California tourism faces crisis as ICE arrests spark exodus of hotel staff

San Diego, California – Federal immigration enforcement operations are casting a long shadow over San Diego’s tourism industry just as the region prepares for one of its busiest holiday weekends. After federal agents detained a hotel worker in Mission Valley last week, panic has begun to ripple through the city’s vital service sector, where immigrant labor is both visible and essential.

The arrest, caught on video, showed plainclothes agents detaining Brenda Valencia, a housekeeper at the Handlery Hotel, as she arrived for her shift. For many in the industry, the incident was not just disturbing — it was a warning.

In a city like San Diego, where the economy leans heavily on tourism, hospitality, and food service, immigrants — many from Mexico and Central America — form the backbone of the workforce. They clean the rooms, prep the meals, wash the linens, and cross the border daily to do it. The sudden surge in immigration enforcement has led many workers to stay home, even if they hold green cards or are naturalized citizens. The risk, they say, isn’t just deportation — it’s being caught in the dragnet of uncertainty.

Labor leaders report widespread fear. Union members, many of whom make the cross-border commute from Tijuana to San Diego, now worry that they could be detained in transit or targeted during workplace raids. With the Fourth of July approaching, employers are bracing for possible staff shortages at a time when demand surges. What should be a season of celebration is instead shaping up to be one of disruption.

City officials are speaking out. Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera called the arrest of Valencia “a gut punch,” and emphasized the emotional and economic toll these actions have on communities. For many immigrant workers, the threat of enforcement does not exist in the abstract — it’s personal, immediate, and destabilizing.

Six Republican legislators from California, including two from San Diego County, have urged President Trump to reconsider the scope of these operations. In a letter to the White House, they asked that ICE prioritize dangerous offenders rather than conducting wide-ranging sweeps that upend entire workplaces. They also pushed for reforms that would offer long-term, law-abiding immigrants a path toward legal status.

Beyond legal arguments, there’s a simple truth long understood in border cities: many of the jobs being disrupted by these raids are ones that American citizens have largely opted out of. Immigrants, often for low wages, have kept restaurants open, hotels clean, and tourism humming. Without them, the economic engine stalls — and the human cost, measured in fear and separation, grows heavier by the day.