Inside SF's foreign-born noncitizen workforce
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Foreign-born noncitizens comprise more than 16% of all workers in the San Francisco metro area — primarily in industries impacted by President Trump's immigration crackdown, census data shows.
Why it matters: The administration has acknowledged that its escalation of mass deportation raids has major implications for key pockets of the economy.
By the numbers: Foreign-born noncitizens — which include legal residents and people with work visas — represent the largest share of workers in the San Francisco area's construction, agriculture, and hotel, recreation and food services industries.
- They account for nearly 30% of all construction workers, and 28% of agriculture and mining workers.
- They also comprise almost 23% of workers in accommodations, food services and recreation.
Between the lines: Without undocumented workers, the GDP generated by California's construction and agriculture industries would shrink by 14% and 16%, respectively, according to a June report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.
- Workers in these industries also helped spearhead major wins in California's labor rights movement, from the Delano Grape Strike in the 1960s to fast food employees' more recent push for better pay and conditions.
The big picture: Foreign-born noncitizen workers make up 8.3% of the country's civilian workforce ages 16 and older, based on a 2019–2023 average of U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
- San Francisco surpasses the national share among every single industry delineated in the census data.
Trump acknowledged his crackdown was hitting farm and hospitality workers especially hard and vowed to make changes in June.
- Around 40% of crop farmworkers nationwide lack work authorization, per USDA estimates.
Yes, but: No change in policy has been announced.
- Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests of people without criminal charges have surged.
- In California, they made up an average of 60% of daily ICE arrests in June, up from about 38% in May and 22% in April, per the UC Berkeley School of Law's Deportation Data Project.
The latest: Farmers "are getting frustrated with the delays" on a big White House plan for undocumented workers, Politico reports, while some farm workers say they're being "hunted like animals" in immigration raids, per The Guardian.
- The Trump administration has taken some smaller steps, such as the Labor Department's new Office of Immigration Policy, meant to streamline some temporary worker visas.
What we're watching: Local immigration advocates tell Axios they want to see elected officials take a stronger stance against ICE activity in the Bay Area, especially with agents increasingly showing up at immigration court hearings.