New homes are 11% smaller but 74% more expensive than a decade ago
Notes to reader: New home shrinkflation and other types of painful and persistent cost of living increases are the types of results we experience during extended periods of massive government deficit social spending.
It truly is very clever
The massive levels of fiscal deficit spending are only attainable because of Federal Reserve policy and the Quantitative Easing (QE) concept. Without QE, the Federal government would be unable to spend the way it wishes to.
QE changed everything with regards to asset pricing and the ability of the established elite to beat down the public. And it’s all done through the guise of helping the common man through socialism and social spending.
Of course, while the money is claimed to be spent helping the average person, the true hidden goals and the ultimate results are much different. All of this deficit spending ultimately ends up on the balance sheets of those who own the assets. These asset owners continue to consolidate their wealth and power over the masses and exert their control.
The most sobering aspect of QE is that this collective oligarch, who controls both sides of the political aisle, have even greater plans for us. Of course, it will all be carried out through massive fiscal deficit spending. Interest rates will continue to rise and the cost of financing will continue to creep higher. Thus, The divide between the haves and the have nots will keep widening.
These powerful asset owners are the ones who demand that Nova Scotia residents do not walk in the woods. They are the ones who criminalize rainwater collection. They are the ones who promote racism. They are the ones who hope to do away with private homeownership. They are the ones who want us to only drive quickly depreciating EVs.
Over the next couple decades, younger folk will view home ownership is as antiquated as the right of privacy. The continued process of demoralization will all seem very normal. In order to hide their tracks, this established elite will create false binaries that will put baby boomers against Gen Zrs or blacks against whites.
But none of these processes happen overnight. In order to get to the desired goal of social housing for everyone, the established oligarchy must make housing prohibitively expensive for those seeking to find it.
I say it’s a job well done and each massive round of fiscal deficit spending helps to accelerate these once hidden goals. This is why I say to my readers, be the landlord and be the asset owner.
President Trump is as guilty in this regard as the other presidents since the rollout of QE in late 2008. And of course, the financial crisis of 2008 was manufactured, so QE could be implemented in the first place.
None of this is by chance.
To wit, I have included a Fortune magazine article discussing these results. To the unwitting, unwashed, and demoralized person, it’s just another reason to jump out the window.
Housing shrinkflation is here to stay. New homes are 11% smaller but 74% more expensive than a decade ago
Fortune magazine
- Home buyers are paying more for smaller homes, a phenomenon called shrinkflation. A new LendingTree study found new single-family homes have shrunk 11% in the past decade, while their price per square foot has jumped 74%. Driven by surging land, labor, and material costs (compounded by tariffs and worker shortages), builders are trimming square footage and eliminating wasted space like hallways.
Just like how serving sizes at restaurants feel smaller, yet more expensive, a similar phenomenon has hit the housing market. Shrinkflation—essentially getting less for more—is plaguing nearly every housing market region in the U.S.
A study published Aug. 11 from LendingTree shows new homes are 11% smaller yet 74% more expensive per square foot in the past decade. The average size of a new single-family home dropped from 2,707 square feet in 2014 to 2,404 square feet in 2024, according to the report. And over that decade span, the average price per square foot for a new single-family home jumped from $97.25 to $168.86.
Housing shrinkflation isn’t a new concept, but it’s becoming more evident as both new- and existing-home prices remain elevated.
Miles Alexander III, principal at real-estate development and investment firm Alexander Goshen, told Fortune housing shrinkflation is the result of a “perfect storm” from land, labor, and material prices surging.
“To keep projects viable, builders are trimming square footage but maintaining price points,” Alexander said. “It’s not that we want to deliver less space, it’s that the economics demand it.”
Housing materials costs have been on the rise since the pandemic, but a recent study from Evernest, a property-management and real-estate brokerage services firm, shows President Donald Trump’s tariffs have already added more than $100,000 to the cost of a new home in at least one state. Many other states have also seen prices rise by tens of thousands of dollars, according to the study, due to tariffs on materials like imported steel, copper, drywall, and lumber.
There is also a major construction-worker shortage. The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) reported the construction industry needs to attract nearly half a million workers this year and next to meet demand for services.
Jake Kennedy, a licensed real-estate agent with Compass in Tennessee, said housing shrinkflation isn’t just about giving buyers less—it’s about builders finding new ways to keep construction affordable.
