Los Angeles County has been put through the ringer over the past year, according to Supervisor Janice Hahn, but is still resilient — and working to combat the myriad challenges facing the region on both the local and federal level.
Hahn, a member of the Board of Supervisors who represents more than 2 million residents in the Fourth District — which ranges from Torrance to Long Beach and up through Southeastern LA County — delivered her annual State of the County address to a crowd of regional elected officials, government and business leaders, and others at Crafted near the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, on Thursday, April 30.
The supervisor began her address by tackling one of the most pressing issues Los Angeles County has been dealing with over the past couple of years: federal immigration agents, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, carrying out hundreds of raids on the streets, at businesses and at residents’ homes.
“I never thought that we would be under assault by our own federal government, but in 2025, ICE arrested over 14,000 people in LA County, the majority of whom had no criminal record,” Hahn said. “They racially profiled our residents, targeted workers and grabbed innocent people off the streets.”
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Marathon Petroleum’s Victor Ibarra introduces Janice Hahn during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
Show Caption
1 of 7
Janice Hahn speaks during the 2026 State of the County in San Pedro on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG)
ICE’s presence in the region, Hahn said, has had a marked impact on not just the daily lives of residents — but also on the local economy and businesses. A county-commissioned study earlier this year found that 52% of surveyed businesses reported a decline in sales, 70% experienced staffing shortages, and 33% said they had employees who were too afraid to come into work as a result of federal immigration raids.
“But LA County is pushing back. We’re providing emergency support for small businesses, we held massive food distribution events across the county to make sure that families in need can put food on the table,” Hahn said, “and we passed a historic ordinance to ban any law enforcement, including ICE, from wearing masks or concealing their identities.”
ICE arrests in the Harbor Area, which has been a hot spot for federal immigration activity because agents were using Terminal Island as a staging area up until recently, have plummeted in recent months, Hahn said, as a result of the county’s action — and ongoing work by the Harbor Area Peace Patrol to document the agency’s actions and keep the community informed.
“These volunteers (from Harbor Area Peace Patrol) showed up every single day. They tracked ICE vehicles, documented raids (and) made sure the community knew what was happening,” Hahn said. “And when I authored that mask ban, it was (the Peace Patrol) who documented their secretive tactics. They had evidence — they provided me with information to make the case. They brought transparency to a system that depended on secrecy.”
ICE recently left Terminal Island — which Hahn, on Thursday, attributed to the Peace Patrol’s unrelenting efforts to document their operations there and in the region at large.
LA County, meanwhile, is dealing with another troubling issue: its budget.
Besides recently announcing that the county has reached a mammoth $4 billion settlement covering around 6,800 sexual abuse claims, some dating as far back as the 1950s — which will impact the county’s budget for years to come — Los Angeles County is also struggling with historic federal divestment after Congress passed President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The county is expected to lose around $2 billion worth of federal funding for its various programs and services every year as a result of that bill, Hahn said.
“It makes cuts to healthcare, to food assistance, even to programs that track disease outbreaks like measles,” Hahn said. “Close to a million LA County residents will lost their health insurance. Millions will lose their food benefits.”
But, Hahn added, just because the funding isn’t there, doesn’t mean people won’t still need the services.
“At the end of the day, LA County is the safety net,” Hahn said. “We are going to have to figure out how to provide for people even when the federal government chooses to spend our tax dollars to a war overseas instead of to our county.”
The county, Hahn said, has already taken extensive steps to mitigate the blow from the massive funding loss: All 39 county departments were recently directed to cut their budgets by 8.5%. The county also implemented a hiring freeze and “dipped into its rainy day fund” to balance the books for the 2026-27 fiscal year, the supervisor said.
Because of those actions, Hahn said, the proposed budget is “more stable than it could have been” — but concerns for the county’s fiscal future still loom.
“The good news is that we’re not expecting mass layoffs right now, but as the healthcare cuts take effect, this situation could get much worse,” Hahn said. “With a fraction of the federal funding we need, we will be forced to close county hospitals.”
But, she added, a recently proposed countywide half-cent sales tax dubbed Measure ER has been placed on the June 2 ballot. If approved, the measure would generate $1 billion to support healthcare programs impacting by funding cuts every year for five years, Hahn said.
“I’m for this, but listen, I know that a lot of people don’t like the idea of a new sales tax. I’ve heard from both sides: City leaders who are against the tax (and) healthcare professional who are warning of a coming collapse that is going to cost people their lives,” Hahn said. “I think we at least have to give our voters an option to avoid the immense disruptions that will come if our health system is essentially defunded.”
Hahn reviewed the county’s recent actions to address untreated mental illness and homelessness across the region, including the establishment of a the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing and the county’s 24/7 mental health crisis response teams.
“Response is just the first step, right?” the supervisor said. “We need more places where a person with serious mental illness can jump and take the treatment in need.”
To that end, Hahn also hailed the county’s work to develop a “mental health village” at the site of a former state hospital in Norwalk. The county, Hahn said, recently secured a $65 million Proposition 1 grant to build the village, which will provide people with mental illnesses shelter, interim housing, supportive housing and more.
“If we’re serious about addressing mental illness,” Hahn said, “we can’t keep cycling people in and out of emergency rooms and jails.”
Hahn also hailed the recent creation of Veterans Center in San Pedro, at a former Best Western Hotel on First and Gaffey streets, which provides shelter, job training and other support to around 100 homeless veterans.
“I have been touched by the stories of the men who have lived there,” Hahn said. “People who served our country, have suffered both the seen and invisible scars of war, but have found the support they need there to get better.”
That’s why, the supervisor said Thursday, she has set a goal to eliminate veteran homelessness in her district by 2028 — which will mark the close of her time on the Board of Supervisors.
“I am working with our LA County Department of Military and Veteran Affairs,” she said, “to break down the barriers that have made it too hard for veterans to get the help they need.”
Aside from those key issues, Hahn said, the county is also preparing for a more positive event: The 2028 Summer Olympics. Namely, Hahn spoke about her plan to establish a water taxi service between San Pedro and Long Beach during the Games — which she said she hopes will eventually become a permanent fixture of public transport.
“We shouldn’t stop at the Olympics. I want to make the water taxi permanent,” Hahn said. “It would be good for our residents (and businesses). The water taxi would be an attraction: imagine having a constant stream of visitors coming over from Long Beach and disembarking just blocks from here to visit restaurants and shops in downtown San Pedro and the soon-to-open West Harbor development.”
Hahn closed her State of the County by looking ahead to some major changes coming to how the government operates.
In 2028, for the first time, LA County residents will get to elect a county CEO — and, in a few years, four new members of the Board of Supervisors as it expands from five to nine, thanks to the voter-approved Measure G, which also establishes a the county’s first independent ethics commission. All of that, Hahn said, will help ensure that county leaders deliver the best results to residents that they can.
“Two years ago, I ended my speech by saying, the State of the County is strong and resilient,” Hahn said. “This time, I would have to say that Los Angeles County is bruised and battered — but I still believe we’re resilient.”