California's Economy Could Lose Hundreds Of Billions Due To Trump's Immigration Crackdown, Research Shows

Key sectors of California's $4 trillion economy could be largely impacted by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, according to a new report.

Concretely, CNBC detailed that research from the Bay Area Economic Institute and the University of California, Merced, warned billions could be lost by continued deportations and threats, which have led many in the workforce to stop showing up.

About 20 percent of California's 10.6 million immigrants are undocumented, and sectors like agriculture, construction and hospitality could be disproportionately impacted, the outlet added. Overall, restrictions could reduce the state's GDP by as much as $278 billion.

Agriculture, a $49 billion industry, is particularly reliant on migrant workers: 63 percent of farmworkers are immigrants, and 24 percent are undocumented, the outlet added. Farm labor leaders have warned that without them, food production would be severely disrupted, with few options for automation and limited interest among U.S.-born workers for these physically demanding, low-wage agricultural jobs.

The construction industry is facing a similar scenario: over 60 percent of California's construction workforce is foreign-born, and one-quarter are undocumented. The hospitality sector has also felt the effects: CNBC described that high-profile ICE raids, as well as with protests and National Guard deployments, have driven down business in restaurants and hotels.

At the national level, more than 1.2 million immigrants are no longer part of the workforce, a recent study showed. The Associated Press reported on Monday that the figure comes from preliminary Census Bureau data analyzed by the Pew Research Center and includes both people legally and illegally in the country.

The outlet added that immigrants make up almost 20% of the workforce in the country and are overrepresented in industries like farming (45%) and construction (about 30%). Moreover, 24% of service workers are immigrants, according to Pew senior researcher Stephanie Kramer.

"It's unclear how much of the decline we've seen since January is due to voluntary departures to pursue other opportunities or avoid deportation, removals, underreporting or other technical issues," Kramer told the outlet. "However, we don't believe that the preliminary numbers indicating net-negative migration are so far off that the decline isn't real," she added.

The report comes after a report from the organization detailed in August that the migrant population in the United States shrunk for the first time in more than 50 years.

The Pew Research Center detailed that since January the number of immigrants in the country dropped by about 1.4 million in the first six months of the year, clocking in at 51.9 million. It is the first decline since the 1960s, the center added.