California immigration clashes lead to $1 billion in losses

California officials say last summer's immigration raids and subsequent protests around Los Angeles ‒ some of which had turned violent ‒ cost more than $1 billion in lost productivity, sales and wages.

The new report commissioned by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors also found that businesses disclosed about $200,000 in losses from vandalism. In addition to widespread spraypainted graffiti, participants also lit multiple vehicles on fire, including at least one police SUV.

President Donald Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement sparked the protests in early June. These small-scale protests around federal facilities prompted Trump to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines, which then sparked even larger protests.

Trump campaigned on conducting the largest mass deportation in history, and immigration enforcers carrying out his orders last summer were captured on video chasing down suspected unauthorized immigrants at car washes and Home Depot parking lots.

L.A.-area officials condemned the raids as unnecessary and unwanted in a community that has long welcomed immigrants as a vital part of the economy.

The report found that businesses closed, customers stayed home and 17,000 people stopped riding public transit. Undocumented workers generate more than $250 billion in economic output annually, support more than 1 million jobs and contribute $80 billion in labor to the county's economy, officials said.

"The pervasive climate of fear across impacted neighborhoods ... fundamentally altered consumer behavior, with customers staying home, avoiding certain areas, and reducing spending across immigrant communities," the report concluded.

LA official: 'Out-of-control' ICE raids damage the economy

Trump and his allies argue that unauthorized immigrants hurt American communities by consuming homes, jobs and other resources that would otherwise go to citizens and legal residents, and that removing millions of migrants will ultimately improve the country's economy and increase public safety.

Immigration enforcers say they have removed more than 657,000 unauthorized migrants from the United States since January 2025, and have prompted another 2.2 million people to voluntarily self-deport. Included in those statistics, the Department of Homeland Security said, are more than 40,000 potential national security risks, nearly 1,4000 "known or suspected terrorists" and more than 7,000 gang members.

L.A. officials say the immigration raids were not tightly focused on criminals, and instead swept up otherwise law-abiding people who had long called the city home.

As part of the aggressive enforcement, the White House has ended legal protections for tens of thousands of people living in the United States, and begun detaining people who previously had been allowed to live and work in the country.

"The out-of-control ICE raids are doing senseless and catastrophic harm to our country, and we are seeing the toll right here in LA County,” Janice Hahn, Los Angeles County Fourth District Supervisor, said in a statement. "They are ripping apart families, treating our neighborhoods like warzones, and now we have hard data about the damage they are doing to our economy."

Nearly 14 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States in 2023, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. More than 4 million of them were married to a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, but had no clear path to legal status.

After immigration officers in Minneapolis shot and killed two U.S. citizens last month, Trump, who closely watches opinion polls, removed controversial Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino and began softening his message. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti sparked massive protests nationally.

"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough," Trump said in a Feb. 4 Oval Office interview with NBC Nightly News.