SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's labor shortage, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, is the main driver of why federal agents are encountering more unauthorized immigrants attempting to illegally cross the border from Mexico to California, according to Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the University of California, Davis School of Law.
Johnson, an immigration expert, attributes the influx of immigrants attempting to cross the border to the labor shortage in the U.S., particularly in the low-skill job market.
"There are jobs to be had and I don't know if in my lifetime I've seen this many signs in store shop windows about hiring opportunities and employers claiming that they can't get enough workers," he said. "You got to think that's going to have an impact on people making the decision whether to cross or not."
From September 2020 to September 2021, The U.S. Border Patrol reported encountering 202,000 undocumented immigrants attempting to cross the border from Mexico to California, according to federal statistics.
California's current unemployment rate sits at 7.5%, according to estimates from the Employment Development Department. "It doesn't surprise me given the labor shortage in the low-skilled labor market why more people might be coming," Johnson said.
During those 12 months, the majority of immigrants (82%) attempting to cross the border were from Mexico, according figures from the U.S. Border Patrol.
Around 4% were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. In Central America, Johnson said many are fleeing violence and poverty.
In the wake of an uptick of migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. in the spring of this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom set aside $105 million in the state budget to support migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border to provide them shelter, food and emergency medical care.
Previously, the state announced it would spend $28 million to aid asylum-seekers entering the country through California to await their immigration court dates. Those funds were used to temporarily house migrants for quarantine purposes, as well as supporting community-based organizations that delivered resources for them.
California is home to approximately 2 million undocumented immigrants. About 1 in 10 California workers are undocumented, the Public Policy Institute of California estimates. The majority are from Mexico.
In California, undocumented immigrants are overrepresented in the state's agricultural, service and restaurant sectors. Meanwhile, Johnson said it's not surprising to see an uptick in immigrants trying to cross the border around this time of year due to "picking season" in agricultural fields.
Since President Joe Biden took office, he and Vice President Kamala Harris have taken heat from top Republicans for what GOP lawmakers call an "AWOL" response to the humanitarian crisis at the border.
As part of his plan to reverse some of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, Biden suspended Trump's "Remain in Mexico" policy, which barred migrants from awaiting their asylum court dates in the U.S. to stem the spread of COVID-19. However, The Supreme Court ordered the Biden administration in August to reinstate the policy by mid-November.
Biden being depicted as "soft" on immigration could be another reason why some people are attempting to cross, but Johnson is skeptical.
"There may be some people who are encouraged by the fact that Biden isn't as draconian on immigration as President Trump. I don't know how many that is. And I don't know if it's the kind of thing that's gonna lead somebody to risk their life trying to cross the desert in 100-degree conditions," he said.
In 2008, attempted border crossings from Mexico to California also increased amid The Great Recession when the state's unemployment rate reached 9.3%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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(The Sacramento Bee's Phillip Reese contributed to this story.)
