The Brief

Increased immigration enforcement across Los Angeles — sweeping workplaces, homes and grocery stores — has left many families worried about their future.

LAist gathered resources and spoke with legal and mental health experts to help immigrant families plan in case a parent or legal guardian is being detained or deported. This guide is meant to be helpful, but please consult a lawyer for legal advice regarding your specific situation.

Create a family preparedness plan

Don’t be afraid to exercise your rights, said Kristen Hunsberger, a managing attorney with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a nonprofit offering legal services to immigrant communities.

“I know it's a very scary time in our communities and I think a way to push back against that is to feel empowered with your rights, but also to have a plan if unfortunately, something does happen,” Hunsberger said.

The center created a comprehensive checklist (Spanish version) to help families plan for an immigration emergency. This includes:

• coordinating care for your loved ones 
• gathering important documents for yourself and your family 
• finding credible legal counsel 
• updating your emergency contact list  

Hunsberger said a key part of the plan is communication, reviewing it as a family and discussing it in advance with a designated caregiver, as well as your child’s school and doctor.

Read more: Here's what the law says about civil rights — regardless of immigration status

How to plan for childcare if detained or deported

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, dedicated to educating immigrant communities and those supporting them, created a step-by-step toolkit to help immigrant families navigate emergencies, including several ways families can arrange childcare if a caregiver is detained or deported:

1. The simplest and most informal option is a verbal agreement — asking a trusted adult to care for your child if you’re unable to. This doesn’t require any paperwork. However, the caregiver wouldn’t have the legal authority to make medical or school decisions, which could pose challenges if the arrangement is long-term. 
   
2. Another option is having a trusted adult fill out the Caregiver’s Authorization Affidavit (“CAA”). This form allows that person to make certain school-related and medical decisions for your child. The form should be given to your child’s school or healthcare provider. Don't worry, this form will not affect your parental rights, and you will continue to have custody of your child. 
   
3. Guardianship is the most formal arrangement. In this case, the California Probate Court appoints a guardian, who would gain legal and physical custody of your child and can make decisions on their behalf.  

Parental rights are suspended during guardianship, but not terminated. To regain custody, a caregiver needs to file a petition asking the probate court to end the arrangement. The final decision rests with the judge, who decides what is in the best interests of the child.

How to get a child a passport if one parent is absent

This is a frequently searched question online. Parents or guardians seeking a passport for a child under 16 will have to apply in person at a passport acceptance facility, such as a Post Office.

If one of the legal guardians can’t be present to apply for the passport, they will have to complete the Form DS-3053, “Statement of Consent.”

If one of the parents or guardians can’t be located, there’s another form, DS-5525, “Statement of Exigent/Special Family Circumstances.”

Gathering important documents

Gather important documents now in case a parent or guardian is detained or deported. These records should be kept somewhere safe — preferably both physically and digitally — and a trusted person should know where to find the information.

According to the IDLC, here’s what families should have ready:

• Identification documents: Passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, Social Security numbers and driver’s licenses, if applicable.
• Financial records: Tax documents, mail from your bank that include your name and address, Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) card, if applicable.
• Immigration records: Receipts for applications, copies of visas, permits, or other forms of identification, alien registration number (A-number) and any correspondence with immigration attorneys or agencies.
• Medical information: Health insurance cards, medical records, vaccination cards, a list of known allergies and medications and contact information for your doctor.
• Important contacts: Emergency contacts, children’s teachers, appointed caregiver(s), lawyer.
• Other helpful documents: Proof of U.S. residency indicating how long you’ve lived in the country, such as lease agreements, utility bills, etc.

Find immigration legal services

Hunsberger said in the worst-case scenario, if a parent or guardian is detained or deported, there are legal resource hotlines that families can contact to get resources.

• Rapid Response Legal Resource Hotline helps Southern Californians who were detained: (213) 833-8283 
• LA Rapid Response: (888) 624-4752 

You can also find an attorney in your area at the American Immigration Lawyers Association or the National Immigration Legal Services Directory.