“It’s the basic economics that happen when land, labor, and lumber all cost more, square footage is where the cuts get made,” Kennedy told Fortune. “Yes, new homes might be smaller, but the rising costs are being absorbed by fewer square feet, resulting in the on-paper appearance of houses being more expensive.”
Smaller homes force creativity
Smaller footprints and more expensive resources have “forced creativity” for developers, Alexander said. This means designing homes with pocket offices, multifunctional living areas, and layouts that maximize every inch. Plus, hallways are disappearing, he said.
John Burns Research & Consulting also warned last year about the “death of the hallway” in new-home construction. “All that Tetris we played in the ‘90s has finally paid off. Instead of shrinking rooms to reduce overall home size, a common tactic among our architectural designers was to eliminate unnecessary circulation space,” JBREC wrote in its 2024 US Residential Architecture and Design Survey report.
“Essentially, we’re Tetris-ing the functional rooms together, avoiding wasted square footage on non-functional areas like hallways.”
Kennedy said he’s also seen builders essentially create smaller versions of the homes they were building before the pandemic. Bedrooms that might’ve been 12 feet by 15 are now closer to 10 feet by 12 feet.
“Add that up in a two-story house with four bedrooms and it’s easy to see how a 2,500-square-foot house is becoming 2,000 square feet,” he said.
Different demands
Developers and real-estate experts also say younger generations have different needs and demands when it comes to housing. Millennials and Gen Zers, as well as other first-time homebuyers, “aren’t chasing the big suburban mansion,” Alexander said.
“They’re more cost conscious, and they actually prefer compact layouts that are easier to maintain and more affordable,” he said.
Elyse Sarnecky, marketing director with Marketplace Homes, told Fortune because affordability has become the chief concern for new buyers during the past year or so, many are willing to forgo extras or upgrades they would’ve wanted in new-home construction. And to be sure, new homes still remain spacious by historical standards, according to the LendingTree report: The average size of a new single-family home rose from 2,050 square feet in 1994 to 2,404 in 2024.
Sarnecky said most of her company’s new-construction buyers are more concerned with getting the best possible home they can get within their budget, she added.
“The actual floor plan of the home is really important as well when considering this. It has to work for their family,” Sarnecky said. “As long as it does, size is less of a factor.”
Link to original article,
https://fortune.com/2025/08/19/housing-shrinkflation-homes-smaller-more-expensive/
Investors prefer corporate debt over public debt
Investors Crave Long-Term Debt, But Firms Don’t Want to Sell
(Bloomberg) — Investors are clamoring to buy the one kind of security that few companies want to sell now: long-dated bonds.
When blue-chip companies have sold debt maturing in 30 years or more in the US, they’ve found heavy demand, with money managers placing orders equal to about five times the notes for sale on average. That ratio is higher than in any other period dating back to 2021.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co drew $14.7 billion of orders earlier this week for just $2 billion of 30- and 40-year bonds. Investors are eager to lock in yields above 5.5%, a relatively high level, especially as money managers enjoy robust inflows and the Federal Reserve gets closer to cutting rates.
“Being able to buy high quality investment-grade credit near 5% is something that for a long time was not available,” said David Brown, global co-head of investment grade at Neuberger Berman. “People are trying to lock in these rates.”
Companies, meanwhile, are reluctant to commit to paying elevated coupons for decades by selling debt with far-out maturities, and a quiet market for acquisitions has limited the supply of offerings. Those dynamics have spurred even more of a frenzy for the long-term debt that is available.
Heightened demand has compressed spreads in the secondary market. Bonds with 10 or more years of duration have seen risk premiums narrow 6 basis points this year through Thursday’s close, while shorter- and intermediate-dated bonds have narrowed just 2 basis points.
“Anything in the longer end of the maturity curve right now is being met with substantial, outsized demand since investors are incentivized to put their money to work in a higher rate environment, in an under-supplied part of the market,” said Jiyann Daemi, head of US corporate syndicate at TD Securities.
Some companies this year have turned to Europe for their long borrowing needs, where yields are lower. In February, Johnson & Johnson sold 30-year paper there but securities only as long as 10 years in the US, while in May Pfizer Inc. issued 20-year bonds in Europe.
For bonds with at least 10 years of duration, investors are getting a yield of 5.75%, more than a percentage point higher than the 10-year average, a Bloomberg index shows. Yields have been relatively high for longer maturities for several years, but demand this year has been even more pronounced because money managers lately have had plenty of capital to put to work.
