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.
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Los Angeles County officials to vote on emergency declaration over immigration raids
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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
French first lady Brigitte Macron visits an old friend in China: A giant panda called Yuan Meng
CHENGDU: French first lady Brigitte Macron caught up with an old friend — a giant panda born in France — at the tail end Friday of a visit to China with President Emmanuel Macron.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
At a panda reserve in southwest China that Yuan Meng now calls home, the first lady marveled at how big he has grown. She helped chose his name — which means “accomplishment of a dream” — when he was born in a French zoo in 2017.
“When they’re born, they’re like this,” she said, holding up two fingers a short distance apart. Meanwhile, the chunky male roamed in his enclosure, feasting on bamboo and ignoring bystanders who cried out his name, hoping to elicit a reaction.
“They have a very independent character,” she said. “They do only what they want.”
For decades, China has deployed what’s often called “panda diplomacy” to smooth and promote relations with other countries, gifting the animals to friendly nations and lending pandas to zoos overseas on commercial terms.
Emmanuel Macron’s state visit this week to China, his fourth as president, included meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials, discussing Russia’s war in Ukraine, trade ties and other issues.
The China Wildlife Conservation Association said during the visit that it signed a letter of intent to send two of the animals to the Beauval Zoo south of Paris in 2027 under what would be a new 10-year round of panda cooperation with France.
The French zoo sent two 17-year-old pandas — Huan Huan, a female, and her partner Yuan Zi — back to China last month after 13 years on loan in France.
Yuan Meng was their cub, conceived using artificial insemination.
Despite being made in France, he officially belonged to the Chinese government. Yuan Meng bid ‘’adieu’’ to France in 2023, sent off to a new life in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China where Brigitte Macron, considered to be his “godmother,” dropped in to see him.
Huan Huan and Yuan Zi also produced female twins in France in 2021.
Huanlili and Yuandudu are also expected to leave the Beauval Zoo for China in the future. The China Wildlife Conservation Association has previously said that it expects them to remain at the French zoo until January 2027.
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