Here’s one clear way Trump’s deportation agenda could worsen California’s housing crisis

As day laborers go into hiding, labor experts say the workforce withdrawal could exacerbate the labor shortage and worsen the housing crisis.

By Jessica Flores, Reporter Feb 12, 2025
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/day-laborers-trump-deportation-20146555.php

Mercedes de la Torre, left, and Annia Lopez of Street Level Heath Project walk through the Fruitvale neighborhood in Oakland on Feb. 5 to distribute snacks, water and informational red cards to day laborers if approached by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Shirley Pablo and Annia Lopez walked down East 12th Street in Oakland on a cold Wednesday morning, each pulling a foldable wagon filled with oranges, water bottles, granola bars, disposable face masks and “red cards” listing a person’s constitutional rights.

The outreach workers approached four men chatting on the sidewalk near the intersection. They wore hoodies, beanies and paint-splattered work boots.

“Hola, cómo están compañeros? (Hi, how are you doing, friends?)” Pablo asked the workers, who responded in unison saying “good.”

“Perhaps you’ve heard about the raids in California. We’re here to remind you of your rights,” Pablo continued in Spanish while distributing the items in her wagon. The men listened intently.

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests thousands of undocumented immigrants in major cities — including people without criminal records — immigrant-rights advocates in the region say day laborers are among the most vulnerable because they are among the most visible.

Day laborers — a majority of whom are undocumented and Latino — make themselves available for construction and other manual labor gigs by waiting in public spaces like street corners, gas stations and in the parking lots of home improvement stores. But since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, immigrant-rights activists say day laborers around the country are thinking twice about looking for work or returning to job sites because of a mass deportation agenda that is picking up steam.

“People are scared,” said Gabriela Galicia, executive director of Street Level Health Project, which provides services to recently arrived immigrants in Alameda County.
The workforce withdrawal could exacerbate a national labor shortage and worsen a dire housing shortage, say labor experts.

“The demand for construction workers is incredibly high, and day laborers are part of that workforce,” said Nik Theodore, an urban planning and policy professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “If there is a significant decrease in the number of day laborers, labor shortages will worsen, projects will be further delayed and the cost of building will rise.”

The Niskanen Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports immigration, projects that nearly 1 million people will self-deport during the first two years of Trump’s presidency, costing some $130 billion in lost gross domestic product in 2025 alone.

The most comprehensive study of day laborers in the U.S. is about two decades old. In 2006, researchers at UCLA, the University of Illinois-Chicago and the New School University in New York City determined that roughly 117,600 people qualified as day laborers in the country on any given day.

Working off the same survey data, the Public Policy Institute of California estimated that more than 40,000 of those workers were in California.

Mercedes de la Torre, center, and Annia Lopez, left, outreach workers with the Street Level Health Project, speak with day laborers in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood on Feb. 5. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Day laborers work demanding and hazardous jobs, said Theodore, an author of the 2006 study. They’re also vulnerable to chronic stress, wage theft and public health consequences just from waiting on heavily trafficked streets.

“It’s very insecure work. Most days laborers don’t know if they’re going to work that day, so it’s a struggle to make ends meet,” Theodore said.

Despite the risks, day laborers fill a labor shortage that worsened after the destructive fires in Los Angeles last month, Theodore said.

According to a 2024 labor market report by the Home Builders Institute, immigrant workers made up a historically high 25% of construction workers and 31% of construction trade workers last year. In California, immigrants account for nearly 40% of the state’s construction workforce, the report said.

Day laborers also serve as “second responders” following natural and climate-driven disasters — removing debris and rebuilding homes — according to a 2022 survey by Theodore and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a Los Angeles-based advocacy organization.
Following the deadly Los Angeles fires, day laborers cleared the streets of scorched neighborhoods and will likely be called on to rebuild homes and businesses.
While day laborers are hired on a temporary basis, often without formal employment contracts, they do have state and federal protections, such as the right to minimum wage, overtime pay and to raise workplace concerns or report injuries without retaliation.

However, Theodore said, “In the current political climate, there is a risk that they could be subjected to immigration-based retaliation if they try to exercise these rights.”

They’re also vulnerable to racial profiling by immigration authorities, said Melissa Shepard, director of legal services at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center in Los Angeles.

“That is something that this administration has really done, is really focus on targeting really vulnerable individuals,” Shepard said. “It’s really disheartening to see because immigrants are such a vital and inseparable part of our families and our communities and our workplaces.”
Last month, ICE officers in Bakersfield arrested at least 78 people in areas where farmworkers and day laborers gather, including members of the United Farm Workers, a California-based union that represents about 5,500 farmworkers, the union said.

Immigrant-rights activists are telling day laborers that, if approached by immigration authorities, they do not have to answer questions, agree to any searches or sign anything without speaking to a lawyer, and should not give ICE permission to enter their homes unless they have a warrant signed by a judge or magistrate — all of which are constitutional rights.
Street Level Health Project is mostly focusing on outreach: handing out “red cards,” answering questions, recommending emergency plans, connecting people to mental health and legal services, and joining forces with other groups to revive Alameda County’s Rapid Response Network hotline that allows people to report ICE activity or access legal assistance.

“It’s not to create panic or fear, but (to) just be prepared,” Galicia said. “We’re ready to defend and protect our families no matter what.”

Annia Lopez shares informational red cards summarizing constitutional protections afforded people in the U.S., including undocumented immigrants, on Feb. 5. Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

Day laborers, domestic workers and community members sat side-by-side inside of the Street Level Health Project’s office in Fruitvale on a Tuesday afternoon, waiting their turn to receive a bag of groceries at the group’s weekly food distribution.

Prior to Trump’s return, the organization typically left its door open and windows uncovered. Now the windows are curtained and the door remains locked for safety reasons, Galicia said.

Adriana Martinez, a 45-year-old domestic worker, was among the people there. She said in Spanish that she has seen people sharing misleading information on social media to deliberately cause fear.

“It’s not right and it’s not funny,” said Martinez, who is part of the group’s Oakland Workers Collective, which provides vocational training, wage advocacy, civic engagement activities and job referrals. “We don’t support that because we know our rights.”

But some of the day laborers Pablo and Shirley met were more worried.
“I’m scared,” a 24-year-old man from Guatemala who stood alone on a corner and did not share his name for safety reasons, said in Spanish.

He said he had not seen a red card before Pablo handed him one, and asked who he should call if he were detained. Pablo encouraged him to memorize the phone number of a friend or loved one.

He said he arrived alone in Oakland three years ago in search of better opportunities.
“In Guatemala there’s no work,” he said. “We want to stay here to work.”

Reach Jessica Flores: Jessica.Flores@sfchronicle.com; X: @jesssmflores
Feb 12, 2025

Jessica Flores
REPORTER
Jessica Flores is a reporter on the breaking news and engagement team. Before joining the Chronicle in 2021, she worked for USA Today, LAist and Curbed LA. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is a graduate of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles.