Panel warns immigration crackdown could dent Central Ohio's growth and research pipeline

At the Columbus Metropolitan Club forecast forum, panelists flagged immigration policy as one of the largest near-term risks to Central Ohio's growth.

"This campaign chasing off immigrants is, to put it mildly, ill advised," Bill Lafayette said, warning that weaker in-migration would depress local population gains and complicate future population estimates. Lafayette noted that foreign in-migration had recently helped offset slower domestic migration and that losing that flow would be "probably the single biggest worry."

Aravind Chandrasekhar Khan, dean of Ohio State's Fisher College of Business, said immigration cuts could slow front-end research and development by reducing the pool of talent that fuels university and corporate R&D: "The front end of R&D is gonna slow down," he said, adding that university training programs are one mitigation strategy but cannot fully replace migratory talent flows.

Panelists also stressed downstream effects: Lafayette said major projects such as Intel produce large supplier multipliers and that preserving a supplier ecosystem is as important as the headline plant itself. No formal policy action or local ordinance was proposed at the forum; panelists recommended coordination between employers, educational institutions and regional leaders to shore up talent pipelines.