Picture living in a bustling neighborhood where all your friends, basic needs, and even your job are reachable by a quick walk or bike or bus ride. (Something many people experience, possibly for the first and last time, on college campuses.) In such a city, parking areas may have been reclaimed as urban greenways, chance encounters with neighbors might be more common, and small local businesses would proliferate and thrive.
This vision is sometimes referred to as “the 15-minute city."
The backstory: This is a concept pioneered by Franco-Colombian scientist and mathematician Carlos Moreno. It means basically what it sounds like: Instead of expecting residents to get in their cars and drive long distances to work, run errands, and take part in social activities, cities should instead be designed to provide those kinds of opportunities in close proximity to where people live, reducing overdependence on cars and increasing local social cohesion.
By contrast: Picture living in a bustling neighborhood where all your friends, basic needs, and even your job are reachable by a quick walk or bike or bus ride. (Something many people experience, possibly for the first and last time, on college campuses.) In such a city, parking areas may have been reclaimed as urban greenways, chance encounters with neighbors might be more common, and small local businesses would proliferate and thrive.
This vision is sometimes referred to as “the 15-minute city,” a concept pioneered by Franco-Colombian scientist and mathematician Carlos Moreno. It means basically what it sounds like: Instead of expecting residents to get in their cars and drive long distances to work, run errands, and take part in social activities, cities should instead be designed to provide those kinds of opportunities in close proximity to where people live, reducing overdependence on cars and increasing local social cohesion.
“We have been able to observe the concrete effects of proximity, density, social mix, and ubiquity on both residents’ quality of life and the vitality of neighborhoods,” Moreno writes in a new book, The 15-Minute City: A Solution to Saving Our Time and Our Planet, which published yesterday. In the book, his first to be published in English, Moreno chronicles the history of how cities came to be fragmented through zoning policies and highway construction, the origins of his 15-minute city concept, and how the idea is becoming a reality all over the world.
Before and after pictures from Moreno’s book show the transformation of Piazza Dergano in Milan. In 2018, the city reconfigured the space for residents to walk, gather, and play, instead of simply park their cars.
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Courtesy Wiley
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But, he told me, this book is not a manual for the right way to design a 15-minute city. Every local context is different.
In the U.S., fragmentation is often a direct result of redlining policies that served to racially segregate cities and hoard resources away from lower-income neighborhoods of color. Some critics point out that if urban planners don’t take those histories into account, and let communities lead revitalization efforts, then a concept like the 15-minute city could further exacerbate inequities. However, if it’s done right, the approach could help address those harmful legacies.
“It’s an invitation to reinvent our lifestyles and urban practices to build a better future, where sustainability, equity, and well-being are at the heart of our concerns,” Moreno writes in the book. I spoke with Moreno over Zoom and e-mail about the growth of the 15-minute city concept, some sources of backlash, and whom he hopes to reach with his new book. His responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q. Tell me a bit about how you first got interested in cities and urban design.
A. Very good question. I’m not an architect or urbanist. I am a mathematician and computer scientist. I have developed a lot of different technologies for the intelligent control of complex systems. Just after the emergence of the internet, in the 2000s, I had a lot of requests from mayors for transforming lampposts, lights, doors, windows into smart equipment. I became one of the European leaders of the smart city.
In 2010, I decided to drop off smart technologies to examine a different way — the design of services in cities. I decided to continue to work in cities, but not from the technological angle, because technology is not enough for fighting against climate change, poverty, and social exclusion. We need to develop more local services. We need to develop more local jobs and to have more friendly neighborhoods and greener neighborhoods as well. And to reduce the role of individual cars, to reclaim the public space, to develop local commerce, to develop cultural activities.
I proposed this term “the human smart city” in 2012. And in 2015, the city of Paris hosted COP21, the big conference of countries for signing the Paris Agreement.
