The Brief

After a steep lull, Orange County appears to be ramping up its efforts to turn detainees over to federal immigration authorities.

Last year, 221 detainees were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after the O.C. Sheriff’s Department informed the agency of their release. That was up from just 17 in 2022. While the 2023 number is still far below from the 717 ICE custody transfers in 2018, it marks a sharp upswing after a years-long decline.

Immigration advocates say the practice disproportionately targets Orange County’s Mexican and Vietnamese communities.

Mai Nguyen Do, research and policy manager at the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice, said the uptick shows that targeting these communities were not exclusive to the Trump administration and that the Southeast Asian deportation crisis is far from over.

“Local law enforcement’s continued collaboration with federal immigration enforcement can really have a dampening effect on immigrants and refugee communities' trust in government,” Do said. “Oftentimes (it) will deter people from getting the help that they need in a lot of different situations, whether it's health care or going to the police to try and report something that might have happened to them.”

Local law enforcement agencies in California can choose whether to notify ICE when an undocumented person with a federal misdemeanor conviction is about to be released from custody, allowing agents to pick them up for possible deportation. So even if ICE requests that an inmate be transferred, known as a detainer, local agencies don’t have to comply.

Under the California Values Act (SB 54), signed into law in October 2017, local law enforcement can choose to notify ICE of when a person with an ICE detainer completes time in custody, if the person has a federal conviction on a higher level misdemeanor.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department does not comply with ICE detainers, nor does the LAPD. But Orange County has been notifying ICE every year since SB 54 went into effect in 2018. The O.C. sheriff’s officials told LAist in a statement they do this because “it is important in keeping our community safe.”

In 2020, O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes criticized SB 54.

“The law has resulted in new crimes because my deputies were unable to communicate with their federal partners about individuals who committed serious offenses and present a threat to our community if released,” he said. “The two-year social science experiment with sanctuary laws must end. Rather than protect our immigrant community, the law has enabled offenders to be released, often times back into the immigrant communities they prey upon, and create new victims.”

In 2020, a UC Irvine study found that the passing of SB 54 did not lead to an increase in crime — it had a “null effect,” researchers said.

Law enforcement agencies that do comply with ICE detainers are required by the state to divulge how many notifications are sent and allow for public comment. According to the latest numbers for 2023 that were discussed at Tuesday’s O.C. Board of Supervisors meeting, ICE placed detainers on 547 people in Orange County Jail. The sheriff’s department notified ICE of the pending release of 302 of those people. Roughly 70%, or 221 people, were ultimately taken into ICE custody.

Since 2018, the number of people taken into ICE custody after notification from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department had been steadily declining, dropping from 717 in 2018 to 225 in 2020 to 17 in 2022.

“This fluctuation is wholly dependent on external factors, including whether or not ICE chooses to pick up an eligible inmate,” Barnes told supervisors on Tuesday.

In the case of the remaining 81 people, ICE chose to take no action, according to the sheriff’s department. There were 245 people released from the jail system last year who had ICE detainers, but the sheriff’s department did not notify ICE.

In a statement to LAist, ICE spokesperson Richard Beam said several factors play into law enforcement notification, including “how ‘sanctuary’ policies might influence that cooperation.” Beam added that “there can also be trends in criminality non-citizens engage in, agency priorities, or resources that could impact the number of interactions from year to year.”

That could include how crowded ICE detention facilities are and how many new detainees they can accommodate.

Who is affected?

Immigrant advocates in Orange County say communities of color are being disproportionately affected by the ICE transfers.

According to an analysis by the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice, 43% of people transferred to ICE custody in 2023 were born in Mexico, while 40% were born in Vietnam.

With local law enforcement and federal law enforcement organizations' collaboration, Nguyen Do said, “our concerns about the safety and security of immigrants and refugee communities and about our ability to trust in government continue to be sort of at risk.”

A federal judge on Tuesday held the Department of Homeland Security in contempt for allegedly slow-rolling an order to create digital copies of communications from personal and government cell phones used by immigration agents during operations in the Los Angeles area last year.

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong in the Central District of California previously ordered the federal government in January to expedite imaging the personal cell phones of more than 800 agents involved in controversial immigration raids in Los Angeles in 2025.

Judge Frimpong imposed a fine of $500 per day on the federal government until it complies with the order to turn over phones as part of discovery and reimburse plaintiffs’ attorneys for the legal costs of getting the records.

Attorneys for DHS admitted in court in June that the agency had not provided the records. They told the judge they were processing the government devices at a rate of three phones every two weeks, which plaintiffs noted would take nearly four years to complete.

Attorneys representing immigrants caught up in Operation At Large — the name given to the Trump administration’s Los Angeles immigration crackdown last year — argue the phones may contain evidence of a pattern of racial profiling by federal agents.

Attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in May that the Department of Homeland Security “simply proceeded to thwart” Frompong’s order “by dragging their feet on imaging government-issued cell phones and by openly defying the order as to personal phones.”

Last month, ACLU attorneys asked Frimpong to issue another order that would prohibit agents from detaining people based on their race. They cited text messages and body camera footage in which agents used racial slurs, including “wet and “tonks,” to identify working-class Latinos to stop, according to court records.

“Not only are federal agents violating the Constitution on the streets, the government is violating court orders by intentionally withholding critical evidence about its immigration enforcement operations.” said Mayra Joachin with the ACLU of Southern California.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

L.A. City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced seven motions Tuesday, all geared toward providing immediate and long-term relief for community members who’ve been hurt by the aftermath of the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights.

