The Brief

California saw a 3.1% drop in private-sector employment the week immediately after the Trump administration stepped up its immigration raids in the state, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census data.

UC Merced researchers said the steep drop is second only to the unemployment surge the state experienced at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and greater than the immediate decline during the Great Recession in 2007 and 2008.

This appears to be the first analysis of the data from the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey from the time when federal agents’ focus on the state became clear in early June, when a raid at a garment factory in downtown Los Angeles preceded weeks of sweeps and unrest.

The Census Bureau surveys Americans every month about whether they worked the week before. The UC Merced researchers compared survey results from the week of May 11 to the week of June 8, and found that in California, more citizens than non-citizens reported that they did not work the week after that first raid.

The percentage decline would equate to a loss in California of 271,541 jobs from citizens and 193,428 non-citizens, the report said.

“What we know from previous research is that the work that undocumented immigrants or non-citizens do does not exist in a vacuum,” Edward Flores, lead author of the report, told CalMatters. “If there’s disruptions to the work that undocumented immigrants do, it has ripple effects. A slowdown in one industry could cause slowdowns in other industries.”

That’s consistent with other studies that have shown that mass deportations of undocumented workers reduces job opportunities for U.S.-born workers, and studies that have shown the raids’ negative effects on local economies.

Flores, the faculty director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, said he plans to keep tracking and analyzing the Census data and will release similar reports as the federal immigration crackdown continues. He said he expects further escalations of raids because a new federal spending bill substantially increased funding for immigration enforcement.

The effects of the enforcement may continue to be felt more strongly in California. The report also showed that the number of male citizen workers slightly increased in the rest of the U.S. compared with California during the same periods.

White and Latino workers in California were the most affected, the researchers found. The number of Latinos in California who reported work between May and June declined 5.6%, while the number of whites in the state who reported work during the same period decreased 5.3%, according to the report.

The researchers recommended that state policymakers consider “significant action” that may include economic stimulus and disaster relief, similar to what was available during the pandemic.

Flores pointed out that undocumented immigrants lack a financial safety net, such as access to unemployment benefits. As they continue to lose work, that’s not just a problem for them and their families, but for the state.

“When low-income people spend money, they spend it on things they immediately need, which can stimulate the local economy,” he said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has twice vetoed California lawmakers’ attempts to extend unemployment benefits to undocumented workers. In addition, the state just cut Medi-Cal benefits to undocumented immigrants and froze new enrollments because of budget constraints.

When reached for comment, Tara Gallegos, spokesperson for Newsom, said: “Donald Trump’s ruthless and cruel raids have sent families into hiding, impacting our schools, churches, businesses and workforce — hurting not only California, but the entire nation.”

She added that the governor will continue to fight the Trump administration in court; the state has sued Trump over his deployment of Marines to Los Angeles soon after the stepped-up raids.

The California Finance Department closely monitors demographic and economic trends as it shapes state spending plans. When asked to comment about the UC Merced report, Finance Department spokesperson H.D. Palmer pointed to the “downside risk” mentioned in the state’s most recent economic forecast in the revised May budget. It stated that the Trump administration’s large-scale deportation program could “significantly degrade the state’s labor force.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

When Alberto Román was a boy growing up in the Mexican state of Durango, his father was often far from home. Most times, he’d be gone for months.

Román’s father, Javier, had a third-grade education. And when work was scarce in Mexico, he’d venture north to the United Sates and take whatever job he could find.

Javier washed cars. He worked in factories. He picked crops. He built houses.

“He was a guy you would find at Home Depot,” Román told LAist. “He did whatever it took to put food on the table and provide [his family] with shelter.”

Román missed his father terribly, and he relished the time alone with him. When his father would return to Mexico, they'd hike to a majestic statue of the revolutionary Pancho Villa, where Román and his father could also look out at their city.

Román did not know it then but, soon, that view would become a memory. When he was eight, his father returned; but, this time, Javier took his son, his daughter, and his wife with him back to the U.S. The family settled in Rialto, in California's Inland Empire. Suddenly, Román had a new home and new challenges to contend with.

A young Alberto Román (right) with his sister, mother and father in Durango, Mexico.

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Courtesy Alberto Román

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The move to Rialto unfurled a series of labels and experiences. Román became undocumented; an “English language learner”; a teenage father; a parenting student. With time, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen and, then, a first-generation college graduate who would one day earn a doctorate.

