The Brief

Drive to any busy part of L.A., and discussions often turn to parking within a matter of minutes. Go to any local government meeting on new housing, and parking tends to come up even faster.

So it may be surprising to hear that in car-centric Los Angeles, thousands of new apartments are now being developed with little to no on-site parking.

Some neighbors worry any influx of renters without dedicated spots of their own will turn the hunt for street parking into a bloodsport. But housing advocates say there are good reasons to build without parking. Eliminating parking requirements brings construction costs down and makes rents more affordable. They say lack of easy parking also encourages residents to use climate-friendly public transportation options.

“We all want to park free — including me,” said Donald Shoup, a UCLA urban planning professor. “The problem with parking requirements is that in some cases the required parking is so expensive that the developer never even thinks about proposing a development.”

Shoup literally wrote the book on this subject. His seminal 2005 text The High Cost of Free Parking explores how parking requirements have raised construction costs and reduced the types of housing that make financial sense to develop on expensive urban land.

That’s because, Shoup said, “a lot of buildings aren't built” due to parking requirements, “especially small apartment buildings.”

Why parking is no longer a given in new L.A. apartments

Recent changes in state law have allowed developers to ditch on-site parking in many parts of L.A. County — an idea that would have been unthinkable in previous decades.

Laura Friedman, a Burbank state assembly member, authored a 2022 law that bans cities from requiring parking in apartment buildings within half a mile of a major public transit stop.

The state’s density bonus law also lets 100% affordable projects reduce or eliminate on-site parking.

Most of L.A.’s new low-income projects have zero parking

Developers in the city of L.A. are now seizing these opportunities, rolling out plans for thousands of new parking-free apartments.

A recent analysis from real estate data firm ATC Research found that 73% of projects being proposed through L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’s affordable housing fast-tracking program ED1 feature no on-site parking.

Some of those projects have drawn the ire of neighborhood groups.

“We have neighbors who have lived in our neighborhoods for years and they are accustomed to using a car,” said Conrad Starr, president of the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, which has expressed opposition to two ED1 projects in Larchmont and Windsor Village with no parking.

Existing residents may end up needing to park many blocks away from where they live, Starr said, which can pose real challenges for senior citizens or families with young children.

“I'm primarily a bike rider, and I wish more people would ride bikes,” Starr said. “While we are creating new solutions as a city, and new opportunities for lifestyles that don’t require owning a personal car, that's just not going to solve it for everybody who's already here.”

Starr said one recent neighborhood council meeting regarding an ED1 project in Larchmont drew record attendance. Opponents flooded the council with letters expressing concern about the 52-unit affordable housing project’s lack of parking.

“Those of us who live nearby and shop in Larchmont know how crowded the streets are,” wrote resident Karen Fischer. “Parking is almost impossible both on weekends and weekdays, completely inconveniencing residents who live on streets adjacent to Larchmont Boulevard. This is the wrong place for more development.”

A Metro Rail train carries passengers toward Los Angeles along the 210 Freeway.

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On-site parking boosts construction costs, increases rents 

Housing advocates say eliminating parking requirements has enabled developers to build lots of new housing that’s affordable to L.A. renters with lower incomes.

Most ED1 units will be reserved for households earning up to 80% of the area’s median income — $70,650 for a one-person household — with studio apartments renting for no more than $1,766 per month under current limits. If parking were required in these buildings, ED1 proponents say, rents would be much higher.

Studies have shown that providing on-site parking in California raises apartment construction costs by around $36,000 per unit and increases rents by about $200 per month.

Scott Epstein, policy director for Abundant Housing L.A.. said scrapping parking is a no-brainer when L.A. needs to plan for 185,000 units of low-income housing by 2029 under state law.

“When you're in an emergency of this proportion and you're trying to build housing for folks, what's more important — more housing units or more space for cars?” Epstein said. “It's not a hard choice in my book.”

Parking requirements continue in many areas

Parking mandates remain in place for L.A. County projects that are further away from major public transit options. But local lawmakers are slowly chipping away at those requirements.

Last week, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted in favor of rules for unincorporated parts of the county requiring one parking spot per apartment — regardless of the number of bedrooms — in buildings with 10 units or less. Previous rules often required two spots per unit.

The new rules also allow larger projects to cut the amount of required parking by up to 50% if developers provide perks such as car-share spots, electric bike charging or space for small grocery stores.