High-grade bond funds and ETFs logged inflows of $11.6 billion in the week ended August 6, the most since November 2020, according to Bank of America research, citing data from EPFR Global. And this year, high-grade investors are collecting more in coupons — some $465 billion — than in any other year dating back to 2018, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. That gives them even more cash to reinvest.
US pensions are gobbling up any long-end credit, syndicate professionals say. They ended the first half of the year with the second highest funding ratio since the Great Financial Crisis, according to JPMorgan. Pensions that are overfunded typically shed risk by adding to bets in high-grade credit, where they often look to buy long-duration bonds to match liabilities that span across decades.
“You can’t sell enough long-end paper, and it just goes back to who the predominant buyer is in corporate credit currently,” said Maureen O’Connor, global head of high-grade debt syndicate at Wells Fargo & Co.
All that demand is being channeled into relatively little supply. Bonds with maturities of 30 years or more make up just 11% of high-grade sales so far this year, according to Bloomberg-compiled data, down from 15% last year.
That supply shortfall is part of what’s helping to keep investment-grade credit spreads tight: They reached levels not seen since 1998 last week at just 0.73 percentage point above Treasuries.
Companies don’t want to lock in elevated rates for a long period of time, as was the case in recent years, but they’ve had even less of a need to do so now, since fewer mergers and acquisitions have required big funding deals in the debt markets. Many of those deals often include long-duration bonds.
So far, M&A-related financing accounts for 11% of high-grade debt deals this year, compared with 13% last year, according to JPMorgan research data. Wells Fargo’s O’Connor expects to end 2025 with about $50 billion less of M&A-tied supply than she had anticipated entering this year.
Market participants are also betting on the Federal Reserve to enact two quarter-point rate cuts by the end of the year. That could accelerate the process of falling yields, giving investors another reason to buy now, even if the long-end of the curve is expected to take longer to fall.
“There does seem to be just an insatiable demand for investment-grade credit right now,” said Brian Kennedy, a portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles & Co.
I would not invest in any long term bonds in this inflationary environment.
Powell sounds very dovish and asset prices are moving higher! My trading account is up nicely. I suspect Powell will downplay the inflation Target in lieu of supporting the economy. Traders love it. Here’s an AI search of the Federal reserves FAIT policy….
FAIT” refers to the Federal Reserve’s “Flexible Average Inflation Targeting” policy framework. It’s a framework adopted to address concerns about persistently low inflation and to provide more flexibility in achieving the Fed’s 2% inflation target. This framework allows for temporary overshoots of the target to compensate for previous periods where inflation was below 2%.
Key aspects of FAIT:
Flexibility: The framework acknowledges that inflation can deviate from the 2% target temporarily due to various factors, including supply shocks.
Averaging: The Fed aims for an average of 2% inflation over time, rather than strict adherence to the target at all times.
Makeup Policy: If inflation undershoots the target, the Fed may allow for a period of slightly higher inflation to compensate.
Purpose of FAIT:
Anchor Inflation Expectations: FAIT is intended to keep inflation expectations well-anchored at 2%, which is crucial for maintaining price stability.
Support Maximum Employment: The framework also aims to support the Fed’s goal of maximum employment by allowing for more flexibility in monetary policy.
Criticisms of FAIT:
Inflation Surge: Some critics argue that FAIT contributed to the recent surge in inflation, as it allowed for periods of higher inflation to offset previous undershoots.
Lack of Symmetry: Some argue that FAIT is not truly symmetric, as it only makes up for undershoots and not overshoots of the inflation target.
Discretionary: Some believe that the framework is too discretionary and lacks the predictability of a rules-based approach.
In conclusion, FAIT is a monetary policy framework designed to provide more flexibility in achieving the Fed’s 2% inflation target while also supporting maximum employment. It has been both praised and criticized for its approach to managing inflation and its potential impact on the economy. According to the Federal Reserve, Brookings, and the Mercatus Center.
Fait is the french word for done, seems appropriate.
Fait accompli:
a thing that has already happened or been decided before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option but to accept it.
Bond friendly, except Philly Fed prices paid….
Initial Jobless Claims
Act: 235K Cons: 226K Prev: 224K
Continuing Jobless Claims
Act: 1,972K Cons: 1,960K Prev: 1,942K
Jobless Claims 4-Week Avg.