Anne Hidalgo was the mayor of Paris at this moment and, along with Mike Bloomberg, decided to convene mayors in parallel to COP21. With this amazing summit of mayors in Paris, cities said, “We are at the center of the problem — and we have the solutions. We need to change not only with technical measures, we need to change our lifestyle.” The cities signed an agreement [to support ambitious climate goals at the municipal level]. A few months after this, in October 2016, for the first time I proposed to cities to change this lifestyle through an ambitious urban plan for developing more local services. And I called that the 15-minute city.
Q. How have you seen the idea of the 15-minute city catch on in the past several years?
A. When I proposed this concept in 2016, a lot of people said, “Professor Moreno, this is a good idea, but this is a utopia.” The norm is to have long distances, long commutes. And maybe it is uncomfortable, but people at the end of the month have a wage, and they have the possibility for having a normal life.
As a researcher, I have experienced this concept in three districts in the east of Paris. I have observed that it is possible to change a city. The mayor of Paris [Anne Hidalgo] embraced this concept in 2019 for her re-election campaign. At that moment, we didn’t have a city with this concept implemented. Hidalgo took this concept in 2020, and she announced in June 2021 the big picture for five years in Paris. She proposed a concrete plan with different measures: local shops, local commerce, [safe] streets for kids, to ban cars in front of the schools, to open the schoolyards during the weekend. We have generated new districts: Clichy-Batignolles, La Félicité.
This is the growth of the 15-minute city inside of Paris. But at the same time, during COVID, the C40 Cities embraced this concept. The C40 is the global network of cities for fighting climate change.
We have, today, 293 cities in progress of implementing this concept. But not necessarily under the same name. In Utrecht, Netherlands, it’s the 10-minute city. In Dubai, the 20-minute city. In China, it’s the 15-minute circles of life. We have a lot of different nicknames, but the idea is the same: to develop a happy, polycentric, multiservice proximity. This is my motto.
Piazza Minniti, another square in Milan that was reclaimed for bikes, pedestrians, and play.
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Courtesy Wiley
)
Q. I was also interested in your chapter on small towns. I think there’s a perception that the 15-minute city is only possible in already dense areas. How can small towns or rural areas adopt similar principles — and what are some of the different considerations?
A. The 15-minute city concept for urban areas is also the 30-minute territory for smaller towns and rural areas. It is also successful, although less well-known. Last weekend, I was at a conference in the south of France with small rural towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants, to talk and act in this direction.
In less densely populated areas, distances are generally greater and services less concentrated. The focus could be on efficient alternative methods of transport such as electric bikes, shuttle services, or car-sharing solutions to make travel more convenient without relying solely on the car. Using multifunctional spaces that can serve different purposes depending on the time of day — for example, a space that serves as a market in the morning, a café in the afternoon, and a meeting place in the evening — can be effective. Small towns and rural areas can also benefit from increased use of technology to access services such as telemedicine, online education, and digital government services, reducing the need for physical travel.
Q. I feel like I have to ask — the concept of the 15-minute city was seized on last year by right-wing conspiracy theorists, who painted it as a guise for government control and surveillance. Why do you think it’s been spun that way?
A. Yeah, this is a good question. At the same time, this was a hard period for me, for my wife, for my children. The first point, I think, that the conspiracy theorists have taken up, is efforts to reduce the role of the king car. To dare to attack the king car is, for the conspiracy mongers, an attack on individual freedom. I’m not in a war against cars, but we need to reduce the place of cars. The second point is related. The conspiracy mongers are climate skeptics, climate denialists. Today, scientists are a target of the denialists, because we said we have climate change, and this is irreversible. We have a lot of places with great risk if we continue to live with the same habits, if we continue to have this massive production and consumption.
The third point was about COVID. Because of COVID, we had this lockdown. When I proposed this question of proximity, the climate denialists, the anti-vaccine, the people that said that COVID-19 was a Chinese gun, considered that my idea was proposing a new lockdown. This is totally false, this is totally insane.