The five-member Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pass these parking reductions, but not without some trepidation. Before the vote, Supervisor Janice Hahn said, “I think we're going to have some unintended consequences from this — some problems.”

What L.A. housing looked like before parking mandates

Gartz Court in Pasadena is an example of a bungalow court, which were popular in Southern California before cars became the dominant form of transportation.

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Epstein said Abundant Housing L.A. had hoped to see the county stick with an early draft of the rules, which removed parking mandates entirely for projects with 10 units or less.

He points out there’s precedent in L.A. history.

“I used to live in a bungalow court,” Epstein said, referring to the small, detached rental home complexes developers once built here at large scale. While most of these bungalow courts predate the widespread adoption of automobiles, Epstein said, “The building form, I think, is still very relevant for Los Angeles.”

Shoup, the UCLA professor, said the dawn of parking requirements in the early to mid-20th century all but killed the bungalow court and other low-rise forms of rental housing that didn’t allow for the required two parking spots per unit.

“The dingbats disappeared, but so did almost all small apartment buildings,” Shoup said. “The kind of housing that people loved in L.A. was just swept away by the first parking requirements.”

Some developers still choose to provide parking

Getting rid of parking requirements hasn’t meant that L.A. developers are always choosing to eliminate parking. Many still plan to provide it.

Tracey Burns is vice president of Century Housing, a lender for affordable housing projects in L.A. She said nixing parking makes the most sense in areas with plentiful bus lines or train stations. Car-free tenants in those neighborhoods appreciate not having to pay more for a parking spot they’ll never use. In less transit-rich areas, discounted rent might not be enough to lure tenants who still rely on cars — and a place to park them.

“In areas such as the San Fernando Valley, where Metro transportation is limited, we as a lender will put on our risk hat and assess whether this development would be able to fully lease up,” Burns said.

There’s also a state bill that, if passed, could make it difficult for tenants to own a car in one of these buildings. Senate Bill 834, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino of Glendale, aims to ban cities from issuing overnight street parking permits to residents in new parking-free apartments.

“We know that the elimination of parking does not reduce vehicle ownership,” Burns said. “Angelenos still depend on their cars. But we also know that people need a place to live before parking so it's kind of like a double-edged sword.”

Cars drive down Fairfax Avenue, where developer Jason Grant plans to build low-income apartments with no parking.

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Reality check: Will future Angelenos still need a place to park? 

According to U.S Census Bureau data, less than 9% of L.A. County households are completely car-free. Some developers hope investments in public transit — and Silicon Valley efforts to make private car ownership obsolete — could one day reduce L.A.’s need for abundant parking.

Jason Grant, founder of Local Development LLC, recently attended an L.A. City Council committee meeting to speak against a challenge to a 100% affordable project he’s developing on Fairfax Avenue. Opponents with the group North Orange Grove Residents have seized on the 26-unit project’s lack of parking.

On his way to the meeting, Grant saw something that put the whole fight in perspective.

“I'm on Beverly and La Brea, and I'm looking left at this Waymo car,” Grant said. “There was nobody in the vehicle. It was driving itself.”

Grant estimated that excavating land and pouring concrete to create an underground parking structure for the Fairfax project would cost upwards of $1 million.

“Yeah, I'm going to remove a million-dollar parking lot,” Grant said. “Because the parking will probably become obsolete in the next five to 10 years.”

The city council’s planning and land use committee unanimously voted down the challenge to the Fairfax project.

How to watchdog your local government

For people who live in L.A., the Board of Supervisors and City Council have the most direct impact on housing in your neighborhood.

• Learn more about who influences local housing policy
  

The best way to keep tabs on your own local government is by attending public meetings for your city council or local boards. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Find meeting schedules and agendas: City councils usually meet at least twice a month, although larger ones may meet weekly. Committees and boards tend to meet less often, typically once a month. You can find the schedule and meeting agenda on your local government’s website, or posted physically at your local city hall. Find more tips here.

  • Find L.A. City Council agendas and meeting dates
  • Find meetings for L.A. city boards and commissions
  • Find L.A. County agendas and meeting dates
• Learn the jargon: Closed session, consent calendars and more! We have definitions for commonly used terms here.
• How to give public comment: Every public meeting allows community members to give comment, whether or not it’s about something on the agenda. The meeting agenda will have specific instructions for giving public comment. Review more details here.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle four lawsuits by people who were injured in collisions with Sheriff’s Department patrol cars.