Act: 226.25K Prev: 221.75K
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index (Aug)
Act: -0.3 Cons: 6.8 Prev: 15.9
Philly Fed Business Conditions (Aug)
Act: 25.0 Prev: 21.5
Philly Fed CAPEX Index (Aug)
Act: 38.40 Prev: 17.10
Philly Fed Employment (Aug)
Act: 5.9 Prev: 10.3
Philly Fed New Orders (Aug)
Act: -1.9 Prev: 18.4
Philly Fed Prices Paid (Aug)
Act: 66.80 Prev: 58.80
US Bond Traders Eye Slew of Data Ahead of Fed Symposium
(Bloomberg) — US Treasuries snapped two days of gains ahead of a flurry of economic data and the Federal Reserve’s gathering at Jackson Hole, which kicks off later Thursday.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark rose by two basis points to 4.31%. The two-year yield was one basis point higher at 3.76%.
While Jackson Hole — and particularly the speech from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday — is the week’s main event for markets, data including initial jobless claims and flash PMIs will land later Thursday. The Treasury is also due to sell $8 billion of 30-year TIPS.
Investors are looking for further evidence that could reinforce wagers on a quarter-point cut next month, which would be the Fed’s first reduction this year. A week ago, that outcome was seen as all but guaranteed, but conviction has faded and it’s now priced at a 70% likelihood.
“The state of the US labor market is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, and by global markets,” said James Bilson, a fixed income strategist at Schroders. The firm thinks the chance of a so-called hard landing has increased to about 20%.
“We don’t see justification for a larger 50 basis points cut in September, but there is now scope for the Fed to reduce rates more quickly than they might have otherwise,” he added.
Final appearance
It will be the final time that Powell attends the Jackson Hole gathering in the capacity of Fed chair given his term expires next year. Powell has repeatedly stressed the need for caution in lower interest rates, an approach that’s incurred the wrath of President Donald Trump.
Daniel Loughney, head of fixed income at Mediolanum International Funds Ltd, expects Powell to stick to that message at this week’s symposium, potentially triggering some volatility if his speech sounds more hawkish than what markets would like.
“I’m a bit nervous of Jackson Hole because the dynamic at the moment is that Powell looks to be in defensive mode because of the Trump attacks,” he said.
Still, Loughney expects the market’s attention to shift quickly to Powell’s likely successor — and the scope for more rate cuts — once the Jackson Hole gathering is over. He’s positioned for short-dated Treasuries to outperform European peers.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Most Federal Reserve officials highlighted inflation risks as outweighing concerns over the labor market at their meeting last month, as President Donald Trump’s tariffs fueled a growing divide within the central bank’s rate-setting committee.
Officials acknowledged worries over higher inflation and weaker employment, but a majority of the 18 policymakers in attendance “judged the upside risk to inflation as the greater of these two risks,” according to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s July 29-30 meeting.
Policymakers left interest rates unchanged in a range of 4.25% to 4.5% last month, citing elevated uncertainty in their outlook as economic activity moderated during the first six months of Trump’s term. Their statement at the time characterized the labor market as “solid” but said inflation remained “somewhat elevated.”
Indeed, the biggest spike in wholesale inflation in three years provided the latest sign that companies have begun to raise prices to offset rising input costs. Some Fed officials have voiced concerns that Trump’s trade war will influence prices well into next year.
I must have said something that resonated with some readers. I’m up to about 100 subscribers.
Atlanta Fed GDPNow GDP estimate drops to 2.3% from 2.5% in its latest revision this morning.
https://www.atlantafed.org/cqer/research/gdpnow
Elon Musk backs off massive midterm shakeup fearing he’ll anger Republicans: report
(Raw Story) Tech billionaire Elon Musk is reportedly backing off his own plans to self-fund candidates for a third party to take on Republicans and Democrats after he was unceremoniously booted from President Donald Trump’s circle.
Trump and Musk experienced a very public and dramatic fallout over the summer after nearly a year of close alliance. Their break-up centered around disagreements over policy, political ambitions, and personal attacks, particularly over the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which is projected to add trillions to the national debt.
Musk then publicly pledged to launch the America Party primarily as a response to his feud with Trump.
But the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that those plans have already been moved to the back burner.
“The billionaire Elon Musk is quietly pumping the brakes on his plans to start a political party,” people with knowledge of his plans told the news outlet.
Musk, currently the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and X, has told allies he wants to shift his focus back to his companies and is hesitant to “alienate powerful Republicans by starting a third party that could siphon off GOP voters.”