We have been living in very dark times. The dark face of humanity has become totally visible. The conspiracy mongers today are, today, with digital technologies, with fake news, with the bubble of false ideas, the denialists of science. I am just a scientist. But for climate denialists, we are the enemy, the scientists.
Q. Who would you say your intended audience for this book is?
A. This book is aimed at anyone interested in cities and ecosystems. It’s a book of work, knowledge, and deepening the concept, but it’s open to all disciplines because it’s written in a language that’s accessible to everyone. As I like to do, it also includes a lot of personal anecdotes, stories from my own life, and elements of the history of cities that even very erudite people don’t necessarily know.
My aim is threefold: to present the concept as it emerged, by looking back at the history of modern urbanism, looking in the rear-view mirror and learning from many thinkers and doers; to explain it in detail, using the example of Paris, my city, which popularized it thanks to the commitment of Mayor Anne Hidalgo; and to go around the world, on five continents, with all kinds of examples to show that this concept does not depend on the size or density of places, nor on the political party or local governance — but that it is a humanist path for urban planning based on the quality of life of the inhabitants, faced with the ecological, economic, and social challenge for which it is urgent to change our way of life before it’s too late.
Q. What impact do you hope the book will have in the world?
A. I wrote this book as a bottle thrown into the sea in the image of my life. I wanted to offer the best of myself in a humanistic way, with a broad vision of our problems, without being dogmatic or sectarian about this or that. It is just a look at science, explaining the facts, making observations, and looking to the future, how we live and how we’d like to live differently.
I’ve been asked to register trademarks, patents, and licenses, create manuals, launch a competition. None of that interests me. A book is a profound part of yourself that you decide to share with everyone. It is written to reflect, not to proselytize. As a scientist, researcher, and teacher, I like to delve into the subject, to delve deeper, to pass on my knowledge with passion, commitment, and rigor, but without locking anyone into a single way of thinking.
And read: Moreno’s new book, The 15-Minute City, which published yesterday
A parting shot
This infographic was first shared as part of a press conference that Moreno, Hidalgo, and Paris’ deputy mayor, Jean-Louis Missika, held in 2020. Moreno credits it with sparking international interest in the 15-minute city concept, noting that it has been shared, adapted, and translated into different languages all over the world. As he writes in his book: “It clearly and visually illustrates the 15-minute city’s concept, showing how essential services such as shops, schools, parks, and public transportation can be accessed nearby, making daily life easier for residents.”
Frank Meyer will perform at Old Towne Pub on Dec. 3.
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Mario Luis
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In this edition:
DTLA’s last art night of the year, tree lightings, former NY Attorney General Leticia James at Writers Bloc, National Cookie Day and more of the best things to do this week.
Highlights:
Few people have been in the news the past few weeks more than New York Attorney General Letitia James. Fresh off the dismissal of the cases against her and former FBI director James Comey, James is coming to Writers Bloc for a conversation with No Lie podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen.
Downtown lights up for the annual Grand Illuminationsopening celebration. It’s free, and there are events from 12 p.m. all through the evening. Afterwards, wander over to…
… the last Downtown L.A. Art Night until 2026. Grab a jacket and stroll through the various galleries around downtown, many of which have new exhibits open for the holiday season.
Whether you’re an avid knitter, embroiderer, weaver or just a dabbler, head toStitchStop LA for their free Fiber Night event in Sherman Oaks. Adults and kids can swing by to learn more about fiber arts and participate in hands-on demonstrations of all kinds of crafts, including crochet, pompom-making, needle-felting and even a special tufting gun demo from Tuft House L.A.
And grab a free McCormick x Milk Bar Eggnog English Toffee Cookieif you’re one of the first 50 customers at the Los Angeles Flagship location.
I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when we saw the recent headline that fire season in L.A. is all but over. Forget Dodgers season tickets — I can’t think of a better holiday gift for this city.