Today, Román serves as chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, which includes nine campuses and more than 200,000 students.

A lot of these students are parents like he was, Román said, and the vast majority of them have to work to help put themselves through school.

And many of them are also immigrants.

Leading LACCD's response to immigration policy

Román was appointed chancellor last May. Soon after, the Trump administration unleashed its militarized mass deportation effort, which included raids and a show of force throughout L.A. County.

One of the chancellor’s responsibilities is managing LACCD’s response to the Trump administration.

Undocumented college students in the U.S. are racially and ethnically diverse. California has an estimated 100,000 undocumented students, who make up a small percentage of the overall higher ed population. The majority of those undocumented students are enrolled in community colleges.

In conversation with LAist, Román referred to the ongoing raids and immigration detentions as “inhumane.” He also described the experience of a student whose father didn’t come home one night. After being detained by immigration agents, Román said, the student’s family “didn't know where he was for two months.”

The student was 20 years old when her father was taken. Overnight, she became the head of her household. Now, on top of fulfilling her responsibilities at school, she has to figure out how to keep herself and her younger siblings housed and fed.

To support students in mixed-status families, the district’s Dream Resource Centers provide them with legal support, temporary housing options, additional mental health services and food vouchers.

Alouette Cervantes-Salazar coordinates East Los Angeles College’s Dream Resource Center, which provides support and services for undocumented students; DACA and TPS recipients; and students in mixed-status families.

According to Cervantes-Salazar, the Trump administration’s deportation effort has transformed campus life. When the raids began last summer, she said, “quite a bit” of students who used to take classes in person moved to complete the semester online.

For some, Cervantes-Salazar added, online coursework has become preferable because it enables students to better juggle school and work. For others, the fear of getting to and from campus amid roving immigration patrols has become a decisive factor.

Whether the Dream Resource Centers' support will be enough to meet student needs remains to be seen, but Román takes their stories to heart.

“These are the stories of our community,” he said. “These are the stories of our students. These are the stories of their parents. And they are our stories, because they come to us for an education.”

From 'English language learner' to college graduate  

Román’s story in the U.S. began in the 1980s. After moving to California, it took Román about two years to learn enough English to communicate with his classmates. Until then, his time in school was lonely.

Back then, dual language immersion programs — an educational model that teaches students in English and another language (such as Spanish or Mandarin) to achieve biliteracy — were rare in the U.S. At Román’s elementary school, he said, they were nonexistent.

To help him learn English, Román’s educators placed him in a separate room for about three hours a day. He was given a stack of books. His job was to put on headphones, listen to audio recordings of the texts and do his best to follow along.

When Román tried speaking English, some students made fun of his accent. A bilingual child who struggled with Spanish was tasked with serving as his interpreter.

Román said he cried to his parents. “I'm not happy here,” he told them. "Let's go back.”

His parents made it clear that returning to Mexico was not an option. They’d been poor and had limited schooling, and they wanted something different for their children. Though neither of Román’s parents got to finish high school, he said, they were determined to send their children to college.

Román’s older sister graduated at the top of her class and went on to UCLA. Román aimed to follow in her footsteps.

But, when he was a high school senior, Román learned his girlfriend was pregnant. He was 17, and he wasn’t sure how fatherhood would square with pursuing higher education.

When Román told his parents there was a baby on the way, they remained steadfast. "Now you have all the more reason to go to college," his father told him. That fall, Román enrolled at UC Riverside.

To help provide for his son, Román got a job at Payless ShoeSource, where he worked up to 40 hours a week. When possible, Román stacked his classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to keep the rest of the week open for work.

“It was tough,” Román said. “I was getting home at 10, 10:30 at night, trying to read, trying to do essays, trying to be a father.”

“In moments of weakness,” he added, he contemplated quitting school. But, like his parents, Román wanted a better life for his son.

Román and his son in the 1990s, when the now-LACCD chancellor was an undergrad at UC Riverside.

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Courtesy Alberto Román

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Román graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1999. When he crossed the stage at his commencement ceremony, his child, his parents and his sister beamed from the audience.

Today, Román connects his lived experience to that of students at the district, 70% of whom study part-time. “That’s because they're working, because they have families,” he said.

Last spring, Román watched thousands of new graduates embrace their loved ones after receiving their diplomas at a commencement ceremony at the Greek Theatre.

“When I see my students on stage waving their degrees — despite all the challenges they face — that award is so much more meaningful,” he said. “I know what they went through.”

Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating the end of Ramadan this week! If doughnuts are part of your tradition, find out why, as LAist’s Yusra Farzan digs into the history of this Eid specialty.

Licorice Pizza has your music picks; on Monday, you can celebrate the best in pop at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Dolby Theatre, while on Tuesday, R&B singer Son Little plays the Troubadour. Tuesday and Wednesday, New Orleans songstress Madeleine Peyroux presents WE ARE AMERICA: Songs That Give Us Hope at the Blue Note. Also on Wednesday, shoegaze stars Nothing are at the Belasco, and a whole bunch of bold-faced names will be at “Toby Gad & Friends” at the Hotel Café. On Thursday, hip-hop legend Talib Kweli plays the Blue Note, Australian dance artist 1tbsp plays the Fonda, Irish indie-pop duo 49th & Main play the El Rey Theatre and Canadian folksters The Barr Brothers play their first of two nights at the Troubadour with support from Benjamin Lazar Davis.

Elsewhere on LAist, you can check out the history of restaurant menus in Koreatown, meet the local veterans performing Shakespeare or grab a ticket for our dance class with Alvin Ailey Dance Theater on March 24 — no experience required!

Events

JR: Horizons

Through Saturday, April 25
Perrotin
5040 W. Pico Blvd., Mid-City
COST: FREE; MORE INFO 

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JR

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Courtesy Galerie Perrotin

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Back in 2017, I took a road trip to Tecate, Mexico to see French photo artist JR’s enormous installation — a towering image of a child peering over the Mexican border across to the same, dusty Southern California landscape on the other side. It was a powerful message about humanity, immigration and social justice. He brings that photo and many more to a new solo show, Horizons, on view now at Perrotin.

WORDTheatre's The Ocean: Our Liquid Universe

Thursday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.
Saban Theatre
8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills
COST: FROM $30; MORE INFO

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Courtesy WORDTheatre

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If you haven’t been to a WORDTheatre event, you’re in for a treat, as actors and musicians take to the Saban stage to present stories and songs from the sea. Producer Cedering Fox pairs performers with stories that speak to them, and brings short pieces to life in unique ways. This one kicks off with Sharon Stone and Lily Tomlin, and features performances from Dave Bayley of Glass Animals, Bruce Vilanch, Bellamy Young (Scandal) and many more who will share moving works about the importance of our oceans ahead of L.A. Climate Week. Plus, Best Things to Do readers can use the code LAist for 15% off all tickets.

Yoga at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Ongoing
6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood
COST: DONATION; MORE INFO 

Did you know there’s donation-based yoga, outside among the friendly spirits of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, several times a week? Start your day off with Kundalini, Vinyasa flow, or meditation with some of L.A.’s top teachers. Check the schedule and bring your mat, towel, water and, of course, sunscreen.

Richard Hell 

Thursday, March 19, 7 p.m.
Beyond Baroque 
681 Venice Blvd., Venice
COST: FREE, SOLD OUT BUT MAY BE AVAILABLE ONSITE DAY-OF; MORE INFO

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Courtesy NYRB Classics

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Punk icon Richard Hell heads to (where else) Venice to read from his novel, Godlike. A story about love between two young poets — a 27-year-old man and a teenage boy — is “based on Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine’s notorious affair, but set in the epochal downtown poetry scene of filthy 1970s New York.” Take yourself back to a grittier (and simpler) time. The event is sold out, but tickets may be available in person on the day of the reading.

Vendredi Sur Mer

Wednesday, March 18, 8 p.m. 
The Roxy 
9009 W. Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood 
COST: $35.25; MORE INFO 

I’ve been using French music and ChatGPT to practice my French language skills lately, so I’m pretty into Swiss songstress Vendredi Sur Mer. She brings her dreamy French synth-pop that evokes time in the Swiss Alps to the Roxy; her latest album, Malabar Princess, is out now.

St. Patrick’s Day Parking Lot Party 

Tuesday, March 17, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. 
Cat & Fiddle
742 Highland Ave., West Hollywood
COST: FREE, DRINK AND FOOD SPECIALS; MORE INFO 

Corned beef and cabbage, Guinness, whiskey specials and a burlesque show are all on tap at the annual St. Patrick’s Day party at the Cat & Fiddle pub. Raise a glass and say sláinte to another year of Irish luck.