That decision came amid talks in recent weeks between Musk and Vice President JD Vance, in which Musk was left with the impression that a third party would “damage his relationship” with Vance. Musk is reportedly weighing whether to back Vance for president in 2028.
Trump’s tax cuts via deficit spending are helping to create an asset owner Utopia….
US IPO Market Heats Up as AI, Crypto Firms Accelerate Plans
(Bloomberg) — Companies touting their artificial intelligence and crypto-sector ties are speeding up their IPO timelines, after triple-digit first-day pops became a regular feature in this summer’s sizzling US market for new issues.
Crypto companies finalizing paperwork with regulators to potentially go public after the Sept. 1 Labor Day holiday in the US include Gemini Space Station Inc., led by the billionaire Winklevoss twins, and blockchain-based credit company Figure Technology Solutions Inc. Plenty of candidates weighing debuts this fall are talking up their AI usage, such as payments company Klarna Group Plc pointing to efficiency gains allowing the company to stop hiring in 2024, reducing its employee headcount by 22% that year mostly through attrition.
Challenges such as this year’s tariff drama made would-be debutants hesitant, but that disappeared as technology companies like Figma Inc., which also included its AI credentials in its pitch, and stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc. have staged euphoric listings, more than doubling on debut.
“We are seeing people in the technology sector accelerate their timelines, in some cases people who were looking later this year or early next year are asking can we get it done sooner,” said Will Connolly, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s co-head of equity capital markets in the Americas.
Dozens of companies could go public by the end of this year, potentially raising more than $15 billion in total and taking the amount raised by IPOs, excluding SPACs, to approach $40 billion this year, according to Keith Canton, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s co-head of Americas ECM.
Last year saw $27.5 billion raised on US exchanges, not including SPACs, REITs and closed-end funds, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
JPMorgan is working with about 10 companies that are on file publicly or confidentially in its IPO pipeline and another 15 to 20 companies that are actively testing the waters, Canton said.
Scarcity value is a big factor in the sectors that have seen such explosive post-IPO trading. In crypto debuts, equity investors’ limited ways to get exposure to the assets, and insatiable retail demand for the theme, are driving a lot of the moves, said Nick Williams, head of Americas ECM at Deutsche Bank AG.
“The real trick is to see how much long-only fundamental money you can maintain in your shareholder register,” Williams said.
Lofty Expectations
The fall window often comes with lofty expectations, but the momentum in recent months is a particularly big draw for a number of high-profile names such as StubHub Holdings Inc. After pausing its IPO plan in April, the ticket selling exchange updated its filings last week for a potential listing, a goal it has pursued since at least 2022.
The prospect of interest rate cuts starting next month could also help out private equity-backed IPO candidates weighed down by leverage.
John Kolz, Barclays Plc’s global head of ECM, is among those who see a very busy fall as the number of deals picks up.
“It’s dusting off the processes that were on hold, accelerating processes that have been in the hopper and the pickup in potential dual tracks,” he said, referring to so-called dual-track processes where the asset is being considered for either a sale or an IPO.
“The momentum is very real and it is across all of equity capital markets,” said Matt Warren, Bank of America Corp.’s head of Americas ECM origination.
Several companies that have been mentioned in conversations with bankers and investors for months are moving ahead. Cybersecurity firm Netskope is considering an IPO as soon as after Labor Day, according to people familiar with the matter. Andersen, founded by alumni of shuttered accounting firm Arthur Andersen, is working with Morgan Stanley and UBS Group AG on a listing, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public.
Andersen’s IPO could also come as soon as in early September, though it may take longer, the people said. Representatives for Netskope and Andersen didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for Morgan Stanley and UBS declined to comment.
Economic Weakness
The Federal Reserve lowering interest rates isn’t necessarily a reason to celebrate. There are concerns about potential weakness in the US economy, including the impact of significant tariffs on imported goods, and worries around a stock market that has soared more than 28% in just four months.
“We are talking to all of our clients about what some of the potential pitfalls could be here in the broader market,” said JPMorgan’s Canton. “While there could be rate cuts, I don’t know how deep they’ll be out of the gate and there are also a lot of questions around long-term deficits.”
Typically, the opportunities for an uninterrupted marketing and listing process start to narrow after the beginning of September. In this case, the impact of a stock market pullback could sour investor appetite for new companies even before the calendar dings other would-be IPOs.