Music-wise, ease into December with Lady Blackbird at the Blue Note on Monday. Our friends at Licorice Pizza also recommend RuPaul’s Drag Race all-star Alaska 5000’s A Very Alaska Christmas Show at the Regent on Tuesday and superstar rapper Blxst’s first of four nights at the Roxy (he’ll also be there Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday). On Wednesday, Twin Shadow is at the Regent, and on Thursday, our personal faves, Public Service Broadcasting, are also at the Regent.
Wednesday, December 3, 11 p.m. Old Towne Pub 66 N. Fair Oaks, Pasadena COST: $10; MORE INFO
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Mario Luis
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Frank Meyer has been playing the L.A. punk scene for decades. Founder of West Coast punk legends Streetwalkin' Cheetahs, Meyer (he might look familiar also because his brother is actor Breckin Meyer), has collaborated with folks like James Williamson (Iggy & the Stooges), Wayne Kramer (MC5), FEAR and Eddie Spaghetti (Supersuckers). He’ll play from his debut solo album at Old Towne Pub in Pasadena — get all that post-Thanksgiving rage out with some punk jams!
Writers Bloc presents NY AG Letitia James with Brian Tyler Cohen
Thursday, December 4, 7:30 p.m. The Ebell Lounge 743 S. Lucerne Ave., Mid-Wilshire COST: $35; MORE INFO
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Writers Bloc Presents
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Few people have been in the news the past few weeks more than New York Attorney General Letitia James. Fresh off the dismissal of the cases against her and former FBI director James Comey, James is coming to Writers Bloc for a conversation with No Lie podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen. No doubt this will be a topical and exciting evening at the Ebell.
World AIDS Day: Artists and Activism, co-presented by Artillery
Wednesday, December 3, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Oculus Hall at The Broad 221 S Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy The Broad
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Dec. 1 is World AIDS Day, and a group of incredible artists — including Rubén Esparza, Ken Gonzales-Day, Joey Terrill and photographer-documentarian Judy Ornelas Sisneros — will join journalist Carolina A. Miranda for a conversation about artists, social justice and the history of arts amid the AIDS crisis at the Broad. Across their long careers, the speakers featured have worked to shape how we view the AIDS crisis, LGBTQ+ equality and other issues.
Grand Illuminations
Wednesday, December 3, 12 p.m. The Yard at Cal Plaza 350 S. Grand Ave., Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy DTLA Alliance
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Downtown lights up for the annual Grand Illuminations opening celebration. It’s free, and there are events from 12 p.m. all through the evening, with a holiday marketplace curated by The Goddess Mercado, live entertainment from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and the community tree lighting at 5 p.m.
Last DTLA Art Night of the Year
Thursday, December 4, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Various locations (see map), Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy DTLA Artnight
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It’s the last Downtown L.A. art night until 2026, so grab a jacket and stroll through the various galleries around downtown, many of which have new exhibits open for the holiday season. We recommend checking out the opening of Airbrush to AI: Fifty Years of Reinvention: A Retrospective by Patti Heid at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art.
Fiber Night
Thursday, December 4, 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. StichStop L.A. 13270 Moorpark Street, Sherman Oaks COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Sharon Waldron
/
Unsplash
)
Whether you’re an avid knitter, embroiderer, weaver or just a dabbler, head to StitchStop LA for their free Fiber Night event in Sherman Oaks. Adults and kids can swing by to learn more about fiber arts and participate in hands-on demonstrations of all kinds of crafts, including crochet, pompom-making, needle-felting and even a special tufting gun demo from Tuft House LA (whose awesome rug classes we’ve featured here before!). Just in time for homemade holiday gifting.
Holiday Undie Run
Thursday, December 4, 6:30 p.m. The Penmar 1233 Rose Ave., Venice COST: FREE; MORE INFO
MeUndies (who else?) is sponsoring a holiday-themed Undie Run at Rose Ave. hotspot The Penmar. Snag free holiday undies (and sport them on the fun run around the public golf course), as well as other gifts, tacos and a “Naughty Santa” photo op.
