Shrinking US cities like St. Louis hope immigrants can help offset population loss. But restrictive policies add uncertainty — even as newcomers press on, building businesses and futures in places that say they need them.
00:00St. Louis is shrinking, and quickly, at one of the fastest rates among cities in America.
00:06As families move to the suburbs and deaths outpaced births, fears have grown of a looming demographic winter,
00:12a future where too few people remain to sustain the local economy.
00:16Like many other cities across the United States, what St. Louis needs to remain economically viable long-term is people.
00:23And many here had hoped that welcoming immigrants and refugees would help to at least partly offset years of population decline.
00:30But more restrictive immigration policies under the Trump administration have made pursuing that strategy more difficult.
00:37Few understand that better than Blake Hamilton, CEO of the International Institute of St. Louis, a non-profit that supports immigrants and refugees.
00:45We hear stories from immigrants who are afraid to go to work, afraid to take their kids to school,
00:52afraid to seek health care for chronic conditions because of this fear that they are going to be somehow plucked up and issued deportation orders.
01:02So that creates a strain on growth, period.
01:06A recent travel ban on Afghans has been a source of distress for the growing community here,
01:11especially those with remaining loved ones back home.
01:13After the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021, Afghan arrivals hit historic highs in St. Louis.
01:20It makes me feel sad for my cousins, not just for my cousins, for all Afghan, especially for Afghan women.
01:27And lots of families, they wait to get their close member families in here.
01:35But by new rules or by whatever the government decided, it makes hard.
01:41Still, they consider themselves lucky, with many hoping to lay down roots and establish businesses.
01:47Today, some are pitching for a $20,000 grant sponsored by the International Institute.
01:52Nagina Shinwari wants to launch a clothing line for South Asian women.
01:56This is my idea, my own idea.
01:58Sayyid Mohamed Anwar is planning to import gemstones from Afghanistan.
02:03And start your business, maybe it's the right time.
02:07They would be following in the footsteps of fellow Afghan entrepreneurs who've long established themselves in St. Louis.
02:13One of the judges of the contest is Fahim Mohamed.
02:16He's owned a restaurant here since 2005.
02:19But he says that tougher immigration policies are likely to hit him as a business owner.
02:23To be honest, I felt like we still have not recovered from the psychological shockwave that was associated with the COVID, the pandemic, the inflation, the labor.
02:38With the policies of the current administration, you know, it's really hard to have, you know, like there is definitely a shortage of, you know, like workers for the not only the restaurant, but for every other sector of the economy.
02:51And, you know, when you have restricted immigration, you notice, you know, like this president's policy, someday, you know, he will enforce it and the day after he will take it out.
03:01Despite the uncertainty, Fahim Mohamed has decided on optimism.
03:05So all I'm doing is just waiting. It's just three and a half more years, a little bit less than three and a half.
03:11And we'll endure it. America's resilient.
03:14Back to the contest. The $20,000 grant has gone to Nagina Shinwari and her South Asian apparel business idea.
03:22A hopeful step forward for one more immigrant in a city that says it needs people like her so it too can move forward.