According to Jurado, the legislative package is centered around three priorities:

• “Immediate relief and cleanup”
• "Accountability, transparency and site safeguards”
• “Long-term oversight and community power”

Jurado is calling for a Mitigation Response Fund of up to $10 million to provide aid for affected residents and small businesses that have lost revenue as the neighborhood continues dealing with foul odors, flies, rats and other vermin. Jurado also wants to see higher penalties for corporate negligence, and create a commission to advise L.A.’s city leadership on environmental justice policy.

After the fire in mid-June, tons of food at the cold storage warehouse were left to rot. Now, more than a month later, community members are still dealing with odors and pests, which have disrupted local businesses, community spaces and everyday quality of life.

Local activists and community members say the Lineage fire aftermath is part of a long legacy of environmental injustice in Boyle Heights. In recent decades, residents have also dealt with pungent smells from rendering plants in the neighboring city of Vernon. And up until 2015, Vernon was also home to Exide, a battery recycling facility that contaminated the soil of thousands of homes in surrounding communities with lead. The taxpayer-funded cleanup for that issue is still ongoing. Lineage also has several facilities in the city of Vernon.

Jurado’s proposed commission “can serve as an interdisciplinary body to identify and start to protect our communities from historical harms that continue to function as standard practice today,” said mark! Lopez, a community organizer at East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice.

Community members will have a chance to provide public comment on Jurado’s motions before they move to a full council vote.

In a statement, Jurado said recovery "cannot mean removing debris and moving on.” In her view, it must also involve the “aggressive pursuit of every recoverable dollar from responsible parties” and "give communities that have carried Los Angeles' environmental burdens real power over what happens next."

Lineage President and CEO Greg Lehmkuhl previously said in a statement that he cannot estimate how long the cleanup will take. “What we can tell you is this: there are people on site working on this recovery 24/7,” he added.

L.A. County will provide assistance grants to small businesses that suffered financial loss from the Lineage warehouse fire that burned for a week in June in Boyle Heights. The fire's aftermath has many in the community seeking help to recover.

Why it matters

The county surveyed business owners in the area who said they are continuing to face a loss of customers and revenue amid persisting odor from food in the Boyle Heights warehouse that continues to rot in the summer heat. The fire started June 17 and burned until June 24. It initially generated significant air quality hazards and prompted evacuations.

About the funds

The grants from Supervisor Hilda Solis’ discretionary budget will be disbursed within 45 days — and then draw from countywide funds if needed. The county will also seek reimbursement for the grants from Lineage. The Department of Public Health and County Counsel will also evaluate new fees and penalties for businesses that pose environmental or health risks in L.A. County. Some fee increases could fund county assistance for future economic disasters.

Who is eligible

Small businesses within the affected area will be able to apply for the grants. The county is looking to prioritize initial funding for businesses that have not already received emergency financial support from other organizations.

More details to come

The Board of Supervisors and Department of Economic Opportunity will announce more about the amount of assistance and how to apply when those details are made final. Affected business owners and residents can find more information on the L.A. County Recovers website.

What to have ready

Existing documentation from L.A. County recommends you collect the following documentation of any damage.

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Courtesy L.A. Department of Economic Opportunity

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Courtesy L.A. Department of Economic Opportunity

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The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-1 on Tuesday to put a measure on the November ballot that will ask voters whether homes affected by the Palisades Fire should be exempt from the city’s controversial “mansion tax.”

If passed, the exemption would apply to the sale of homes damaged or destroyed by the fire. The exemption would last until early 2030, five years from the date of the fire.

This could potentially reduce the tax’s revenue up to 6% — or $32 million each year — according to a May 2026 report from the L.A. Housing Department.

How the ‘mansion tax’ works 

The “mansion tax,” officially called Measure ULA, is a tiered tax on real estate selling for $5.4 million or more. The tax, which was passed by voters in 2022, funds programs such as rental assistance, eviction defense and affordable housing construction in the city.

The measure has fierce defenders, as well as staunch critics. A statewide ballot measure sought to kill the tax before it was pulled by supporters earlier this year in exchange for a legislative deal in Sacramento.

State and local lawmakers have considered reducing the tax or exempting newly constructed apartment buildings. Their ideas have been guided by economic studies that found the tax was slowing down housing development in the city. So far, none of those reforms have mustered enough support to pass.

Where council members stand

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes Highland Park, Chinatown and Westlake, previously spoke against the measure’s scope at a City Council meeting on July 1.

“Any exemption should only be for homeowners whose primary residence was destroyed, and people who genuinely need help rebuilding, not LLCs, investors or people with a portfolio of properties,” Hernandez said. “We had the opportunity to write those protections into this ordinance, and we didn’t.”

Hernandez criticized her colleagues for shooting down the post-fire eviction protections she proposed after tenants living in her district lost work as gardeners and nannies in the Pacific Palisades.

“When wealthy property owners need relief, we’re willing to bend over backwards,” she said. “But when working class people and tenants need protection, suddenly our hands are tied and the political will is not there.”

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, voiced support for the measure at the same meeting.

“Putting this tax on these folks who are trying to recover and reckoning with the fact that some of them just aren’t coming home, is just unspeakably cruel,” Park said. “It’s an exemption that applies in very narrow circumstances to original owners and first transactions for five years, only for residential properties. This is the least we can do as this community continues to recover.”

In Tuesday’s meeting, Hernandez cast the lone vote against placing the measure on the November ballot. Thirteen council members supported the move. Councilmember Curren Price was not present for the vote.

What happens next 

L.A. voters will have the final say on whether Palisades homeowners will be exempt from the tax. The proposal needs a simple majority of support from voters in the upcoming November general election to pass.

How to keep tabs on the L.A. City Council

The L.A. City Council tends to meet Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Meetings typically start at 10 a.m.

Here’s how you can follow along:

• Attend in person: The council typically meets at City Hall, Council Chambers, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles
• Watch the live broadcast
• Here’s how to submit a comment or contact the council