The payouts come amid increased scrutiny of crashes by law enforcement officers. It has emerged as a major national issue, with cities across the country paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts because of vehicle collisions involving officers, deputies or agents.

In the latest L.A. County payouts, tied to collisions that happened between 2018 and 2020, all plaintiffs said deputies were negligent when they crashed into their cars.

County supervisors settled the lawsuits during an open-session vote Tuesday. The county admitted no wrongdoing.

A collision in Paramount

Freddy Ontiveros and Antonio De La Cruz Zamora were hit from behind in 2018 in the city of Paramount, according to their lawsuit filed in Superior Court. They alleged in the suit that a sheriff’s deputy “rear ended the vehicle which was stopped behind plaintiff's vehicle, pushing the vehicle into plaintiff's vehicle causing plaintiff personal injuries and property damage.”

The deputy was responding to a call of a robbery in progress and had activated the lights and sirens on the vehicle.

A review of the Crash Data Retrieval system found the deputy was traveling south on Paramount Boulevard at 75 mph and slowed to 35 mph at the time of the collision, according to a corrective action plan presented to the board Tuesday.

“The collision investigation concluded that the deputy sheriff caused the collision as he was driving at an unsafe speed for traffic conditions,” the plan stated.

The case settled for $1.75 million.

Later, the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station — which covers Paramount — conducted a review of all traffic collisions for the calendar year 2020 through the end of 2024. The audit revealed there were 196 total collisions for this five-year period, 129 of which were classified as preventable and 67 classified as non-preventable.

“To improve employee safety and reduce the Department's liability and exposure, Lakewood supervisors continue to conduct bi-weekly briefings which focus on the importance of safe driving as well as abiding by all the rules of the road when operating county vehicles,” the plan stated.

Other collisions

In a separate incident, Shannon Story had a green light at Palmdale intersection on Oct. 27, 2019. According to her complaint, a deputy ran a red light and crashed into Story’s vehicle as she entered the intersection. The impact of the collision caused Story’s vehicle to crash into the corner wall of a 7-Eleven convenience store.

“Plaintiff sustained significant injuries as a result of the collision,” her complaint read. She settled the case for $1.2 million.

In another case filed by Jose Gaitan, he says a sheriff’s deputy in a department vehicle rear-ended his car. LAist was not immediately able to get further details on the crash. He settled for $450,000.

The summary corrective action plan for a fourth collision describes how a deputy was backing up to make contact with a suspect when he ran into a car driven by Alejandra Gonzalez. The deputy “reversed approximately two to three feet and collided into the Plaintiff’s vehicle at approximately 5-10 mph.”

Gonzalez settled for $1.5 million.

With only 100 days to go before the FIFA World Cup, what should have been a period of celebration is turning instead into one of turmoil.

The U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran have raised major questions about whether the Persian country will withdraw from the 48-squad tournament — a step no other country has taken after qualifying since 1950 when Scotland, as well as others such as India and Turkey, decided not to participate in part tied to travel costs to the games in Brazil.

But Iran's participation is not the only uncertainty. Violence in Mexico following the killing of a cartel boss sparked questions about the country's ability to attract fans, while concerns about funding for U.S. host cities have also flared up in recent weeks.

And then there is the outrage over the ticket prices, and controversy surrounding President Donald Trump and his administration's policies, including military actions and immigration enforcement.

Angst in the runup to World Cup tournaments is nothing new. Concerns about violence preceded the 2010 and 2014 World Cup tournaments in South Africa and Brazil, while the selection of Russia and Qatar as hosts for the last previous two tournaments also sparked controversies of their own.

But no World Cup men's tournament has been this big before, with 48 teams set to play 104 matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. And no recent World Cup has been staged amidst so much global geopolitical uncertainty.

Here are the top areas of concern ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

Will Iran withdraw?

It was the top question surrounding the FIFA World Cup as the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran this weekend. So far there's no indication that Iran plans to withdraw, whether to boycott it or for other reasons.

Iran is one of the stronger squads in Asia and is set to play its seventh World Cup this year.

Iran Football Federation President Mehdi Taj acknowledged the uncertainty on Iranian TV, according to Reuters and other media.

"What we can say now is that due to this attack and its viciousness, it is far from our expectations that we can look at the World Cup with hope," Taj said according to the wire agency.