“You’re juggling the Jewish holidays, Q3 close, financials getting stale mid-November, and broader macro trends,” said Clay Hale, Wells Fargo & Co.’s co-head of ECM. “It’s a very complicated window to get right.”
“It’s more about confidence,” said Goldman’s Connolly. “One of the major challenges the last couple of years was concerns about something else being around the corner. As time passes there’s more comfort in the resiliency of the economy and the markets. The market could have a modest pull back and I don’t think that would disrupt the trajectory we’re on with more capital markets activity.”
The US IPO market is looking to put a few slow years following the record boom of 2021 behind it. This latest risk-on atmosphere is fanning hopes that 2026 will continue that rise.
“We’re marching upwards and we’re very squarely now back in what I would consider pre-Covid or normalized averages, but I don’t think anyone is saying we are back to 2021 levels any time soon,” Canton said.
Once again, I present another example of how the Universal one-world whore Catholic Church hates the United States. Landlords and asset owners should rejoice at the Jew scribe/Edomite created religion.
According to this Bloomberg article, this particular archbishop has been fighting for almost 50 years to overwhelm America’s borders with Hispanic Catholics. His allegiance is to the Vatican whore.
YHVH abhors politics and religion. This is why the founding fathers worked feverishly to resist Catholic influence. Ben Franklin was the big sellout who worked behind the scenes to bring Vatican influence to DC. Franklin will rot in hell for helping to create Georgetown University and the building of Catholic churches on American soil. The great deception in the latter days is the formation of the Babylonian fish god organized religions. They didn’t exist prior to Jesus’s time….
______________
Trump-Loathing Billionaire Teams With Archbishop to Fight Deportations
(Bloomberg) — For nearly 50 years, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski has ministered to immigrants who fear being forced to leave the US. But the unease in his community now, as President Donald Trump presses for the biggest deportation effort in US history, is unlike anything he has ever seen before.
Miami, home to large numbers of immigrants from Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela, among other countries, is a prime target of Trump’s dragnet. Thousands of people in the region could face deportation as the administration seeks to end protections for migrants from countries roiled by war or disasters.
“There certainly are people living in fear in this community,” Wenski said in an interview. “They’re living in fear of a knock on the door in the middle of the night.”
When federal agents are rumored to be conducting raids in the area, attendance at mass declines, Wenski said. The Miami office of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has logged 15,000 arrests since Trump took office in January, more than any other of the agency’s regional locations, according to federal data compiled by the University of California at Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project.
Wenski, 74, has taken an active role — with help from a Trump-loathing local billionaire — in trying to protect and provide comfort to immigrants who fear being caught up in ICE’s sweeps. He helped expand a Church program that provides free legal advice to immigrants facing deportation. And he pressed Florida to allow clergy access to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the state-run immigration detainment facility in the Everglades.
Catholic leaders have been critical of Trump’s deportation drive. American-born Pope Leo XIV, in his first address to world diplomats, urged respect for migrants, in a rebuke to the president. And Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington called the administration’s immigration policy “morally repugnant” in a CNN interview.
Some wealthy Miamians, including Cuban-born billionaire Miguel Fernandez, have stepped in to provide Wenski with financial backing. Wenski and Fernandez have known each other for about 15 years, and the businessman has helped rally support from other prominent local figures who’ve been repelled by the spectacle of masked federal agents arresting workers and parents.
Miami is a city of immigrants. Some 60% of the population is foreign-born and 70% are Latinos. But it was also one of the large metropolitan areas won by Trump in the 2024 election — a sign that many members of its large and influential Cuban exile community embraced MAGA conservatism. Now, some appear to be feeling buyer’s remorse, according to Wenski.
“Most families, I think, would rather see a solution that would be less drastic than tearing up families and deporting breadwinners or mothers,” Wenski said.
The archbishop, the son of Polish immigrants, has watched immigration drama play out for decades in South Florida. When he first began his work for the church in the region, immigrants were pouring in from Haiti and Cuba, landing on local beaches in boats and rafts after perilous escapes from political turmoil at home.
Trump’s crackdown is playing out at a larger scale than those old controversies, Wenski said. He has urged the president to bring law-abiding immigrants into the economy and described enforcement tactics as “alarming.” He worries that families and communities nationwide are being torn apart.
“It’s national,” Wenski said, sitting in his office in the Catholic archdioceses in Miami Shores. “It’s going to cause a lot of heartbreak, and I think it’s going to hurt the country.”