“If they don't have an attorney, at least having the phone number of a trustworthy organization that they can contact,” Hunsberger said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has an online system that can help you figure out if your parent or legal guardian has been detained, although the online locator has had issues.

There are also procedures in place when a parent or legal guardian is detained by ICE, including visitation with their child, coordination of care and participation in any court or child welfare proceedings.

“The rules for family visits are different and vary for each detention center,” Hunsberger said. “Typically, groups of detainees have different visiting hours.”

How to emotionally prepare your child

Suma Setty, a senior policy analyst on the Immigration and Immigrant Families team at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), said she’s concerned about how adverse childhood experiences, or ACES — a framework linking traumatic circumstances during childhood to long-term impacts in adulthood — affect immigrant and mixed-status families during immigration crackdowns.

“There’s been so much research that connects immigration enforcement policies to negative wellbeing outcomes for children,” Setty said. “Even just the threat [of deportation or detention of a loved one] is enough to impact a child.”

That’s why she believes it’s important for parents or caregivers to talk to their children about the possibility of being detained or deported.

Families are likely to experience anxiety, including fear, worry and apprehension during such uncertain times, said Jose Corena, a psychologist and marriage and family therapist at Centro De Bienestar Familiar, a family wellness center providing free or low-cost services. He wants parents to understand that their emotions and behaviors affect their children — whether that’s hyper fixating on social media or isolating.

“The number one tool to deal with anxiety is to be prepared as best as you can,” Corena said.

He emphasizes the importance of having a family plan for worst-case scenarios and to include your child in the process, so they have a sense of agency instead of feeling helpless or hopeless.

Parents or caregivers can use communication tools like art, movement, or therapy to engage with children, such as drawing, dancing, or using puppets.

“Healing strategies [help] reassure the child that [a parent’s] going to be there for them, that they're not alone, such as playing a game, reading a book together, praying together,” Corena said. This is a way to reassure your child that they are protected.

Corena said if there’s changes in a child’s mood or behaviors — eating habits, sleeping patterns, irritability, or social isolation — it is important to consult a doctor or mental health provider to ensure this does not develop into a chronic condition.

Children's books discussing immigration and separation

• Tengo Miedo (I’m Scared) by Marlene Huerta is a bilingual book focusing on coping skills for children of immigrants. The author created a free PDF version in response to heightened immigration enforcement.  
• Mama's Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation by Edwidge Danticat tells the story of a Haitian immigrant family whose mother is detained in an immigration detention center. To support her young daughter, Saya, she sends bedtime stories on cassette tapes during their separation. In this, Saya discovers the power of her own words. The book is available at the Los Angeles Public Library.   

The $360 million effort to turn Exposition Park’s largest parking lots into green space won’t be completed in time for the 2028 Olympics.

State leaders announced the multi-million dollar investment into the park in 2024, planning to prep the park for an Olympic close-up by replacing the warren of asphalt lots on Expo Park’s southern edge with an underground lot and green park land.

Now park officials say the 6-acre project now won’t break ground until 2028, after the Olympic torch is extinguished.

Expo Park and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will be a centerpiece of L.A.’s Olympic image in the summer of 2028. But for residents of the surrounding South L.A. neighborhoods, the park and its facilities help fill a serious need for recreation and green space.

Andrea Ambriz, general manager of the state-run park, said the park hasn’t had an investment of this kind since the 1984 Olympic Games, but that the inspiration and funding for the park project go beyond the 2028 games.

“Whatever we do now is intended in full to support the community. It’s not just for these games,” Ambriz said.

Ambriz said park officials hit pause on project planning after realizing it would not be completed before the Olympics.

State leaders are still angling to get at least some of the park freshened up in time for the Olympics, with officials announcing in January that Gov. Gavin Newsom planned to earmark $96.5 million in proposed funds for renovations in the park.

