Before Congress, I proudly worked with federal and state law enforcement to prosecute illegal immigrant criminals and dismantle transnational criminal networks here in our country. That experience provided me a unique, even harrowing, view of the illegal immigration problem in the United States. The harms are more deep and diverse than most realize, and when immigration laws are not enforced, Americans pay a steep price.
The Biden-Harris administration’s open-border policies did not just create chaos at the southern border; they fueled an invasion that reached every American. It made our neighborhoods less safe, pushed public resources to a breaking point, and drove up the cost of living for hardworking Americans.
A 2026 study from researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas examined how the unprecedented wave of illegal immigration between 2021 and 2024 affected housing prices. Researchers found that the influx of illegal immigrants increased demand for housing, raising home prices and rent nationwide. Specifically, a 1% increase in unauthorized workers relative to a local labor force was associated with a 2.2% increase in home prices and a 1.4% increase in rent.
This is not a surprise. In some parts of the country, housing costs have risen by more than 25%.
The data confirms what millions of Americans experienced firsthand: border security, public safety, and housing affordability are intertwined. When we don’t enforce our immigration laws, public safety worsens, and housing becomes less affordable for American families.
When hundreds of thousands of additional people need housing immediately, in markets already facing shortages, prices rise. With millions of illegal residents arriving, someone bears that cost, and unfortunately, it’s young American families waiting to buy their first home, seniors living on fixed incomes, and hardworking Americans struggling to pay rent. These are the tangible consequences of mass, illegal migration, and exactly what a sensible system would prevent.
Housing affordability has become one of the defining economic challenges today. Years of record-high inflation under the Biden-Harris administration were fueled by historically high illegal immigration, and illegal immigrant populations grew in 32 states from 2021 to 2023. Nationally, more than 4.2 million illegal immigrants had been in the U.S. for less than five years in 2023, up from 1.8 million in 2021, showing the influx of new illegal immigrants allowed in during the previous administration’s tenure. The 2023 figure is more than double the amount of any year between 2010 to 2019. North Carolina reflects that national trend, with the state’s illegal immigrant population increasing by a minimum of 75,000 during this period.
Home values in North Carolina rose alongside these numbers, climbing 15% in 2021 and peaking near 22% in 2022, outpacing the national average and recorded as one of the fastest increases in home values in modern history. These parallel trends raise serious questions about the relationship between record illegal immigration and rising housing and rent costs.
The devastating consequences of illegal mass migration do not stop with housing. Communities across the country absorbed additional strain in other sectors as well. While Washington Democrats deny the consequences of the border crisis they created, it is clear that there are no winners outside of Democrats nefariously seeking a political advantage. Whether it be rent, housing, healthcare, or even insurance, millions of illegal immigrants are a singular, inflationary deluge.
Fortunately, we have begun to see a different approach. Under President Donald Trump, we have seen historically low rates of illegal border crossings and record levels of drug apprehensions and deportations, proof that strong enforcement can deter illegal immigration and criminal activity. But restoring order after years of chaos at our borders will not happen overnight.
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House Republicans are working alongside Trump to codify his border security agenda. That is why I introduced the Stop Illegal Entry Act, which would close legal loopholes by imposing stronger penalties on illegal immigrants who commit felonies or unlawfully reenter the United States after being deported. Every House Republican supported this commonsense legislation and, unfortunately, nearly 200 House Democrats voted against it.
Americans deserve to know which elected officials put American families first.
Congressman Brad Knott represents North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District and serves on the House Committees on Judiciary; Homeland Security; Transportation and Infrastructure; and Ethics. Before coming to Congress, he served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, serving under three different presidential administrations.