LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles County officials will vote Tuesday on whether to declare a state of emergency that would give them power to provide assistance for residents they say have suffered financially from ongoing federal immigration raids.
The move would allow the LA County Board of Supervisors to provide rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind as a result of the crackdown on immigrants. A local state of emergency can also funnel state money for legal aid and other services.
Funds for rent would 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.
Landlords worried it could be another financial hit after an extended ban on evictions and rental increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since June, the Los Angeles region has been a battleground in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration strategy that spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guards and Marines for more than a month. 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.
Horvath and Janice Hahn said the raids have spread fear and destabilized households and businesses.
“They are targeting families, disrupting classrooms, silencing workers, and forcing people to choose between staying safe and staying housed,” Horvath said in a statement, referencing actions by the Trump administration. She added declaring an emergency “is how we fight back.”
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 came from Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who argued that the immigration raids did not meet the criteria of an emergency and that it could be unfair to landlords.
“I’m sure we’re going to be challenged legally,” Barger said. The county’s eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in multiple lawsuits.
Landlords are “still reeling” from the COVID-era freezes that cost them “billions of dollars in uncollected rent and prohibited annual rent increase,” said Daniel Yukelson, CEO of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles.
He said housing providers are sympathetic to tenants and their family members affected by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities. But, he said, the association isn’t aware of anyone unable to pay rent due to immigration enforcement.
“If local jurisdictions once again allow rent payments to be deferred due to ICE enforcement activities, this will lead to the further deterioration and loss of affordable housing in our community,” Yukelson said.
Los Angeles County officials to vote on emergency declaration over immigration raids
https://arab.news/6smhd
Los Angeles County officials to vote on emergency declaration over immigration raids
- Move would allow the LA County Board of Supervisors to provide rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind
- Since June, the Los Angeles region has been a battleground in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration strategy
Poland to seek help from two other countries in Epstein investigation
- The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in its statement that it had initiated an investigation into human trafficking
- Prosecutors suspect the trafficking consisted of recruiting women and girls for work abroad
WARSAW: Poland will ask two other European countries for information and evidence needed for its investigation into human trafficking related to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
In a statement, they said documents from the Epstein files indicated a reasonable suspicion that human trafficking had taken place in Poland. They did not name the European countries they would contact but a source familiar with the matter told Reuters the prosecutors would ask France and Sweden for help.
The US Justice Department’s release of millions of internal documents related to Epstein has revealed the late financier and sex offender’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business — both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges.
In February, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Poland would launch an investigation into possible links between Epstein and Russian intelligence, as well as any offenses affecting Polish citizens.
The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in its statement that it had initiated an investigation into human trafficking committed in the period from 2009 to August 2019 on the territory of Poland and other countries.
Prosecutors suspect the trafficking consisted of recruiting women and girls for work abroad under false pretenses and of then transporting them outside Poland and handing them over to other people for sexual exploitation, the statement said.
Files reviewed by Reuters show that a man called Daniel Siad had informed Epstein about his travels through Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, among other countries, scouting for models.
He also mentioned his cooperation with Jean-Luc Brunel, a key suspect and longtime Epstein associate, who died in a French prison in 2022.
According to Polish media reports, Siad was born in Algeria and moved to Sweden at the age of 23.
Reuters reached out to him on two phone numbers and an email address found in the files, but has not yet received answers to questions sent.
In February, Swedish newspaper Expressen quoted Siad as saying he had never committed a crime and was open to talking to investigators in any interested country.