Iran is set to play two games against New Zealand and Belgium in Los Angeles, home to a large Iranian diaspora community. The country will also play Egypt in Seattle.

FIFA has not directly weighed in. Its general secretary, Mattias Grafstrom, said on Sunday the organization would continue to "monitor the developments around all issues around the world."

"We had the final draw in Washington, where all teams participated. Our focus is to have a safe Word Cup with everyone participating," Grafstrom said.

Whether Iran participates at the World Cup may be in doubt, but at least one thing is certain: its fans will find it difficult to travel to the U.S. given that Iran is one of a handful of countries that faces a travel ban, though it doesn't affect the team and its coaches.

Iran's players pose for a team picture ahead of a FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying game against North Korea at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran on June 10, 2025.

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Will Mexico be safe for visitors?

The flare-up of violence by armed groups across the country after Mexico killed cartel boss Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes last month has sparked concerns about safety and security at one of the co-hosts of the tournament.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has asserted there will be no risks when the country stages the World Cup, while FIFA President Gianni Infantino has expressed his "total confidence" in Mexico.

Mexico is set to host 13 games for the World Cup, including four in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco where Oseguera Cervante's group is primarily based and where much of the violence took place.

Concerns about violence are not new. Questions about safety also were raised ahead of the South Africa 2010 World Cup as well as Brazil in 2014 — and both countries ended up successfully hosting their respective tournaments.

Will American host cities get funding?

Concerns about finances are a perennial concern ahead of major sports events — and the U.S. is proving no different.

The 11 American host cities still have not received $625 million in federal funding for security costs that are critical to staging the tournament, including in Foxborough, Mass. The funding was supposed to be provided by the Department of Homeland Security through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

A FEMA spokesperson directed NPR to a recent posting on X from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem noting that "FEMA was in the final stages of reviewing applications to ensure proper oversight" but that the partial shutdown affecting the agency — for which she blamed Democrats — had put "significant portions of the FEMA staff on administrative leave."

For some host cities, the matter is becoming urgent. The White House FIFA World Cup Task Force has not yet responded to NPR's queries.

"Without receiving this money, it could be catastrophic for our planning and coordination," Ray Martinez, the chief operating officer for the Miami Host Committee, told a congressional hearing according to Politico.

Will fans be priced out of the tournament?

Perhaps no issue more directly affects fans than the staggering high costs they are facing to attend the World Cup.

FIFA has set the highest ticket prices ever for a World Cup, making tickets to the tournament unaffordable for many fans. Its use of dynamic pricing has also sparked controversy; the most expensive tickets to the final in New Jersey initially sold at over $6,300 only to jump to nearly $8,700 in later sales.

The MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., is set to host eight games in the 2026 World Cup, including the final set for July 19, 2026.

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Not only are ticket prices high — the cost of travel and lodging has surged. Yet despite all the challenges, FIFA claimed it had received over 500 million ticket requests in its last sales window.

That said, FIFA has provided little additional information to back up its claims, making it difficult to determine whether the demand is concentrated just in high profile games such as Colombia against Portugal in Miami or mainly focused in high-profile teams such as Argentina.

Will President Trump and his policies deter fans?

Perhaps the biggest unknown is the effect that Trump and his administration's policies will have on attending the World Cup.

The administration's travel restrictions not only affects Iranian fans, they also hit fans of three other countries that have already qualified for the tournament: Senegal, Ivory Coast and Haiti.

President Trump and his policies remain controversial both at home and abroad. Earlier this year, when Trump threatened to invade Greenland, some European officials raised the prospect of a boycott though the moves never prospered. Even former FIFA President Sepp Blatter encouraged fans to "stay away" from the U.S.

And the latest U.S. and Israel attacks against Iran — which follow the U.S. capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro — have brought renewed attention to FIFA's controversial awarding of its peace prize at the tournament's draw ceremony in Washington, D.C., in December.

The U.S. has already seen a sharp decrease in visitors for a number of reasons, including increased scrutiny at the border (such as a requirement to potentially share social media posts), as well as unease about violence because of high-profile killings involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Oxford Economics projects a rise in visitors tied to the World Cup, so the number of visitors could at least partially recover this year, though other research points to a reduced number of visitors from Europe to the U.S. this year.

