Trump’s immigration policy, the administration acknowledged in a Federal Registry document.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Tina Vasquez @tinavasquez.bsky.social · 21d

I want to do a little breakdown of this investigation I published today for @prismreports.org about gender-based violence in the H-2A agricultural visa program.

She managed to get a farmworker visa. Once in the U.S., she endured abuse.

A Prism investigation reveals that women are routinely shut out of the H-2A program. Those who get in report doing non-agricultural labor and facing sexual violence and trafficking

prismreports.org

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · 18d

Thank you CA Department of Public Health for recommending that people wear an N95 mask during a significant Covid surge:

California Department of Public Health @capublichealth.bsky.social · 18d

Lots of coughing & sniffles going on around you? Stay purr-fectly protected by wearing a mask! 😷🐈

Wearing a high-quality N95 mask protects you from respiratory viruses like flu, COVID-19 and RSV.

📲 https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Respiratory-Viruses/When-and-Why-to-Wear-a-Mask.aspx

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Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · 19d

"The H-1B visa program is deeply flawed. But Trump's new $100,000 fee on employers won’t fix it," says EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social.

There are much better ways to fix the H-1B program and protect workers. Learn more in Costa's @msnbc.com op-ed:

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Opinion | Trump cited my research to criticize H-1B visas. But his solution is all wrong.

The program is deeply flawed. But a new $100,000 fee on employers won’t fix it — and could have unintended consequences.

www.msnbc.com

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · 23d

Trump's new H-1B fee of $100K is a haphazard and not-well-targeted way to reform a visa program that is deeply flawed. To fix it, new rules are needed with labor enforcement to ensure fair conditions & pay for migrant & US workers.
Here's @epi.org's Policy Watch explainer on the fee and its impact:

Trump creates $100K entry fee for H-1B visas, directs DOL and DHS to update H-1B wage and lottery rules

On September 19, 2025, President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring a new $100,000 fee requirement on H-1B visas. The H-1B visa program provides temporary, non-immigrant U.S. work visa...

www.epi.org

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · 24d

The amount collected from the new $100K H-1B fee will be $6.5 billion, not $14bn.

The fee will be applicable to H-1B petitions for new employment after Sept 21 and for less than half of new H-1Bs, ie those who were not already in the US. In 2024, 46% of the 141,000 new H-1Bs were outside of the US.

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 24d

US employers are facing a $14bn annual bill for hiring skilled foreign workers after Donald Trump slapped a $100,000 fee on the cost of securing a visa for new employees to enter the country. on.ft.com/3IsjhcK

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Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · 29d

Raids & indiscriminate immigration enforcement are disrupting farm labor & America’s food system

This Thursday, EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social will speak at an @investigatemidwest.bsky.social panel on raids, reform, & the future of farm labor

9/18 @1pm ET. Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/immigratio...

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Julia Métraux @juliametraux.bsky.social · Sep 15

As I wrote about for @motherjones.com, people are already crossing state lines to get the Covid vaccine—which may become more common if the CDC vaccine advisory committee recommends limiting them this week. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Welcome to the new era of Covid vaccine tourism

Trump and RFK Jr.'s anti-vax crackdown is driving Americans across state lines—and making some pay out of pocket.

www.motherjones.com

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Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · Sep 11

Raids & indiscriminate immigration enforcement are disrupting farm labor & America’s food system.

Next week, EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social will speak at a @investigatemidwest.bsky.social panel on raids, reform, & the future of farm labor.

Thurs, 9/18. Register here: www.eventbrite.com/e/immigratio...

Immigration Raids, Reform and the Future of Farm Labor

Investigate Midwest hosts a conversation on raids, reform, and the future of America’s farm workforce.

www.eventbrite.com

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Sep 1

A not-so-happy Labor Day for farmworkers, thanks to the Trump administration's latest move to end the USDA survey of farm employers. The only reason to do this is to lower wages for both migrant farmworkers and U.S. farmworkers - who are already some of the-lowest paid workers in the country:

Aaron Sojourner @aaronsojourner.org · Aug 31

USDA quietly said Friday it will, after a century, end the Farm Labor Survey (FLS), the only wage survey of ag employers.

FLS is a critical input to setting local minimum wages for H-2A visa workers to try to avoid harm to U.S. workers' wages.
#LaborDay #EconSky
www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/Not...

Newsroom
ASB Notice
NASS discontinues select data collection programs and reports
Issued August 28, 2025, by the Agricultural Statistics Board of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service. For more information, contact Lance Honig at Lance.Honig@usda.gov or (202) 690-8141.

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is discontinuing the Mink Survey (OMB Control Number 0535-0212) and the Agricultural Labor Survey (OMB Control Number 0535-0109), as these collections are deemed duplicative and/or no longer necessary. This action is taken under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) as part of the government’s efforts to improve efficiency and eliminate unnecessary burdens.

The Notice of Discontinuance of Information Collections submitted to the Federal Register can be found here.

###

NASS is the federal statistical agency responsible for producing official data about U.S. agriculture and is committed to providing timely, accurate and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture.

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Aug 27

FYI, fwiw:
x.com/seckennedy/s...

DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Aug 26

It's also been approved for shorter durations, it needs to be available year round. And of course agree with your second point!

DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Aug 26

Rite-Aid, CVS, and Costco stocked it last year and the year before - it's the only one I've taken since 2023. It's true people don't know about it - at each place I got it they said that hardly anyone asks for it and they have to send many back. If it's the only one available, maybe that changes?

DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Aug 26

Same - it's got full approval at least for people 65 and older and those 12 through 64 who have an underlying condition, and it's not mRNA so hypothetically RFK et al might be less skeptical of it? Would be interesting if mRNAs get banned and Novavax becomes the main/only option

DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Aug 12

David Bacon's interview with Lelo Juarez, a farmworker who was imprisoned by ICE - and likely targeted because of his union organizing and advocacy and criticism of the H-2A visa program:

Why Lelo Juarez Chose Self-Deportation

How the current conditions of immigrant detention and Trump Administration policies impelled a farmworker organizer to return to Mexico.

progressive.org

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · Aug 12

Completely unqualified hack.

The Trump administration is an affirmative action speak for mediocre white guys. It's kind of a reverse-DEI.

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 12

Trump nominates Heritage Foundation economist as labor statistics chief

EJ Antoni, longtime critic of Bureau of Labor Statistics, nominated to replace Erika McEntarfer, who Trump fired Donald Trump has announced he is nominating EJ Antoni, the chief economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation, as the next commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Our Economy is booming, and E.J. will ensure that the Numbers released are HONEST and ACCURATE,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Jul 22

California has some of the better state labor standards enforcement agencies in the US, but even there, agencies are understaffed: A recent audit found Cal/OSHA had an overall staff vacancy rate of 32%, or 289 unfilled positions, last year: calmatters.org/politics/202...

‘Critical weaknesses’ in Cal/OSHA inspections of accidents

Cal/OSHA is so understaffed it doesn’t visit all accident sites, even when workers are injured. A state audit says that can ‘undermine’ safety laws.

calmatters.org

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Julia Doubleday @juliadoubleday.bsky.social · Jul 22

In 2020, Arundhati Roy wrote a gorgeous, prescient essay called “The Pandemic is a Portal”. In this piece, I discuss who actually walked through it: the COVID conscious community, and why I’m proud to be a part of it.

www.thegauntlet.news/p/the-pandem...

The Pandemic Has Been a Portal (for a few of us)

It's true that most people keep choosing "normalcy". But the COVID conscious community is showing us a radical new way forward, that centers care

www.thegauntlet.news

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Adam Isacson @adamisacson.com · Jul 13

Florida is committing "enforced disappearance," a very serious violation of international human rights law.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

www.ohchr.org/en/special-p...

The DeSantis administration has not made public a list of names of the immigrants held at the facility in heavy duty tents at an airstrip in the Florida Everglades.
Individuals sent to the makeshift detention center do not show up in an
online government database that allows the public to search for immigrant detainees' whereabouts. Lawyers say they
have had difficulty locating clients sent to the site, often learning that they are there when detainees call family members.

An enforced disappearance is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law (Article 2 of the ICPED and Preamble of the Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance)
It is characterized by three cumulative elements (defined in A/HRC/16/48/Add.3):
1. Deprivation of liberty against the will of the person;
2. Involvement of government officials, at least by acquiescence;
3. Refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared
person.

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Jul 11

The public can't yet wrap their brain around the level of intrusion in their lives and the suffering that will be caused for millions as a result of ICE becoming the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the government:

Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · Jul 11

EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social talked to @npr.org about how new funding for ICE might impact immigration enforcement.

"The impacts are just going to be unfathomable. We're heading straight into becoming a surveillance state & a police state," he said.

Listen here: www.npr.org/2025/07/10/n...

How new funding for ICE might impact immigration enforcement

NPR speaks with the Economic Policy Institute's Daniel Costa about the large amount of additional funds allocated to ICE in the tax and spending bill and how it might impact immigration enforcement.

www.npr.org

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Jul 11

[email protected]'s new report has estimates on the job losses that will be caused by Trump's deportations - including state by state estimates and for the construction and child care industries:

Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · Jul 10

1 in 5 workers is an immigrant.

Immigrants are a crucial part of the US economy, and Trump's radical deportation agenda will hurt us all.

Trump’s increase in deportations will destroy 6 million jobs—for both immigrants AND US-born workers: www.epi.org/publication/...

Graphic with text: "Trump's increase in deportations could destroy nearly 6 million jobs. 1 in 6 construction jobs could be eliminated. 1 in 7 child care jobs could be eliminated."

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Economic Policy Institute @epi.org · Jul 9

EPI's @dcosta.bsky.social was featured on @wbur.org's‬ "On Point" talking about America's reliance on migrant farm workers. Listen here:

www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

Why American farmers rely on unauthorized workers

More than 40% of hired farm laborers in the U.S. are immigrants without legal status. President Trump campaigned on a plan for mass deportation. But even he admits -- the country can't survive without...

www.wbur.org

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Jul 1

My colleague @benzipperer.org estimates if Trump meets deportation targets of 1 million per year, it'll lead to massive job losses: 6 million total, 44% of them jobs belonging to US-born workers. If Trump gets $160 billion in new enforcement money, he might pull it off.
www.epi.org/blog/the-rep...

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DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Jun 30

Immigration enforcement doesn't help workers or improve labor standards. Even when employers get fined, it's a slap on the wrist, they can negotiate the amount downward, and it's still likely cheaper than the amount of wages they stole from workers. Need more status-blind DOL enforcement, not DHS.

DC @dcosta.bsky.social · Jun 10

Republican reconciliation bill will nearly triple funding for ICE, increase the detention budget from $3.4 billion to *$45* billion - giving Trump a total of $185 billion to turn the US into a police state. And there's ZERO new funds for protecting workers:

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