By Ben Stockton

 

NEW YORK, 27 March. - (ANA) - The population of New York City has dropped amid Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

 

Just 66,000 people moved to the city from abroad in 2025, down 70 per cent from 2024.

 

New York City’s steady population growth appeared to have recovered to its pre-pandemic levels in recent years. But Mr Trump’s aggressive immigration policies appear to have curtailed the growth.

 

Other large US cities have experienced declines in immigration, but none as large as New York City.

 

Los Angeles, San Diego and Miami metro areas all saw declines in population between July 2024 and July 2025.

 

Four of New York’s five boroughs – Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx – were among the top 10 counties in the US with the biggest decline in international arrivals.

 

While New York City hasn’t been the target of the same major immigration operations seen in places such as Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles, federal agents have carried out sweeps in the city.

 

In October 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted raids targeting street vendors on Canal Street in Soho.

 

Zohran Mamdani, New York’s Democrat mayor, has previously said he supports abolishing ICE.

 

As the Trump administration ramped up its controversial immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis, Mr Mamdani criticised the government agency.

 

He said: “We’re seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some sort of immigration law, but instead, what it is doing is terrorising people no matter their immigration status, no matter the facts of the law, and no matter the facts of the case.”

 

The city’s population had grown steadily since the 1980s, after economic downturn led to large numbers of mostly white, middle-class families leaving the city for the suburbs during the decade before.

 

This steep decline in population in the 1970s became known as the “white flight”.

 

But Mr Trump’s immigration limits during his first term slowed international migration to the city in 2017.

 

When the Covid pandemic hit a few years later, New Yorkers began leaving the city for other parts of the country, leading to significant declines in population. That exodus has slowed in recent years.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/27 March 2026 - - -