Brazil: Director's Cut
Monday, December 1, 9:30 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse 700 W. 7th Street, Ste. U240, Downtown L.A. COST: $22.68; MORE INFO
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Twentieth Century Fox
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OK, so it’s probably the least “holiday” movie I could find, but you don’t want to miss a chance to see Terry Gilliam’s most chilling work, Brazil, on the big screen at Alamo Drafthouse downtown. Take a trip into a pretty dark timeline of future social and political upheaval in this Orwellian masterpiece about bureaucracy gone wrong.
Castanea x Washington Square Pizza
Wednesday, December 3, 6 p.m. 31 Washington Blvd., Venice COST: $20; MORE INFO
Grab a “Memento Box” of pastries, snacks and surprise goodies from Castanea Sicilian Cafe and Washington Square Pizza at Washington Square Pizza for one night only. The event is free, but the box is $20 of yum.
National Cookie Day
Thursday, December 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. McCormick x Milk Bar 7150 Melrose Ave., Melrose COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy McCormick
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Join McCormick, Milk Bar and Christina Tosi are celebrating National Cookie Day with free giveaways of the limited-edition McCormick x Milk Bar Eggnog English Toffee Cookie. The first 50 customers at the Los Angeles flagship location will receive a free limited-edition cookie. If you’re late, don’t fret: The cookies will be on sale for $4 through Dec. 31.
Robert Garrova
is on LAist's Explore L.A. team. He also covers mental health.
Published December 1, 2025 5:00 AM
El Patron is located in the burn zone and has fought to survive after the Eaton Fire destroyed many nearby businesses and neighborhoods.
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Robert Gauthier
/
Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
)
Topline:
L.A. County officials have launched a holiday gift card program to support businesses still reeling from January’s firestorms.
The details: Shoppers who pick up gift cards through the shoplocal.la website will get extra gift card funds paid for by the county through a public-private partnership.
Buy a $20, $50, or $100 gift card and get a corresponding bonus gift card worth $10, $25 or $50.
Gift cards can be used at approved businesses impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires. The program is funded in part by a $100,000 contribution from L.A. Care Health Plan, the county’s publicly operated health insurance.
How businesses can apply: Businesses with fewer than 100 employees — including restaurants — can fill out an online form to be included in the program. The brick-and-mortar stores must be located within communities including: Altadena, Palisades, Topanga, North Pasadena, Malibu and West Santa Monica.
Check out the businesses: You can check out which businesses are participating in the holiday gift card program in the Recover Local Directory here.
The Food and Drug Administration intends to get tougher on vaccine approvals, as top officials raised concerns about the risk of COVID vaccines for children.
Why now: Speaking on Fox News Saturday morning, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would no longer "rubber-stamp new products that don't work," claiming it made a "mockery of science."
Background: Makary's comments came the day after FDA's top vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, told his team the agency would change its annual flu vaccine framework, update vaccine labels to be "honest," and make other changes to how it reviews vaccines, according to contents of an internal email reviewed by NPR and reported on first by a PBS News Hour correspondent and later byThe Washington Post.
The Food and Drug Administration intends to get tougher on vaccine approvals, as top officials raised concerns about the risk of COVID vaccines for children.
Speaking on Fox News Saturday morning, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would no longer "rubber-stamp new products that don't work," claiming it made a "mockery of science."
Makary's comments came the day after FDA's top vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, told his team the agency would change its annual flu vaccine framework, update vaccine labels to be "honest," and make other changes to how it reviews vaccines, according to contents of an internal email reviewed by NPR and reported on first by a PBS News Hour correspondent and later byThe Washington Post.
Prasad wrote that the FDA would also no longer authorize vaccines for pregnant women without stricter requirements. And for pneumonia vaccines, manufacturers will have to prove they reduce disease rather than show they generate antibodies. He also raised questions about giving multiple vaccines at the same time, which is standard practice.