It's yet another sign of uncertainty in what is set to be the biggest-ever tournament with only 100 days to go.
Copyright 2026 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Below 40-degree temperatures didn’t stop a running crew of women from gathering before sunrise in Lincoln Heights on one of L.A.’s coldest mornings this year. 

Bundled up in beanies and gloves, they warmed up by stretching their arms and legs before setting off into residential streets. They logged three miles in just over 30 minutes.

But this isn’t your regular run club.

As they run through El Sereno, Cypress Park, Highland Park and Lincoln Heights, they scan intersections for suspicious or unmarked vehicles. They slow down near bus stops with early risers on their way to work. They greet street vendors selling tamales.

They’re the N.E.L.A Patrol Runners, and they’re looking for immigration agents.

The group formed in February, amid heightened anxiety in Northeast L.A., where federal agents have taken day laborers at the Cypress Park Home Depot and detained a food vendor in Highland Park as recently as last month. In neighborhoods with high immigrant populations, founder Claudia Yanez said she saw a need for neighbors to look out for each other in real time. 

The idea came to 30-year-old Yanez while on a recent run in her El Sereno neighborhood, when she found herself “unconsciously patrolling.”

“If you live in areas targeted [by ICE], you’re already looking out,” Yanez said.

While groups across Los Angeles, including Unión del Barrio, the Harbor Area Peace Patrols in Terminal Island, and the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network, conduct rapid response efforts, Yanez said their patrol runs are rooted specifically in Northeast L.A.. 

Their mission, she said, is “to defend from ICE terrorism.”

The N.E.L.A Patrol Runners stretch on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, before beginning their run toward the Home Depot in Cypress Park.

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They start at 6 a.m. and typically run two to three miles at an 11- to 12-minute mile pace, allowing them to stop, investigate and document any vehicles that could be linked to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If they spot anything suspicious, they would quickly call Unión del Barrio.

The goal is not to physically interfere, but to document and alert neighbors of ICE activity nearby. 

“As a runner, you kind of already have eyes out,” said Yanez, who recently attended a patrol training with the Community Self-Defense Coalition.

“You’re not in a car, so you’re able to see things a little more clearly, closely and slower.”

As Yanez recruits for more runners, a pinned post on the group’s Instagram reads: “Do you like running and hate ICE? Join N.E.L.A. Patrol Runners.”

So far, the group is made up of a small but consistent set of runners — all women.

“I need men to show up,” Yanez said. 

With a handful of runners, “we’re also vulnerable,” she said. “When it’s a big group of people, especially if we’re actively patrolling, we need numbers so it could feel safer.”

To Yanez, this work is a shared responsibility. “I feel like we all have a part to play right now,” she said.

The NELA Patrol Runners jog on Daly Street in Lincoln Heights.

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Ultimately, Yanez hopes their efforts do more than monitor immigration agents. She hopes to also build community and reassurance. “The more we do it, the more we get to know our neighbors,” she said. She wants vendors and others to find comfort knowing: “They’re looking out for us.”

The N.E.L.A Patrol Runners drew inspiration from the Huntington Park Run Club, a group that began tracking and verifying ICE activity after agents in early June raided the Home Depot on Slauson Avenue and State Street. 

“We’ve always responded to the needs of the community,” said Iris Delgado, 34, founder of the Huntington Park Run Club. “That’s what people have known about us.”

Since its founding in 2024, the run club has advocated for pedestrian safety after a relative of a run club member was hit by a vehicle; they’ve also discussed the role of men in keeping each other safe after one of their runners was sexually harassed at a local park. 

“When the raids happened in June, it was like, ‘OK, this is another safety component,” Delgado said.

The run club morphed into providing community self-defense tactics. 

Members of the run club trained with the Boyle Heights Immigrant Rights Network to learn how to monitor ICE activity as people began sending footage of reported immigration raids to their Instagram account. They raised and distributed money for local day laborers and street vendors, and helped establish a community defense center at the nearby Home Depot.

Their efforts inspired the creation of the Southeast Los Angeles Rapid Response Network.

For Delgado, running in your neighborhood is a source of pride and joy. “No matter what’s happening, we’re still outside,” she said.

“The role of a person who runs, who’s able-bodied, is to be aware of why other people in your community don’t feel safe running … and try to make it a little bit safer for them,” Delgado said. 

“When the N.E.L.A. Patrol runners first started, I was like, ‘Hell, yeah,’” Delgado said. “When people take it as their responsibility to look out for each other, that’s what makes the community safer.”