ACB presents Blanchine: Twin Masterpieces

Through Friday, March 27
Bank of America Plaza
333 S. Hope Street, Downtown L.A.
COST: STARTING AT $65; MORE INFO

Show Timothée Chalamet who’s boss and go to the ballet. We have a great dance community in L.A., and this special performance from American Contemporary Ballet of two classic George Balanchine pieces — La Source (presented for the first time in Los Angeles in more than 40 years) and Concerto Barocco — displays the extraordinary talent required for ballet and the art form's lasting impact.

If 90 degree days in March are any indication, by the time the World Cup arrives in Los Angeles this summer, it could be really hot.

As L.A. prepares to host the global soccer tournament – and the Olympics in 2028 – organizers and local officials say that making sure fans and city infrastructure are ready to endure the heat is critical. That's especially true as the region gets warmer due to climate change.

That's no easy feat in Los Angeles, a city overflowing with practically shade-less palm trees, exposed bus stops and miles of asphalt.

" We're living in a new reality where heat is no longer a background condition – it's an operational threat, a public health emergency,"  Susana Reyes, Metro's head of sustainability policy, said at a recent county meeting on Olympics preparations. "[It] shows up first where people are most exposed: on the sidewalks, at bus stops, at stadium queuing lines and on long walks to and from transit."

L.A.'s making plans for locals and visitors who will be at SoFi Stadium, fan events, and watch parties. Those changes, though, will be temporary: pop-up hydration stations, shade structures and a public messaging campaign on how to stay safe in the heat.

Some say they hope the tournament can lead to more permanent investments in Los Angeles.

"The World Cup provides an opportunity… to test things out during the World Cup and then scale them up in advance of 2028," said Edith de Guzman with ShadeLA, a collaboration between USC and UCLA working with local governments to bring more permanent shade to the Los Angeles area.

What's LA's plan?

Los Angeles is counting on its public transit system to carry a lot of the burden when an influx of fans come to town this summer and again for the Olympic Games. That means many fans, local and visiting, will be on foot, the bus or train in a city that is famously car-centric.

" For major events like the World Cup and the Olympics, millions of visitors will rely on transit often during the hottest parts of the day," said Reyes, with Metro. " We are concerned about seniors, children, people with disabilities as they take public transit and are exposed under the heat of the sun."

Metro will deploy temporary pop-up shade structures and hydration stations at the bus stops it's setting up specifically to shuttle people to and from SoFi Stadium.

It will also launch a public messaging campaign starting next month, putting up signage on buses and at bus stops with tips on staying cool and avoiding heat illness.

A spokesperson with the mayor's office said the city will use similar tactics at its fan watch parties that are slated to take place across the city, and is collaborating with council districts and the Department of Parks and Recreation on shade structures and hydration stations.

Olympic deadlines for more shade, bus shelters, hydration stations

There are bigger expectations for L.A.'s plans to address the heat come 2028. The last two times the Olympics came to Los Angeles, the city launched major tree planting programs. L.A. planted tens of thousands of palm trees in the run up to 1932. An L.A. non-profit led the charge to plant one million trees ahead of the 1984 Games.

Planners are taking a different approach ahead of this Olympics, focusing on shade structures more broadly rather than specifically on planting trees.

Edith de Guzman with ShadeLA said that's because planting trees is resource intensive, requiring funds to plant and maintain the trees, especially in the first years after they've been planted. Planting trees also requires community buy-in.

" [Research] really points to shade as being the ingredient that is kind of a slam dunk way to create that safety that we seek," she said. " Trees are still our favorite type of cooling, but we're broadening it to also include more flexibility."

That means canopies, pop-up structures and infrastructure to create shade, with or without tree cover.

ShadeLA is working with the city, county and Olympics committee LA28 on a regional plan to bring more shade to communities ahead of 2028. It's created a map of communities lacking tree cover that are expected to see an influx of activity from the World Cup, Super Bowl and Olympics.

But many of the specifics are still to come. That's also true of LA28, which has promised to create a "Heat Mitigation Plan." A spokesperson told LAist that it was expected to be finished by mid-2027.

One permanent program already in the works will bring more shade to L.A.'s transit riders. The Bureau of Street Services is building 3,000 new bus shelters around the city to replace L.A.'s many exposed transit stops. According to Dan Halden with StreetsLA, the department has installed 300 shelters since 2024, and expects to add 200 more by 2028.

