The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declared a local, county emergency on Tuesday, Oct. 14, providing a way to help families harmed by federal immigration raids by granting the county more power to offer assistance to those who’ve lost breadwinners and to businesses harmed by a lack of workers and declining revenues.
The emergency declaration says the effects of ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids since June 6 have grown to the point where they cause undocumented residents to face “extreme peril” of being deported or losing their livelihood. It adds that the fallout of such raids places thousands of families, often including legal residents, in dire financial straits that could lead to food insecurity, isolation, mental distress and homelessness.
These conditions, as recognized by the emergency proclamation drawn up by the Office of County Counsel and approved by the Board of Supervisors, says the county’s resources are unable to handle this crisis alone. The emergency declaration allows extra help from state resources, plus mutual aid from cities and philanthropic groups to augment the county’s offering of rent relief, free legal services, food subsidies and more.
“This proclamation is about action and speed. L.A. County can move faster, coordinate better and use every tool available to support and stabilize our community,” said Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.
Funds for rent would be available to people who apply via an online portal that would be launched within two months, Horvath’s office told the Associated Press. The motion could also be a first step toward an eviction moratorium, but that would require a separate action by the supervisors. This emergency declaration does not provide an eviction moratorium.
Landlords and apartment owner associations spoke out against the emergency declaration, saying it would lead to an eviction moratorium eventually. They said that would cause another financial hit on landlords after an extended ban on evictions and rental increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is a step toward a countywide eviction moratorium,” said Janet Gagnon, who represents the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles.
A county emergency was adopted after the January wildfires devastated Altadena and the Palisades, to help gather more resources to fight homelessness, and for rent relief five years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. But enacting emergency powers regarding the immigration raids is unusual, and could be challenged by the Trump administration.
Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn recognized the differences with this emergency. But that didn’t stop her from voting in favor.
“This is the first time we are confronting a crisis engineered by our own federal government,” said Hahn.
The supervisors voted 4-1 on Oct. 7 to bring forward the draft proclamation. Fifth District Supervisor and board chair Kathryn Barger voted no at that time.
The vote to approve the emergency proclamation on Tuesday also was 4-1, again with Barger the lone no vote. Last week, Barger said she predicted this would attract legal challenges and that it would hurt landlords. Instead, she preferred to add more dollars into rent relief programs already provided by the county.
The immigration raids have left Los Angeles County in a battleground with the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration strategy that spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guards and Marines for more than a month.
Last week, ICE agents arrested three people from a park in San Pedro, noted Hahn. A county staffer from Parks and Recreation acted calmly at the scene but was threatened with arrest by ICE agents, Hahn said. While the county is the largest in the country with 10 million people, it is not bigger than the federal government, Hahn noted.
“It feels like we are David going against Goliath,” Hahn remarked. “That had a good ending. Maybe this will too.”
Trump Administration officials have defended the arrests, which they say are sweeping up “dangerous criminals” who are a threat to society.
However, the arrests of long-time immigrants who own vendor push carts, or work in construction, car washes, restaurants, factories and farms — and have been raising families in Southern California for decades — have spurred a backlash from ordinary citizens, immigrant rights groups, labor groups and some local Republican legislators.
Yolanda Acevedo, of Pasadena, holds a protest sign during a rally at the Pasadena Auto Wash on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 where her nephew Jesus was detained along with five other employees in an immigration raid. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)“I’ve watched them at Home Depot. They are there to find a job on a construction site and they work all day. These people are left with no choice,” said Philip Meyer, representing The Rent Brigade, which studies the rental industry and ICE arrests in LA County.
Anthony Munoz, who spoke to the board in Spanish through an interpreter, said: “It is not just about numbers. This is about families and children who can end up on the street.”
The proclamation cites several reasons for the need for a local state of emergency:
• Raids have “created a climate of fear,” that caused severe impacts to the regional economy “due to decreased attendance at workplaces, the temporary or permanent closure of businesses and restaurants, and increased strain on our local institutions such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship.”
• According to a study by the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and UC Merced, industries such as construction and agriculture would contract by 16% and 14% respectively statewide. This kind of workplace drop could result in a $275 billion loss to state Gross Domestic Product.
• A recent survey of L.A. County by The Rent Brigade found a 62% drop in average weekly earnings of immigrants.
There are about 3.5 million immigrants in LA County. Of those, about 950,000 are undocumented, according to a study by the USC Dornsife Equity Research Institute (ERI). More than 90% of undocumented immigrants are ages 18-64, considered prime working age and “an integral part of the local economy,” according to the study.
The state of emergency would remain in effect indefinitely and can only be removed by a vote of the Board of Supervisors.
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