Trump’s immigration policy threatens key sectors of California’s economy, long reliant on immigrant workers

From citrus farms in the Central Valley to construction sites where homes and businesses are being rebuilt after devastating wildfires in Pacific Palisades, California relies heavily on immigrant workers and entrepreneurs

From citrus farms in the Central Valley to construction sites where homes and businesses are being rebuilt after devastating wildfires in Pacific Palisades, California relies heavily on immigrant workers and entrepreneurs.

As the Trump administration continues to ramp up immigration enforcement, industries key to the state’s $4 trillion economy like agriculture, construction and hospitality could be among those hardest hit by the loss of California’s immigrant workforce, according to new research.

At stake are billions of dollars that fuel businesses large and small across the state, whose standalone economy is the fourth largest in the world after the United States, China and Germany.

Approximately one-fifth of the state’s 10.6 million immigrants are undocumented, according to a June study from the nonpartisan Bay Area Economic Institute and the University of California, Merced.

If mass deportations were to be combined with the end of temporary protected status for thousands of immigrants and stricter border policies, the joint study estimated that California would be at risk of losing as much as $278 billion from its gross domestic product.