Hodgepodge for Week of August 24, 2026: Deportation, Head Start, LGB v. T, Occupational Licensing

It's been a busy week for me, but there is still plenty going on in the world. I don't have the time to give it the full treatment, but I still want to get at some stuff that is going on. 

The cost of mass deportation: Earlier this month, the Left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a deportation calculator and estimated that the government is going to spend $268.9 billion. I don't see eye to eye with EPI on a lot, but I agree that money could be spent on a lot of better things than deportation. As I pointed out in 2024, mass deportation is enormously expensive, disrupts the labor force and economy, raises prices, and ultimately imposes substantial costs on everyday Americans. 

The costs of Head Start's regulatory micromanagement: The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) covered a recently proposed rule about cutting the red tape in Head Start. Head Start is the federal program that provides early education services and related services to lower-income children. HHS proposes to save as much as $2.2 billion with its deregulation. CEI covers the examples of staff-to-child ratios, family service caseloads, and mandatory bus monitors to illustrate how Washington micromanages local programs with costly rules that lack evidence that they work. 

LGB divorcing from the T: The Log Cabin Republicans, which represents the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) of the Republican Party, has announced that it will no longer advocate for transgender rights. Part of this divergence is due to such issues as radical gender ideology, biological men in women's sports, and gender reassignment surgery on minors. I find this to be a welcomed change given the extremeness of the trans activists. 

In 2024, I wrote a two-parter on this topic. The first part was about how the alliance between LGB and T did not make sense, in no small part because each group has different characteristics and goals. The second part was about how bringing the transgender activism and gender ideology are harming LGB individuals. I hope this trend extends beyond the Log Cabin Republicans. 

Occupational licensing: Back in 2014, I wrote about the perils of occupational licensing and how it is a harmful barrier to entry in multiple jobs, whether it is a florist, dentist, hair stylist, or a nanny. I also came across corresponding research in 2018 showing how costly it is and how it adversely affects the labor market. The Archbridge Institute has released its latest State Occupational Licensing Index. The bad news is that 20 percent of Americans are subject to occupational licensing. But there is some good news. One, there are fewer occupations that have occupational licensing. Two, more states are passing universal licensing recognition laws. Three, the licensing variation reminds us that this burden is not inevitable.