photo credit: Graton Day Labor Center 

 Day labor centers are reporting an uptick in people looking for work, despite immigration enforcement actions targeting these centers.

Karym Sanchez is the lead organizer at the Graton Day Labor Center, a worker‑run space where day laborers come to find work.

Sanchez said that even after federal agents raided day laborer centers in Southern California last summer, he knew immigrants would continue to show up.

“One might think, ‘Wow, look at these guys. They’re so courageous to come out and still wait for work when all this is happening.’ But the reality is that it’s a risk they have to take," Sanchez said. "There is no alternative for them."

He said this is about survival. People need to work, and right now jobs are scarce.

Sonoma County’s job market still hasn’t recovered from the pandemic, and agriculture, the sector many day laborers rely on, is contracting.

County data shows that almost a third of Sonoma County’s agricultural workforce is undocumented.

“When there are fewer jobs, that means more day laborers are showing up to corners or here at the center,” Sanchez said.

Inside the center, he says the surge is unmistakable. The center is seeing about 10 new members every month, which is a lot for the small building.

“As a day labor center, we are closer to an unemployment hall than a union hall,” Sanchez said.

When new workers arrive, Sanchez asks them how they got there. The answers are consistent: “Work slowed down, got laid off, there’s no more work there,” he said. 

Instead of discouraging undocumented day laborers from gathering on street corners, the Graton Day Labor Center is launching an “Adopt a Corner” campaign to keep them safe. The center is training community members to stand on the streets, bear witness and alert others if federal immigration agents appear.

“We have roughly 100 volunteers across the county," Sanchez said. "We definitely need more."