LA Declares Emergency Over ICE Raids

Los Angeles County officials voted Tuesday to declare a state of emergency that gives them power to provide assistance for residents they say have suffered financially from ongoing federal immigration raids, the AP reports. The move allows the LA County Board of Supervisors to provide rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind as a result of the crackdown on immigrants. The immigration raids that ramped up over the summer have spread fear in immigrant communities, prompting many to limit their outings. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status to be in the US from Home Depots, car washes, bus stops, and farms. Some US citizens have also been detained. The local state of emergency can also funnel state money for legal aid and other services.

Funds for rent will be available to people who apply via an online portal that would be launched within two months, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath's office said. The motion could also be a first step toward an eviction moratorium, but that would require a separate action by the supervisors. The declaration was passed by a 4-1 vote, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger opposing. Last week the five-member board voted 4-1 to put the declaration up for a vote at its regular Tuesday meeting. The sole "no" vote also came from Barger, who argued that the immigration raids did not meet the criteria of an emergency and that it could be unfair to landlords, who she warned might sue, as they did during LA's COVID-era eviction moratorium.

In late August, there were more than 5,000 arrests in Los Angeles as part of the crackdown. About a third of the county's 10 million residents are foreign-born. Several cities in the region canceled their Fourth of July celebrations and summer movie nights as families stayed home due to safety concerns. "We have residents afraid to leave their homes, we have constituents contacting my office because their family members never came home and they don't know if they've been taken by ICE or where they've been taken," Hahn said. "We have entire families who are destitute because their fathers or mothers have been taken from their work places and they have no way to pay their rent or put food on their table."