Despite what President Trump says, immigrants — authorized and unauthorized — energize and sustain California’s economy with their labor. They are the muscle that drives some of our most important industries. They are an integral part of our prosperity. Protecting California’s economy from Trump’s “deportation force” is a key reason California lawmakers should adopt SB 54 and AB 450.

SB 54, the California Values Act, would work as a protective shield against the deportation regime that Trump would like to deploy across the nation. His vision takes a dark view on our immigrant neighbors and their role in this country. But the facts tell a different story.

Immigrants, like most California workers, just want to put food on the family table, watch their children grow and become successful on their own merits. They help provide just about everything we touch in our daily lives, whether it’s the homes we live in or the fruits and vegetables we put on our own tables.

If California were its own country, it would be the sixth-largest economy in the world with an annual gross domestic product of $2.4 trillion. According to state Controller Betty Yee, undocumented immigrants’ labor is worth more than $180 billion a year.


As a workforce, immigrants are key to important industries such as agriculture, construction and hospitality — just to name a few. Deporting immigrants on false assumptions about their impact on the state is not only wrong, we can’t afford it.

The California Values Act, authored by state Senate leader Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, would prohibit state and local law enforcement agencies from using their limited resources to investigate, detain, report or arrest people for the purpose of immigration enforcement.

It also ensures that California’s schools, health facilities and courthouses remain safe and accessible to all residents, regardless of immigration status.

The Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB 450) is a companion bill by Assembly member David Chiu, D-San Francisco, sponsored by my organization, the Service Employees International Union, that would make California the first state to explicitly affirm the rights of immigrant workers at their job site — protecting them from raids conducted illegally.


In years past, ICE agents routinely violated workers’ basic constitutional rights, conducting mass work-site sweeps based on racial profiling — rather than meeting the legally required test of suspicion that particular individuals have violated the law. U.S. citizens and green card holders have been detained for no reason but the color of their skin and place of work. With Trump planning for 10,000 new ICE agents to effectuate his mass deportation plans, we are likely to see an increase in illegally conducted raids.

AB 450 would make California the first state to reaffirm the constitutional rights and other legal protections of workers during illegal immigration raids in the workplace. The bill would protect workers from wrongful detainment in their workplace by requiring employers to ask for a judicial warrant before granting ICE access to a work site. It would also prevent employers from sharing confidential employee information, such as a Social Security number, without a subpoena.

The bill offers assurance for employers who currently face uncertainty about their responsibilities when ICE agents appear for enforcement actions. AB 450 offers another benefit for law-abiding employers, who are too often undercut by the same unscrupulous employers who exploit workers by threatening immigration enforcement in order to keep wages low or keep workers silent about labor violations.

Trump’s mass deportation proposal is inhumane and unjust. It would likely exacerbate another matter close to my heart: The deportation of noncitizen veterans — brothers and sisters in arms who served this country honorably but have been unjustly deported. The United States should fulfill its commitment to honor and care for these veterans, just as these veterans fulfilled their commitment to serve our country honorably to keep us safe. As an Army veteran and a Latino, I believe those veterans and all immigrants deserve better.


They deserve a fair shot at the American Dream through sensible, comprehensive immigration reform. Until then, SB 54 and AB 450 are together a good stopgap to keep families and communities whole, and California’s economy booming.

Garcias is president of Service Employees International Union Local 221 and a U.S. Army veteran.