ICE raids keep workers from jobs and businesses suffer

09-01-2025

A San Diego restaurant owner who serves many immigrant customers has seen business plummet. A cleaning woman avoids bringing tools to work to avoid drawing attention to herself. Her husband, a construction worker, has been unemployed for over a month. A California farm had to hire an attorney to protect workers with approved visas from deportation.

California—and other states across the country—rely heavily on the labor of immigrants. Many of those workers are living in fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, making it harder to do their jobs. Experts say this fear is restricting the rights of all workers and hurting the state’s broader economy.

Capital & Main spoke to workers and an employer in California about how President Donald Trump’s campaign against immigrants is affecting their ability to work. All of them requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the federal government ...

Satomi Rash-Zeigler, executive director of the University of California, San Diego, Labor Center, said that Trump’s policies have a chilling effect not only on immigrant labor but also on workers’ ability to advocate for their rights, regardless of their immigration status or country of origin ...

https://www.fastcompany.com/91395867/ice-raids-are-keeping-workers-from-their-jobs-and-businesses-are-suffering