The changes could make it much more difficult and expensive for vaccines to get approved, further limiting the availability of vaccines, which are considered among the safest and most effective tools for protecting people against infectious diseases.
While all vaccines carry some risks, most public health experts argue the current process for vetting vaccines before marketing has long assured that the benefits of vaccines outweigh their risks. Studies required after vaccines are approved and surveillance systems, including the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), also flag potential safety issues once vaccines are in use.
FDA says an analysis links COVID shots to some deaths
Makary said on Fox News that 10 children had died from the COVID shot during the Biden administration, but did not offer specifics about how the FDA came to that conclusion. Millions of children have received the vaccine.
Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services and Food and Drug Administration didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the COVID analysis and changes to vaccine review standards.
According to the FDA email from Prasad, he told the agency's biostatistics and pharmacovigilance team to analyze 96 reported deaths from 2021 to 2024, and they determined 10 children died "after and because of" the COVID vaccine. But Prasad said the true number was likely higher.
"Because he doesn't provide any evidence, he is asking us to trust him on an important issue," Office said. "All this will do is scare people unnecessarily. At the very least, he should provide all the evidence he has so that experts in the field can review it and decide whether he has enough data to prove his point."
Dr. Jesse Goodman, a professor at Georgetown University who held Prasad's job at FDA from 2003 until 2009, said in an email that the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which oversees vaccine approval, has been "recognized globally as a gold standard regulator." Goodman defended "immunologic endpoints like antibody levels" for the accelerated approval of pneumonia and influenza vaccines. He said science supports their use and they are confirmed with studies after approval: "These approaches have helped provide children and adults with timely access to safe and effective vaccines, saving many lives."
Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, reviewed the email from Prasad and challenged his statement that "COVID-19 was never highly lethal for children." Osterholm also questioned the FDA's latest analysis of adverse event reports attributing the 10 deaths to COVID vaccines.
"Prasad's email is filled with factual mistakes and misrepresents both the severity of COVID in children (1597 deaths in 2020-2022) and how the US responded to the first signals of possible vaccine-associated pediatric deaths in May 2021," Osterholm wrote in an email to NPR.
"While Prasad's email notes 10 such deaths, these cases have never been presented for review by the medical and public health communities or published in the medical literature," Osterholm continued. "Given the record of this Administration to misrepresent scientific data regarding vaccines, until these cases have been reviewed by an expert third party, like the National Academy of Science[s], we can not accept the fact they are vaccine-associated deaths."
Surveillance system collects vaccines reports
The FDA makes public data from the VAERS surveillance system co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the FDA cautions, "it is important to note that for any reported event, no cause and effect relationship has been established." In his email, Prasad wrote that "with case reports, causality is typically assessed on a subjective scale. In this scale ranging from certain to unlikely — certain, possible/likely, and probable are broadly considered as related to the product."
Makary said on Fox News that when the COVID shot was first rolled out, it was "amazing" for people at high risk of coming down with severe disease, but things have changed.
"Back in 2020, we saw a reduction in the severity of illness and lives saved, but now recommending that a 6-year-old girl get another 70 million COVID shots — one each year for the rest of her life — is not based on science. And so we're not going to just rubber stamp approvals without seeing some scientific evidence."
The claim is the latest move by Trump administration health officials questioning the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and how the government has regulated them. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long questioned vaccines.
The FDA restricted eligibility for the updated COVID vaccines in August after announcing the agency planned to require more evidence about the shots' safety and effectiveness going forward.
CDC committee will meet to review vaccine policies
The FDA email on vaccine policy comes just before the CDC convenes a crucial two-day meeting of that agency's influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Dec. 4-5. The committee is in the process of conducting a major review of how children are inoculated against dangerous infectious diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio and hepatitis B.
Many public health experts are concerned the committee will upend the childhood vaccination schedule. It could move to delay the timing of some inoculations, space out vaccinations and call for the reformulation of some vaccines. Taken together, the moves could result in fewer children getting protected and the resurgence of once-vanquished diseases.
