The numbers say you most likely know someone affected by ICE sweeps. What you need to know about the data

The Trump administration's laser focus on identifying and uprooting people without legal status in Los Angeles has disrupted normal life in whole swaths of the city since June.

Corridors typically alive with street vendors have been quiet. Volunteers have been monitoring Home Depots for federal agents. And across the region, some people are staying home from work and school, afraid they may encounter ICE agents.

That this is a fractured and frightening time in the region for immigrant communities is undisputed.

Getting a fuller picture of people without legal status who live and work here is more complex.

To better understand our communities and neighbors, LAist looked into what we do and don’t know about Angelenos without full legal status.

Who gathers this information?

The U.S. Census conducted every 10 years is supposed to be a head count of everyone living in the country at that moment in time — and agnostic on their immigration status. The population count affects a whole range of things, notably how political representation is determined and how federal dollars are allocated.

Since 1960, the Census has not asked respondents about their citizenship status. An effort to add that question in 2020 by the first Trump administration was met with significant pushback. Critics said it would have a chilling effect and depress participation of non-citizens and their relatives — ultimately leaving us without a full count of who lives here.

Still, the government keeps estimates of the number of people living in the U.S. without authorization. Academics and organizations also do the work of counting the people living in the U.S. without legal status. Their research offers a closer look at the many people who are undocumented in L.A. and the surrounding area.

More than 9% of people in LA County are undocumented

Recent research from the USC Equity Research Institute looks at L.A. County specifically, estimating nearly 950,000 undocumented immigrants live here. That's more than 9% of people in the county who lack legal status.

When researchers widen the lens to include people who are undocumented or living with an undocumented family member, that number jumps to nearly 20%, or almost one in five people.

To compile their estimates, USC researchers use surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, take the number of non-citizen immigrants and remove the people that have legal status, according to Prof. Manuel Pastor, director of the Equity Research Institute. The latest data they used is from 2023.

The results indicate the depth and breadth of the impact of ramped-up immigration enforcement in L.A. this summer. Masked federal agents have detained parents, people who have been in the U.S. for decades, and even some U.S. citizens.

" I think it's useful for Angelenos to realize how ubiquitous it is to be without documentation," Pastor said.

Immigrants in California by the numbers

California has more immigrants than any other state — around 10.6 million people out of a total population of more than 39 million in 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

Most immigrants in California have legal status. More than half are U.S. citizens, according to California officials. In 2022, 83% of immigrants in California either were citizens or had other legal residency status, such as a green card or a visa.

Estimates of exactly how many undocumented people are living in California vary. The Department of Homeland Security estimated 2.6 million unauthorized immigrants were living in California.

According to Pew Research Center, in 2023, California was home to around 2.3 million immigrants without full legal status. That number includes people in a variety of situations, including those with some level of legal protections, like asylum applicants, DACA recipients, and people who have been granted temporary protected status.

California is home to the largest cohort of DACA recipients in the nation. As of 2024, more than a quarter of the around 538,000 active recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals live in California, according to government data. That status protects undocumented young adults who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and allows them work authorization.

People without full legal status in California have a wide range of national origins. Nearly half of the state's undocumented population is from Mexico, according to a report from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and UC Merced. The vast majority of that group — 80% — have been in the U.S. for more than 15 years.

In recent years, more people have arrived in the state from Central America and Asia. The report attributes the shifting demographics of new arrivals to improved economic prospects in Mexico and growing economic and political instability in Central America and countries like China and India.

A growing population

The Trump administration ran on a campaign promise of mass deportations, in part in response to a rise in immigration to the U.S. after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Estimates of exactly how many undocumented people are in the country and how that number has changed vary. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of unauthorized immigrants in 2023 was 14 million, up from 10.5 million in 2021 — a 33% increase.

By comparison, California's unauthorized population grew around 23% in that time period, according to Pew's estimates. In 2023, the state was home to around 2.3 million undocumented immigrants, a bump of around 425,000 compared to 2021.

The increase specifically in Los Angeles was even smaller around that same time period — 15% according to USC’s Pastor.

"We did not get the gigantic influx of shocking new immigrants that the rest of the country did," Pastor told LAist. "We got some, but mostly they went to other parts of the country."

Focusing on LA County

USC estimates that 948,700 people in L.A. County are undocumented, out of a total population of 10.1 million. Most people without legal status have been in the U.S. for more than a decade, according to those estimates. Some 73% arrived in the country more than 10 years ago, while 18% of people have been here for 31 years or more.

Most undocumented immigrants in L.A. County — 83.8% — are Latino. The next largest group is Asian Americans, who make up 10.6% of the county's undocumented immigrants.

Where are people from?

The largest share of undocumented immigrants in L.A. County come from Mexico, followed by Guatemala and El Salvador. USC estimates that more than 343,000 Mexican people without legal status live in the county.

A share of L.A.'s undocumented population are Indigenous migrants from Mexico and Central America, but the number is difficult to estimate, according to USC. According to a separate report from the Equity Research Institute and advocacy group CIELO, the county is home to at least 24 Indigenous migrant communities, including Zapotec and K’iche’.

Chinese people make up the fourth-largest group of undocumented people by ancestry, according to the report. That estimate is 32,600.

Who is being targeted for deportation?

As the federal government has ramped up deportations across the country, it has made a particularly visible effort here in L.A.

Federal officials have defended the enforcement actions, saying they’re targeting people with criminal records.

LAist found that as an average since last October, only about 18% of those detained in California ICE facilities have had any criminal convictions.

Mixed status families

Hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens in L.A. County live with family members who are undocumented — more than 863,000 according to USC estimates.

Those numbers are particularly striking for children. More than half of citizens living with undocumented family members are younger than 17 years old. In the county, 20% of children under the age of 5 have at least one parent who does not have legal status.

As federal immigration raids in Southern California have separated workers from their families and children, many left behind are struggling with making ends meet and paying rent. Eighty percent of undocumented immigrants in the county are renters.

"With fears around ICE raids and the possibility that undocumented workers may choose not to show up for work, there is also a great risk of missing rent payments and becoming even more vulnerable to losing housing," the USC report reads.

Economic contributions of undocumented workers

The vast majority of undocumented immigrants in L.A. County are of working age: 90% are between 18 and 64. Just 1% are 65 or older, according to USC's data.

The report points to the major role undocumented workers play in the local economy. According to USC's estimates, 37% of cleaning and maintenance workers and 25% of food preparation and service workers in L.A. County are undocumented.

The industry with the highest percentage of undocumented workers is construction (40%), which is already experiencing a labor shortage and will be key to rebuilding parts of the county destroyed in the January fires.

Immigrants without legal status in the county also contribute billions in taxes. In 2023, USC estimates undocumented immigrants paid more than $3.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.

Jordan Rynning contributed to this report.