The White House says Trump is delivering on pledges to deport immigrants who have been convicted or charged with crimes. “The American people overwhelmingly reelected President Trump based on his promises to enforce immigration law, and now he is carrying out the agenda he was given a mandate to implement,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman.
Wealthy Backers
Fernandez, who goes by Mike, earlier this year gathered a group of Cuban-Americans in his Coral Gables mansion on Biscayne Bay. Hunkered down in his mahogany-lined library, the group agreed Trump had gone too far, but were reluctant to challenge him publicly.
Despite those reservations, they collectively ponied up $250,000, plus $50,000 from Fernandez. Half went to the church’s Catholic Legal Services of Miami, which has 30 staff lawyers who give free help to 3,000 immigrants a month in detention camps or facing deportation. Fernandez declined to name the group’s members.
Fernandez, 73, is a Republican-turned-independent who built his fortune buying and selling health-care companies. When he was 12, Fidel Castro’s police interrupted his family’s Christmas Eve dinner and forced them on to a military plane. They were dumped in Mexico City with no money or passports and took refuge in a convent. His family later secured asylum in the US and settled in New York.
Fernandez said he was compelled to act by echoes of his past that he sees in the people Trump is eager to push out.
“I happen to be one of those immigrants who arrived in this country penniless,” he said, sitting in an overstuffed leather chair in his library, with vintage machine guns and hunting trophies lining the walls. “I see myself in those people who are being detained today.”
Along with giving to charities, Fernandez has embraced noisier ways of resisting Trump’s crackdown. Earlier this year, he put up billboards in Miami calling Trump a dictator.
Fernandez also rescinded $11 million of donations to Miami Dade College and Florida International University after the schools cut aid for undocumented immigrant students. Fernandez had lobbied for a 2014 law that allowed immigrants who went to high school in Florida to qualify for in-state tuition, but a state immigration law that Governor Ron DeSantis signed this year eliminated the program.
DeSantis’ office and the two colleges didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Historical Echoes
Fernandez, who dropped out of the University of New Mexico to volunteer for the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during the Vietnam War, built his own private equity firm, MBF Healthcare Partners. He says his family’s wealth is now well over $1 billion. His sprawling mansion — which he values at $250 million — sits on eight acres dotted with orchids, a Fernando Botero sculpture and a landscaping feature made from a makeshift raft used by Cuban migrants that washed up in his yard.
Fernandez has donated millions to Republicans over the years, though never to Trump. He said that his politics contrast with most of his friends among Miami’s Cuban-American elite, many of whom played a big part in helping Trump carry the region in 2024.
Other activists in South Florida have welcomed Fernandez’s engagement and willingness to spend.
“The silence is just so deafening,” said Ana Sofia Pelaez, a Cuban-American activist. “We need more people like Mike Fernandez to speak out. If not, Miami is not going to be Miami anymore.”
Wenski has watched waves of immigrants arrive in his diocese since he was ordained in 1976. At that time, Haitians fleeing the Duvalier regime were arriving in boats on the Florida coast. Wenski learned Creole and organized places of worship for them — and watched as many were deported. Then, he saw thousands of Cubans who arrived in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift sent home.
“In a lot of ways, what we’re going through on a national level parallels somewhat the situation in Miami in the early 80s,” he said.
In July, Florida officials refused to let clergy to visit “Alligator Alcatraz,” the controversial detainment camp DeSantis erected in a show of allegiance to Trump. Determined to reach the camp’s detainees, the archbishop tried another tack.
An avid Harley-Davidson fan, Wenski and 25 fellow members of the Knights of Columbus rode their motorcycles along a two-lane highway slicing through the Everglades to the camp. Standing outside, the men bowed their heads as Wenski stood near his Harley and led a rosary prayer for the detainees.
A week later, Florida relented, and Wenski sent a priest back. Amid the complex of tents containing bunks inside cage-like enclosures of chain-link fencing, the priest gathered 150 immigrant detainees in the camp’s cafeteria and gave Catholic mass. By the time he was done, the camp’s directors asked for him to return, not just to counsel detainees but also workers, far from family, at the remote detention site, Wenski said.
Wenski hasn’t had the chance to discuss his concerns about the immigration crackdown with Trump or leaders inside his administration directly, but he’s convinced little gains like giving mass in the Everglades resonate. His X post about the trip on his Harley to Alligator Alcatraz drew about 1.6 million views.
“I’ve never met with Trump to discuss any of this,” he said. “But, I hope he’s heard me.”