“Let’s be mindful of the folks being targeted who are in the grocery stores that make sure that we can buy those produce from farms,” Fouladi said. “The folks who make sure that we are safe in hospitals and clinics are being targeted.”
The Bay Area Council’s report shows that 63% of the state’s agricultural workers are immigrants, and almost 26% are undocumented. In construction, 41% of workers are immigrants and 14% are undocumented.
“In the case of the Bay Area, a lot of that would be concentrated in industries that are really already struggling to find workers, especially in a post-COVID environment where we’re seeing sales tax revenue at an all-time low,” Raisz said. “We’re still struggling to recoup the pre-pandemic economic activity and foot traffic that we experienced before COVID hit.”
In addition to labor impacts, the study finds that the average undocumented immigrant pays $7,000 in state, local and federal taxes. Loss of tax revenue from mass deportations would cost local, state and federal budgets a combined $23 billion annually.
In addition to a variety of data sources, the report drew on direct interviews with dozens of employers, workers, trade groups and elected officials. They urged continued advocacy to oppose mass deportation efforts, increased state protections and eventually federal reforms that would create pathways to citizenship.
“There needs to be a lot of comprehensive immigration reform, and right now, we’re in a crisis moment, and how do we make sure that we don’t fall into a total state of disarray and destabilize all of our industries that keep the state, and frankly, the country, running,” Raisz said.