The funding, according to the governor’s proposed budget, will be used for “critical deferred maintenance” to meet code compliance and accessibility requirements.

Ambriz said the lion’s share of the money will go to rehabbing roadways, sidewalks and ramps throughout the park to ensure safe pedestrian and vehicle access.

“This is a part of what we know we need,” Ambriz said. “It is a really significant downpayment from the state.”

How will the park affect the neighborhood? 

John Noyola is a 42-year resident of the Exposition Park neighborhood who sits on the North Area Neighborhood Development Council. For him, any major overhaul of the park still feels like an abstract concept.

He’s seen news reports about the proposed changes, but heard little more.

“It hasn’t really affected us or the community,” Noyola said.

The 150-year-old Expo Park has one of the densest collections of cultural institutions in Los Angeles, said Esther Margulies, a professor of landscape architecture just across the street from the park at USC.

Four museums, including the under-construction Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, will soon share the park with the BMO Stadium and the Coliseum.

Margulies said Grand Park, in downtown Los Angeles, has begun to fill a role as a “living room for the city” in recent years, but that Expo Park is falling short of its potential.

“People should see Expo Park as a place to begin their journey of visiting Southern California and Los Angeles,” Margulies said. “This is where you should come and there should be this energy of, like, ‘Wow!’”

Changing Expo Park, Margulies said, starts with building a space that serves its community.

In its current design, the park’s best-kept green spaces sit behind the fences of its museums, Margulies said, and large asphalt expanses act as heat sinks. Major events often come at the community’s expense.

“There’s tailgating, day drinking in the park,” Margulies said. “People don’t come to the park on those days.”

Noyola, the Expo Park resident, said his family and others in the community frequent the park recreation center, pools and fields near the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He worries that construction could block parking or other access to the park spaces that are available.

He remains wary of the unintended consequences of a park remodel, especially after watching traffic spike in Inglewood when SoFi Stadium and the Intuit Dome were built.

“It would be nice,” Noyola said of the remodel. “Looking at the greater vision of LA 28, it’s needed. But at what cost?”

Southern California is in for a wet week, with the potential for what the weather service is calling "widespread" impacts.

Ahead of the heavy rain, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has issued an evacuation warning for the Palisades, Sunset and Hurst burn scar areas due to the potential for mud and debris flows.

The warning is in effect from 9 p.m. on Sunday until 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

Storm details

When is the rain coming?

Rain is expected to arrive in Ventura and Los Angeles counties Sunday night, according to the National Weather Service.

When is the rain heaviest?

Weather forecast this week for Southern California.

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Courtesy NWS

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Moderate to heavy rain is expected early Monday, with significant snow and damaging winds starting at about 3 a.m. Heaviest impacts, including the possibility of widespread flooding and thunderstorms, are expected to last until around 9 p.m.

Rain continues all week

Light rain is expected to continue Tuesday through Friday.

Upcoming weather alerts for L.A.

• A Flood Watch will go into effect on Monday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• A Wind Advisory will go into effect Monday, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• A High Surf Advisory will go into effect Monday at 10 a.m. through Thursday, Feb. 19 at 9 a.m. for the Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey, San Pedro and Port of Los Angeles areas. Angelenos are encouraged to avoid the ocean.
• A Gale Watch, which includes sustained surface winds near coastal areas, will go into effect Monday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for all inner waters near the Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey, San Pedro and Port of Los Angeles areas. Angelenos are encouraged to avoid boating until the weather is calmer.

Today, millions of Angelenos use the Central Library downtown (which turns 100 this year) and over 70 branch locations to access the Los Angeles Public Library’s collection of over 8 million books.

But this juggernaut wasn’t created overnight. What started with just 750 books in 1872 was transformed in part because of city librarian Everett Perry, a visionary who wanted books to be easy to access. Here’s a look at how his influence can still be felt today.

