Biden’s illegal immigration surge caused higher rent and home prices, Fed study finds
A new Federal Reserve working paper found the record surge in illegal immigration during the Biden administration came at a cost to one of the nation’s fiercest political debates: higher home prices and rent rates. The findings arrive as immigration remains a defining political issue, with Republicans arguing former President Joe Biden’s border policies strained housing and public resources while Democrats have pointed to immigration as helping ease labor shortages and support economic growth. The new report, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas by compiling individual immigration court records and government administrative data, is among the first comprehensive efforts to measure how the unprecedented wave of illegal migration between 2021 and 2024 impacted local economies and affected local labor markets. A PROBLEM HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT IS KEEPING AMERICANS FROM BUYING HOMES The authors cautioned that the paper is a preliminary draft circulated for professional comment and that its findings do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System. Researchers found the influx of illegal immigrants boosted local employment with little measurable effect on wages, but came with a trade-off of increasing housing demand enough to drive up home prices and rents. The researchers found that illegal immigrant worker inflows increased local employment “approximately one-for-one,” meaning a 1% increase in unauthorized workers relative to a local area’s workforce corresponded with roughly a 1% increase in overall employment. The study found no evidence that the immigration surge lowered average wages. THE KEY STRATEGY RED STATES ARE USING TO LOWER HOUSING COSTS REVEALED That 1% increase in illegal immigrant worker flow, however, raised local home prices by about 2.2% and rents by roughly 1.4%, while finding little evidence that new housing construction expanded enough to absorb the increased demand, according to the study. So while wages remained relatively stable due to the influx of illegal immigration, housing prices and rent surged and left American workers struggling to keep up. The housing crisis has heavily impacted affordability in the U.S. and is a key midterm issue for many voters on both sides of the political aisle. Researchers concluded the influx of illegal immigrant workers acted as a housing demand shock in markets where supply remained relatively constrained. The authors argued the increase in housing demand outpaced homebuilding in many areas, amplifying price pressures where housing supply was already limited. ONE TYPE OF PROPERTY IS QUIETLY SAVING AMERICANS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS The economists estimate illegal immigrant worker flows accounted for roughly 30% of employment growth in the average local labor market between March 2021 and March 2024. They also estimate those inflows explained about 30% of home-price growth and roughly 20% of rent growth in the average metropolitan area over the same period. SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER The findings suggest the recent immigration surge had different effects across sectors—expanding the labor force without significantly affecting wages while increasing demand in housing markets where supply struggled to keep pace. The estimates refer to the average metropolitan area in the study and do not suggest immigration was the sole driver of rising housing costs nationwide. The paper describes the years between 2021 and 2024 as an “unprecedented boom” in illegal immigration. Citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, the authors said net unauthorized immigration added roughly 7 million people to the U.S. population during that period before slowing sharply beginning in mid-2024. The researchers also examined government spending and found areas with larger increases in unauthorized immigrant workers experienced declines in government transfer payments. They suggested the finding could reflect stronger employment and lower use of safety-net programs among working-age immigrants, while acknowledging the result differs from some previous survey-based research. Read the full report here:
DOJ launches grand jury probe into Marxist mogul Neville Roy Singham’s funding of leftist groups
FIRST ON FOX: A federal grand jury is investigating alleged financial crimes by Neville Roy Singham, the China-based tech tycoon whose fortune has funded a sprawling network of socialist, communist and Marxist organizations across the U.S. over the last decade. According to sources familiar with the matter, the grand jury in Manhattan has issued subpoenas as part of a probe launched by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, one of the country’s most powerful districts for federal prosecutions. Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche authorized the investigation as the Trump administration seeks to crack down on fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes in the multibillion-dollar nonprofit industry. The grand jury action follows a Fox News Digital investigation published in mid-March, documenting how Singham pumped $285 million from his base in Shanghai into a Goldman Sachs philanthropy fund and two shell corporations that then fed the money into a constellation of nonprofit organizations, media operations and activist groups pushing sectarian division, identity politics and support for socialist politicians. The investigation is examining the movement of the money in Singham’s financial network and attempting to determine if Singham, the organizations he funded or their leaders committed wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering or other financial crimes, according to sources familiar with the matter. HOUSE OF SINGHAM: READ FOX NEWS DIGITAL’S 5-PART INVESTIGATION Prosecutors have presented evidence to the grand jury, which has issued subpoenas seeking bank records and other financial documents from organizations in Singham’s network. Federal prosecutors use grand jury subpoenas as an investigative tool to compel the production of documents and testimony as they determine whether sufficient evidence exists to pursue criminal charges. Nicholas Biase, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment. According to sources, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to New York City earlier this year for a meeting with Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO David Solomon. The men discussed the role of a Goldman Sachs philanthropic arm — GS Donor Advised Philanthropy Fund For