A N.E.L.A. Patrol Runners sign can be seen on the window of a coffee shop in Highland Park.

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In Cypress Park, the N.E.L.A. Patrol runners last Friday jogged toward the Home Depot on Figueroa, where last fall a toddler was among six people taken in an immigration raid.

“Buenos dias, chicas,” a tamalera said, greeting them.

“Bien despiertas,” a passerby said. 

The runners reached the Home Depot parking lot, slowed down and walked closely toward parked trucks to ensure the vehicles were not the kind typically used by ICE. 

They determined the scene was clear and ran back to complete their patrol. Another quiet morning – for now.

ICE has released Cambodian Genocide survivor Sithy Yi from immigration detention following an order by a federal judge.

Yi, who fled the genocide and came to the U.S. with her family in 1981, was detained by ICE at a routine immigration check-in in Santa Ana on Jan. 8 and held at the Adelanto Detention Facility for almost two months.

In response to a lawsuit arguing that she was being held unconstitutionally, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela issued an order Friday requiring ICE to “immediately release” Yi. The order also prevents the agency from deporting Yi without providing an opportunity to be heard by a neutral arbiter and bans ICE from transferring her outside the court’s jurisdiction.

The ruling says the government did not oppose Yi’s request for the court to order her released. Her attorney had alleged ICE failed to follow procedural requirements such as showing she violated any conditions of her release or proving that she would likely be deported in the “reasonably foreseeable future.”

Reunited with her family

Yi was released Monday and has returned to her family, according to her attorney. Yi’s family includes her mother and two sisters she helped to survive starvation and mass killings at the hands of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia before they came to the U.S. as refugees.

Retaliation allegations against detention center staff

Yi’s attorney says that in addition to the court’s findings, she believes her client’s Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment was violated while detained at Adelanto.

“ She was retaliated against by security and medical personnel because she had been communicating with her family, and through her family with me. And we've been reporting about these conditions to Sen. [Adam] Schiff, as well as other members of Congress. And somehow word got back and she was retaliated against,” her attorney Kim Luu-Ng told LAist’s AirTalk on Tuesday.

“She was verbally abused, but she was also punished. She was not allowed to use the bathroom. She was not allowed to shower,” Luu-Ng continued.

“It is absolutely freezing in the detention center, but they don't care. She said to me that she has to wrap herself in blankets, but they're still freezing.”

Yi and other detainees were regularly getting sick from spoiled food served at the facility.

“These are civil detainees. These are not criminal detainees. And there are laws in this country that are supposed to protect against this type of punitive and cruel treatment of detainees,” Luu-Ng added.

She said that in many ways, she feels “criminal detainees have even more rights than civil detainees. And so this is a real crisis.”

Why Yi was released

Luu-Ng has represented Yi since her immigration case began in 2013. Yi was first brought to immigration court after a drug conviction her family says stemmed from untreated mental health issues from being tortured as a child and prolonged exposure to abuse into adulthood.

Her immigration case ended in 2016, with a judge ruling to withhold an order of removal due to concerns she would be tortured if she were deported to Cambodia.

Yi also applied for a U visa — a type of visa providing temporary immigration status to crime victims who have cooperated with law enforcement — in 2022. That visa application is still pending.

Judge Valenzuela explained her reasoning for the order, writing in the document that ICE did not oppose a motion by Yi’s lawyer requesting she be released. Luu-Ng claimed in the motion that ICE detained her client without following required steps, such as showing she violated any conditions of her release or proving that she would likely be deported in the “reasonably foreseeable future.”

Valenzuela also pointed to another case against ICE where she granted an order for Ramy Hakim to be released based on similar circumstances Jan. 22. Hakim was detained at a regular immigration check-in Dec. 19 despite receiving protections in 2004 against being deported to Egypt where he would likely be tortured. He was held at the same Adelanto facility as Yi.

“The facts are a Biden-appointed activist judge ordered this criminal illegal alien released into American communities," a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an emailed statement. The spokesperson said Yi was ordered to be removed from the country in 2016 had “received full due process.”

Yi’s attorney says ICE kept her detained through the weekend despite the judge ordering her to be released immediately.

 ”ICE doesn't work on the weekends,” Luu-Ng said. “Any minute that my client was detained beyond the time that the order was issued was an unconstitutional detention.”

ICE spokespeople have not responded to a request for comment about this allegation.