A library in disarray 

Perry got the job as top librarian in L.A. after working at the New York Public Library, which opened a main building during his tenure. He was accustomed to growth.

But when he arrived in 1911, the Los Angeles Public Library was struggling. With no permanent location, it had moved several times into different rented spaces, the most recent being in the Hamburger's Department Store, where patrons had to ride an elevator to check out books in between women’s clothes and furniture.

Perry aired his grievances in a 1912 library report.

Everett Robbins Perry in 1911.

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Witzel Photo

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Los Angeles Public Library Institutional Collection

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“The modern library aims to be a vital force in a community,” he wrote. “It can not perform this function, if its usefulness is limited by an inaccessible location.”

This is an early look into his ethos as librarian. Perry was part of a progressive crop of librarians, whose ideas were shifting about how books should be stored and used by the public.

His goal was to create a library system focused on great service and that rivaled the very best on the East Coast. With others, he pushed for a central library to be built, funded by a $2 million bond measure. Voters passed that in the 1920s, which led to the creation of the impressive Art Deco building that still stands downtown.

But what was perhaps even more impressive was how he infused the building with novel ideas about how to make reading more accessible.

One key example was his decision to set up subject departments. For decades prior, libraries stored books on fixed shelves (these couldn’t be adjusted), so they were usually sorted by size or acquisition date. Libraries had only recently moved to the not-very-user-friendly Dewey decimal system.

By grouping books under subjects, Perry made it much easier for people to find what they wanted. His idea was so successful that it eventually spread to other libraries across the country.

Another innovation was where you could read the books. Perry put the circulation and card catalog area in the center of the floor, which was surrounded by book stacks and reading rooms along the edges. That meant they were next to the windows and full of natural light, which according to LAPL, wasn’t customary at the time.

The reference room of the Main Library, seen circa 1913, was in an enclosed section on the third floor of the Hamburger Building, a department store.

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Los Angeles Public Library Institutional Collection

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Building a teaching program

Perry earned a reputation as a fair, iron-fist leader who wanted top-notch library practices.

He issued a rulebook for staff that covered everything from the janitor’s responsibility to make brooms last longer to requiring librarians to go with patrons to find books.

But Perry’s legacy also includes the next generation of librarians. In 1914, he revamped an aging LAPL librarian training program into a full-fledged, accredited library school that was known as the best in California.

Artist Dean Cornwell, left, shows his proposal for the Central Library rotunda murals to city librarian Everett Perry sometime in the 1920s.

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Los Angeles Public Library Institutional Collection

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The history department at the Central Library in 1926. This was one of the largest reading rooms of the library.

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Mott Studios

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Los Angeles Public Library Legacy Collection

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He aimed to professionalize librarianship by encouraging men to apply (it had commonly been women), urging all applicants to have at least some college-level education, and creating a formal internship program. The program covered technical librarian skills, as well new coursework that compared how other libraries functioned across the country.

Perry served for over two decades until his death in 1933.

His achievements were numerous. Aside from getting the Central Library built, he grew the staff from 98 to 600, helped the 200,000-book collection balloon to 1.5 million, and added dozens of more branch libraries.

In 2018 he was inducted into the California Library Hall of Fame.

Federal immigration agents have left a U.S. Coast Guard facility that's been a key staging area for them in the Port of L.A., according to U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragan who represents the area.

Since last summer, agents have been using the base on Terminal Island as a launch point for operations.

In a statement to LAist, Barragan, a Democrat, says she confirmed with the Coast Guard last night that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol have vacated the base. She says it's unclear at this time whether the move is permanent or if agents are moving to another location in L.A. County.

Local officials and community groups are celebrating the agents' departure from Terminal Island. Volunteers with the Harbor Area Peace Patrols have been monitoring agent activity for months, tracking vehicles and sharing information with advocacy networks.

Earlier this week, the group said it received reports of the department.