Wealth Management Inc. — that facilitated the movement by Singham of millions of dollars into a network of U.S. nonprofits. A Treasury Department spokesman declined to comment. A person familiar with the meeting confirmed that it occurred, saying that Bessent has regular meetings with business leaders, and declined to comment further on the substance of the meeting. At that meeting, sources said, Bessent delivered a blunt ultimatum: Goldman Sachs could face scrutiny for alleged conspiracy in the funneling of the Singham money and urged Solomon to cooperate with federal investigators. Like many U.S. companies, Goldman Sachs has had a long business relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, with Solomon participating in a meeting, for example, on Nov. 4, 2025, with He Lifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs. Solomon pledged his cooperation, according to sources. As previously reported, a Goldman spokesman told Fox News Digital that the company terminated its relationship with SIngham in February 2024 following an initial round of public scrutiny about his donations to far-left causes. WALL STREET BANKS HELPED CHINESE MILITARY-LINKED FIRM RAISE BILLIONS DESPITE RED FLAGS, LAWMAKERS FIND By mid-May, with the Southern District of New York investigation in full throttle, Solomon joined a delegation of powerful American business leaders who accompanied President Donald Trump, Bessent and other administration officials to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. In a five-part investigative series published earlier this year, Fox News Digital unearthed a four-minute-13-second speech in which Singham stood on a stage at the Golden Tulip Hotel on Nov. 13, 2025, for a conference of the “Global South Academic Forum,” coincidentally just days after the Goldman Sachs’ chief was in Beijing. Tricontinental Ltd., a Singham-funded nonprofit, co-sponsored the event with academic institutions administered by the Chinese Communist Party. On stage, Singham openly supported a “new world order” promoted by Chinese President Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. During the speech, he called the United States a “fascist” nation, echoing the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party now also parroted on the streets by communist, socialist and Democratic Party activists. WATCH THE NOVEMBER 2025 SINGHAM SPEECH: The series revealed a 172-page report in which Singham outlined his theory of change, invoking 20th century Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong’s battle plan to wage a “people’s war” to spread communism. Mao was inspired by communist leaders Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. LAWMAKERS RAISE ALARM OVER NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S $278M NETWORK SPREADING CCP PROPAGANDA IN THE U.S. Singham’s rise as a global political financier accelerated after his February 2017 marriage to Jodie Evans, the co-founder of Code Pink, a far-left activist group that has aligned itself with authoritarian regimes including the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Communist Party of Cuba and the Chinese Communist Party. According to sources, Evans is also a target of the investigation, emerging as a board member in the U.S. on many of the organizations that Singham funded. That same year, Singham sold his company, ThoughtWorks, for an estimated $785 million to a London-based private equity firm, Apax Partners. A spokeswoman for Apax Partners said the company wouldn’t disclose the names of the investors who pumped money into that sale, but sources told Fox News Digital that federal investigators are looking for potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party. After that sale, Fox News Digital found, Singham began directing large sums of money into a network of organizations that now form part of a broader activist infrastructure in the United States and abroad. In its investigation, Fox News Digital mapped 223 transactions from 2017 through 2025 that moved $591 million across five continents through 67 core groups in the Singham network. They partner with hundreds of groups worldwide, resulting in a network of about 2,000 groups, amplifying anti-U.S., pro-China messages. Of that money, Fox News Digital
Mamdani-backed socialists look to take New York playbook nationwide after primary victories
Hours after their ballot box victories in a handful of congressional primaries in New York City, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) set their sights west. “Today, the East Coast, next week the Mountain West,” the DSA wrote in a social media post last week. The post came after DSA-aligned Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old far-left community organizer, ousted incumbent Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair, and state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, another socialist, won a congressional primary by beating an establishment-backed candidate. The victories by Chevalier and Valdez, who were heavily supported by socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, further emboldened the far left as it takes on the center-left establishment in a high-stakes battle for the future of the Democratic Party. VICTORIES BY MAMDANI-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES SPOTLIGHTS GROWING RIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY The DSA is now looking to replicate its playbook across the country, starting Tuesday in the Democratic primary in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, a solidly blue seat anchored in Denver that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried by a whopping 56 points in the 2024 election. Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who was first elected to Congress three decades ago, is facing two primary challenges, including DSA-backed Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate and former attorney born four months after DeGette first took office. Kiros, who lost her job as a lawyer in New York after writing an essay critical of Israel, is also supported by Justice Democrats, the nearly decade-old political group known for heavily supporting “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib as they toppled entrenched incumbents in their initial elections to Congress. DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB “ELECT ANOTHER SOCIALIST TO CONGRESS ON JUNE 30TH,” a DSA social media post states as it urges supporters to lend a hand to the Kiros campaign. The far left is also training its firepower in two high-profile statewide Democratic primaries in early August in key battleground states: the Senate showdown in Michigan and Wisconsin’s gubernatorial contest. DSA-aligned Abdul El-Sayed, a former Wayne County health director who unsuccessfully ran for governor eight years ago, is one of three major candidates trying to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. LURCHING LEFT: MAMDANI-BACKED CANDIDATES OUST ESTABLISHMENT DEMOCRATS And Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong is on the rise among a crowded field of candidates in the race to succeed retiring Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. “It’s a great day to be a democratic socialist,” the DSA-aligned Hong posted on X last week. “Wisconsin is next!” Mamdani’s stunning Democratic mayoral primary victory a year ago sent political shockwaves across the country and cemented the DSA as a major political force. A year later, Mamdani’s kingmaker status was further enhanced by last week’s results in New York City. Possibly looking to the national stage, the mayor said, “My goal is to make America a place that every American can afford.” Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, told Fox News Digital, “Some of the DSA and the majority of the left wing of the Democratic Party appear to be the only ones truly engaging in a conversation about economic populism in a period where costs continue to soar, and there is seemingly no plan from anyone in Washington to rectify that problem. You can see why it’s appealing.” BERNIE SANDERS, DSA REVEAL DEMANDS FOR DEM PARTY AFTER SOCIALISTS SWEEP NEW YORK ELECTIONS It’s not just strategists from the progressive wing of the party that acknowledge the increasing power of the far left. Matt Bennett, one of the leaders at the Third Way, a leading center-left Democratic organization, noted, “There is enormous energy around the far left in very, very blue places, like New York City” and that “they are succeeding in their mission to oust incumbents or mainstream Democrats from blue seats and make them bluer.” But outside what has been labeled New York City’s “commie corridor,” which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens, where voters in recent years have consistently backed far-left and socialist candidates, more mainstream Democrats prevailed in Tuesday’s primaries. In the high-profile showdown to succeed retiring longtime Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler in Manhattan, former Nadler staffer Micah Lasher came out on top. Miles north of New York City in the state’s swing 17th Congressional District, Army veteran Cait Conley won the primary and will challenge GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in a key midterm contest that is one of a handful which will determine if Republicans hold the slim House majority. In Utah, former Democratic Rep. Ben McAdams defeated progressive rivals to win the primary in the newly redrawn and blue-leaning 1st Congressional District. In Maryland, just outside of Washington D.C., in the race to succeed longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer, Adrian Boafo, who was supported by Hoyer, topped a crowded and diverse Democratic primary field. And in South Carolina, Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral who was fired by War Secretary Pete Hegseth, won the Democratic primary in a Republican-leaning district Democrats had hopes of flipping. Bennett said the New York City races grabbing outsized attention “are not representative districts, and it remains the case that the far left, in the Trump era, has failed to flip a single seat in Congress from red to blue, House or Senate.” “They’re doing nothing to put a check on Trump or get power back,” he argued. “And in fact, they’re making it harder, because they’re handing Republicans very potent ammunition to use against Democrats in swing districts the way the GOP used ‘defund the police’ very effectively in 2020.” Veteran center-left Democratic strategist Matt Corridoni, who advises the political groups The Bench and Majority Democrats, said, “I think if we’re only focusing on New York we’re missing the forest through the trees.” Corridoni said, “There are dozens of examples across the country of these sort of purple reddish districts where we’re getting candidates who are tapping into the
Putin says Ukraine proposed halt to deep strikes
NewsFeed Russian President Vladimir Putin says Ukraine has proposed a mutual halt to long-range strikes and a meeting with Kyiv’s leadership. But, though he says he is considering the proposal, he believes the deal would benefit Ukraine more than Russia. Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Australian man charged with murder after Thai girl’s body found in suitcase
NewsFeed Australian national Simon Peter Carman has been charged with murder after the body of 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla was found inside a suitcase. CCTV footage appears to show the pair entering a hotel together and Carman leaving hours later with only a suitcase. Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Venezuelans angry with government as time runs out to rescue survivors
NewsFeed Four days after twin quakes left 1,450 dead and nearly 69,000 missing in Venezuela, residents and volunteers say they feel abandoned by the government as they race to save lives from the rubble. Published On 29 Jun 202629 Jun 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Ram Mandir donation theft case: Accused saw 100-fold rise in wealth, bought expensive properties
Police have arrested eight persons in connection with the case, and investigating teams have been carrying out raids at their residences. All eight accused were reportedly involved in the counting of cash and jewellery donated by devotees in collection boxes of the temple.
When will monsoon reach Delhi-NCR? IMD says relief from heat likely in next 5-6 days
The India Meteorological Department on Sunday said that conditions are favourable for the southwest monsoon to advance across northern regions over the coming five to six days. It, however, warned that heatwave conditions may persist in parts of Uttar Pradesh for now.
Uddhav Thackeray slams BJP over Shiv Sena (UBT) defections: ‘They want to finish Maharashtra’
Thackeray used the platform to launch sharp attacks on the BJP. Referring to the Ram Mandir donation embezzlement case, Thackeray said, “These people committed theft at the Ram temple. Looting is now happening at the Ram temple.”
Weather Today: IMD warns of heavy rains, thunderstorms, gusty wind across southern India and East
An active monsoon trough is driving widespread showers. While some areas will get consistent monsoon rain, others may face severe thunderstorms with brief spells of heavy downpour.