The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Wednesday calling for the creation of a program to provide financial assistance to businesses impacted by the Trump administration\u2019s ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.<\/p>\n
In a unanimous vote, the council directed the Community Investment for Families Department, Economic Workforce and Development Department, and top city advisors to report in 30 days with the proposed program. Staff would also be required to report in 60 days on the economic impacts of possible reduced consumer activity due to immigration enforcement, as well as a plan to bolster commercial corridors.<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez introduced the motion on Jan. 20, and it was seconded by Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just a comment to say, `Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy.\u2019 The reality is that they are,\u201d Rodriguez said during Wednesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n
The councilwoman said the raids and what she described as \u201cfar-reaching policies by the federal government\u201d have impacted local businesses in the city, leaving many in financial distress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen fear enters our community, it doesn\u2019t just impact families, it impacts entire local communities,\u201d Jurado said.<\/p>\n
The councilwoman, who represents downtown and East L.A. neighborhoods, highlighted an effort she launched to provide $3,000 in grants under a micro-enterprise program to business owners with fewer than five employees.<\/p>\n
These grants can be used to cover rent, payroll, inventory and insurance. Jurado said the amount may be small, but it\u2019s all she can provide for the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s up to us to present all available options from all available sources to protect the businesses that keep our communities growing, connected and alive,\u201d Jurado added.<\/p>\n
The LA County Department of Economic Opportunity previously announced that federal immigration raids resulted in $3.7 million in reported business losses during the first three months of the fiscal year (July-September 2025). Additionally, 82% of businesses surveyed reported negative impacts from immigration enforcement, with 44% losing over half of their anticipated revenue, as well as a decrease in customer traffic and sales.<\/p>\n
Immigrants contributed an estimated $253.9 billion in total economic input, equivalent to 17% of the county\u2019s gross domestic product, according to DEO\u2019s report, which was published in February. Immigrant workers support more than 1.06 million jobs and generate $80.4 billion in labor income across several industries, officials said.<\/p>\n
The county has approved more than $5 million in grant funding through its Small Business Resiliency Fund, a program launched by the Board of Supervisors in September 2025 to provide direct financial assistance to small businesses in need. Dollars for the program come from the county\u2019s Care First Community Invest program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles City Council approved a motion Wednesday calling for the creation of a program to provide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4249,2323,14,50173,48,52,51,46104,47,50,49,8996,4190],"class_list":["post-236651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-businesses","tag-council","tag-immigration","tag-impacted","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-looks","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-raids","tag-support"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}