Still, L.A. has a long way to go. In L.A. County, urban areas have just 21% shade cover at noon on average, according to data from the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation – less than the national average of 27%. And it's only getting hotter. By 2050, average temperatures in the county are expected to rise by almost four degrees.

One Battle After Another took home best picture at the 98th Oscars on Sunday night.

It was a big night for director Paul Thomas Anderson, who also won best director and best adapted screenplay for the film. Cassandra Kulukundis, casting director of One Battle After Another, won the Academy's first-ever award for achievement in casting.

But the wins were spread out: Sinners writer and director Ryan Coogler won his first Oscar for best original screenplay, and actor Michael B. Jordan won his first, best actor, for playing twins — Smoke and Stack — in the vampire movie. Jessie Buckley won best actress for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet.

The ceremony even featured a tie between two live action short films: The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva. The last Oscar tie was in 2013, when Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall tied in the sound editing category.

Occasionally those on stage gestured toward the world beyond Hollywood: "No to war and free Palestine," Javier Bardem said on stage, presenting the award for best international feature film.

David Borenstein, co-director of winning feature documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin, said in his acceptance speech, "Mr. Nobody Against Putin is about how you lose your country. And what we saw when working with this footage … it's that you lose it through countless small, little acts of complicity. When we act complicit, when a government murders people on the streets of our major cities, when we don't say anything, when oligarchs take over the media and control how we can produce it and consume it, we all face a moral choice."

Co-director Pavel "Pasha" Talankin, who shot footage for the documentary while working at a Russian school, said onstage, "In the name of our future, in the name of all of our children, stop all of these wars now."

All of the winners are below, in bold.

Best picture

WINNER: One Battle After Another
Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

Performance by an actress in a leading role

WINNER: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson, Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
Emma Stone, Bugonia
Performance by an actor in a leading role

WINNER: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Achievement in directing

WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

WINNER: Amy Madigan, Weapons
Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

WINNER: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best animated feature film

WINNER: KPop Demon Hunters
Arco
Elio
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Best international feature film

WINNER: Sentimental Value, Norway
The Secret Agent, Brazil
It Was Just an Accident, France
Sirāt, Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia

Achievement in cinematography

WINNER: Sinners
Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams

Achievement in film editing

WINNER: One Battle After Another
F1
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Achievement in sound

WINNER: F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirāt

Original score

WINNER: Sinners, Ludwig Goransson
Bugonia, Jerskin Fendrix
Frankenstein, Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet, Max Richter
One Battle after Another, Jonny Greenwood

Best documentary feature film

WINNER: Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
The Perfect Neighbor

Best documentary short film

WINNER: All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: Were and Are Gone
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness

Best animated short film

WINNER: The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Butterfly
Forevergreen
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters

Best live action short film

WINNER: The Singers
WINNER: Two People Exchanging Saliva
Butcher's Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen's Period Drama

Achievement in casting

WINNER: One Battle after Another, Cassandra Kulukundis
Hamnet, Nina Gold
Marty Supreme, Jennifer Venditti
The Secret Agent, Gabriel Domingues
Sinners, Francine Maisler

Achievement in visual effects

WINNER: Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners

Achievement in production design

WINNER: Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Writing (original screenplay)

WINNER: Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler
Blue Moon, written by Robert Kaplow
It Was Just an Accident, written by Jafar Panahi; script collaborators: Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, Mehdi Mahmoudian
Marty Supreme, written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Sentimental Value, written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

Writing (adapted screenplay)

WINNER: One Battle after Another, written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Bugonia, screenplay by Will Tracy
Frankenstein, written for the screen by Guillermo del Toro
Hamnet, screenplay by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O'Farrell
Train Dreams, screenplay by Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

WINNER: Frankenstein, Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey
Kokuho, Kyoko Toyokawa, Naomi Hibino and Tadashi Nishimatsu
Sinners, Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine and Shunika Terry
The Smashing Machine, Kazu Hiro, Glen Griffin and Bjoern Rehbein
The Ugly Stepsister, Thomas Foldberg and Anne Cathrine Sauerberg

Achievement in costume design

WINNER: Frankenstein
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners

Original song

WINNER: "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters; music and lyric by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park
"Dear Me" from Diane Warren: Relentless; music and lyric by Diane Warren
"I Lied to You" from Sinners; music and lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson
"Sweet Dreams of Joy" from Viva Verdi!; music and lyric by Nicholas Pike
"Train Dreams" from Train Dreams; music by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner; lyric by Nick Cave