As Trump’s immigration raids swept CA, private-sector jobs numbers dropped sharply
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ICE RAIDS COINCIDE WITH FEWER JOBS
Trump’s immigration enforcement actions coincided with a major drop in private-sector work in California earlier this year, according to a new analysis of census data by the University of California, Merced, Community and Labor Center.
Between May and July, 4.9% fewer Californians reported work in the private sector, the August report concluded. Comparatively, the number of private-sector workers in the U.S. increased by 0.6% during the same period.
“The size of the decline was really not matched by anything else besides the pandemic,” said Edward Flores, a sociology professor at UC Merced and the study’s main author.
There was a greater drop in the number of U.S. citizen workers, 414,832, compared to non-citizen workers, 327,659, during that window. That decrease of non-citizen workers in California represented a much larger share of that workforce, 12.3%, compared to the 3.3% decrease in American private sector workers.
Those decreases diverge sharply by race and ethnicity. Among Latino workers, there was an 8% decrease in California. There was a 3.5% decrease in jobs reported by white Californians between May and July.
The survey of roughly 40,000 households in the country did not include questions to explain what caused the drop in jobs numbers, but the timing of immigration enforcement in California overlapped with this decrease in employment numbers, Flores said.
“There’s no other event that we can point to in which California was a focal point,” Flores said. Trump’s tariffs, which could have impacted employment numbers, didn’t single out California, Flores said. Instead, there was a slight uptick in unemployment across the U.S.
The fewer number of people reporting work coincided with the federal government’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions, many of which centered on Southern California. In June, President Donald Trump’s administration deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, against state leaders’ wishes, in response to protests against the immigration raids.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson blamed California’s Democratic leadership for creating a hostile environment for businesses. Jackson said the Department of Labor recently established the Office of Immigration Policy, which intends to streamline the visa process for temporary workers.
GOP RENEWS ATTACKS ON GRAY
…via David Lightman
Republicans are out with a new ad blasting away at Rep. Adam Gray, branding him as an ally of Democrats who the GOP says “want to turn America into a socialist, crime-filled dystopia “
Democrats countered in a comment to The Bee that “While Adam Gray has been delivering real solutions for the Valley, House Republicans are desperate to distract from their failed leadership and refusal to prioritize the needs of their constituents.”
Gray, a Merced Democrat, is regarded as one of the nation’s most vulnerable Democrats. He defeated incumbent Republican John Duarte by 187 votes last year, and Republicans have been relentless in criticizing the Democrat.
This week, the National Republican Congressional Committee launched digital ads targeting what it considers the 25 most endangered Democrats, including Gray.
It says the party wants to “raise taxes on working families” and “impeach President Trump.”
Republicans claim that by voting against the Big Beautiful Bill last month, which extended most of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, Democrats were endorsing higher taxes. If the expiring taxes had not been extended, estimates are that a family of four would pay about $1,700 more next year.
While a handful of Democrats sought to impeach Trump this year, most voted against the proposal, saying it distracted Congress from pursuing pressing legislation. Gray, along with 127 other Democrats, voted to table, or kill, the impeachment effort. So did House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
The ad goes on to make other charges, citing quotes from Democratic lawmakers to back up the claims. Most of those claims are not reflected in recent votes by most House and Senate Democrats.
Anna Elsasser, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told The Bee that the ad is “big talk by the party who’s betrayed the middle class so they can suck up to their billionaire donors. The Republican agenda is marked by rising costs, lost manufacturing jobs, a Big, Ugly Law that everyone hates, and a string of broken promises.”
The cost of living has risen 2.7% over the past 12 months, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, considered a modest increase by historical standards.
AI GIRLBOSS
…via Kate Wolffe
Artificial Intelligence utility groups are urging lawmakers to help get more people on the artificial intelligence train — specifically women.
During an AI 101 briefing hosted by the Legislative Women’s Caucus, Susan Gonzales, the founder of AIandYou, and Nichole Sterling, CEO of My Town AI, presented data to mostly legislative staff showing women are slower at adopting AI than men, although they are gaining ground. A 2024 Deloitte Insights survey found 8% of women surveyed had used generative AI for projects or tasks, compared to 14% of men.
“There’s around 10 million women in the state that are likely to be impacted in some way or another with their job, particularly if it’s a repetitive skills job,” said Gonzales, a Meta alum and former member of the National AI Advisory Council.
Here are five other takeaways from their presentation, given to a full room:
- Women may be slower to adopt AI due to perceived ethics issues, perceived complexity and worries about how many resources it uses, among other concerns.
- A recent study published in the Harvard Business Review showed engineers judged their colleagues as less competent if they used AI to complete a task, and women were judged especially harshly.
- The race is on to get artificial general intelligence (AGI) functioning in blue-collar jobs: “That’s when a robot is providing senior care in a nursing home. That’s the finish line. That’s the goal right now,” said Gonzales.
- Consumer advocates want lawmakers to be the voice of the people now, because legislation takes time, and can be impacted by litigation. Gonzales suggested: “Slow down and when people come through your office, think of what is most helpful for your constituents. Ask those questions.”
- Gonzales and Sterling advocated for more guardrails on harmful uses of AI — like deepfakes of people being used on porn sites. “Criminalize it,” Sterling said. “Focus on [good AI use] cases and just come down hard on the ones that don’t make sense for the world.”
ON THE PUBLIC’S DIME
In response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s flashy redistricting announcement Thursday, a Republican state assemblymember is calling foul.
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, R-Trabuco Canyon, filed a complaint with the California Fair Political Practices Commission Thursday, alleging the governor is using public dollars to campaign for a ballot initiative to redraw California’s congressional district maps to counteract a similar gerrymandering effort led by Texas Republicans.
“Californians work hard for every dollar they earn, and they expect their tax dollars to fund essential services, not political campaigns,” Sanchez said in a statement. “Governor Newsom’s decision to use public funds to stage a political rally is an abuse of power and a betrayal of the public trust.”
Sanchez’s complaint alleges that Newsom used public dollars and state employees’ time to hold a rally and stream it on publicly run social media accounts, advocating for a ballot initiative.
In response, Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards said Thursday’s announcement was part of a legislative package, which is “very much in line with the governor’s official duties.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s everything you know about the authoritarian tendencies of the president of the United States.”
— Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to a question about the presence of U.S. Border Patrol agents arresting people outside the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Los Angeles where he announced his redistricting campaign.
Best of The Bee:
Gavin Newsom launches official redistricting campaign: ‘Wake up, America’, via Lia Russell
Kevin Kiley rips Newsom’s redistricting plan, says governor’s out for personal gain, via David Lightman
Trial on National Guard deployment in LA ends. What lawyers for Newsom, Trump said, via Stephen Hobbs