Asked about Makary and Prasad's claims that the COVID vaccine caused deaths among 10 children, Moderna, whose COVID vaccine is approved for children as young as 6 months old, pointed to a statement it made in September. The company says that multiple published, peer-reviewed studies from a variety of sources show its shot is safe and that it is "not aware of any deaths in the last year or pertinent new information from prior years."
Moderna says it monitors its vaccine's safety along with regulators in more than 90 countries. "With more than one billion doses distributed globally, these systems — including in national health systems across Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the U.S. — have not reported any new or undisclosed safety concerns in children or in pregnant women."
Pfizer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Copyright 2025 NPR
Josie Huang
is a reporter and Weekend Edition host who spotlights the people and places at the heart of our region.
Published November 30, 2025 7:22 AM
Afghan evacuees at the U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany in 2021.
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Armando Babani
/
AFP via Getty Images
)
Topline:
The Trump administration’s sudden freeze on all visa and asylum decisions for Afghan immigrants has left many of them in Orange County — one of the country's largest hubs for Afghans — in limbo. Local groups are preparing to support the immigrants even as they await clarification from federal authorities.
Why it matters: California is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Afghan immigrants, many of them now grappling with the Trump administration’s abrupt visa and asylum freeze.
Read on ... to learn more about the Afghan population in Orange County and guidance from one O.C. immigration official on what could come next.
California is home to the nation’s largest concentration of Afghan immigrants, many of them now grappling with the Trump administration’s abrupt visa and asylum freeze.
Friday’s announcement by the White House followed the fatal shooting of a National Guard member in Washington, D.C. a couple days earlier by a suspect who had immigrated from Afghanistan.
In Orange County, where many Afghans have settled as their immigration applications pend, local officials are gearing up to help them navigate the change, even as guidance is scant from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Jose Serrano, director of Orange County's Office of Refugee and Immigrant Services, said the goal is to provide the “most up-to-date information so they can continue on towards their pathway towards citizenship here in the United States.”
“The Afghan population in Southern California, specifically in Orange County, is one that is really important to the DNA of who we are,” Serrano said. “Let's continue to stay together and strong and reimagine a place for belonging for everyone.”
As they await more information, Serrano advised visa and asylum seekers to:
stay on top of updates from USCIS and the Department of Homeland Security
contact their local office of immigrant and refugee affairs
connect with organizations that work closely with immigrant and refugee populations, such as resettlement agencies and legal aid groups
Hundreds of Afghan households have settled in Orange County, Serrano said, making it one of the state’s hubs for Afghan immigrants alongside San Diego and Sacramento.
Serrano said a big draw for immigrants to Orange County is Little Arabia in Anaheim, a regional destination for Middle Eastern food, culture and community life.
Serrano, who spent more than a decade working with immigrants at World Relief Southern California and the state's refugee programs bureau, said entering Afghan homes means being offered large meals. One family had prepared a whole feast for a Time Warner cable worker, he recalled.
“They didn't understand why that person couldn’t stay to dine with them,” he said. “That’s the type of people that are here in Orange County, folks who are so committed to being a part of civic engagement, to connecting alongside other communities.”
Visa applications in limbo
Serrano said many of the Afghans who resettled in the county are Special Immigrant Visa holders, a program created for Afghan nationals who helped the U.S. government during the war in their home country.
That program has now been frozen by the State Department.
Serrano said immigrants who entered the U.S. as refugees and have since become green card holders could see their cases reopened.
For Serrano, the current screening process is rigorous and involves multiple organizations aside from USCIS, such as the U.S. Department of Justice, the F.B.I. and counterterrorist organizations.
Applicants undergo health screenings and multiple fingerprinting appointments, he said.
“They're constantly doing an assessment to verify that you are a good-standing citizen,” Serrano said. “One of the things that I think we should be very proud of within the United States is that there is an in-depth screening process for anyone who is seeking a protection.”
