ICE Puts A Big Dent In The Los Angeles Economy

This story has been out for months, but Mayor Bass is still working it:

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Wednesday blasted the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, saying the raids have put a huge dent in the city's economy.

Bass said businesses have seen a drastic reduction in immigrant customers. She's concerned some immigrant families whose breadwinners have been rounded up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement may be on the brink of being left destitute.

A piece at Red State gives more background:

When federal immigration agents began raiding Home Depots and other businesses in the Los Angeles area recently, something strange happened:

Foot traffic vanished overnight.

Entire blocks shut down.

Sales plummeted.

And it wasn’t because customers were scared. It was because the workers were. Employees simply stopped showing up. Some owners shuttered their doors. Fear gripped the heart of L.A.’s commercial corridors.

The real story? That fear didn’t expose a broken immigration system — it exposed a network of lawbreaking employers who rely on illegal labor to line their pockets with profits.

A good example of this problem emerged just this past Friday:

Undocumented employees of the Los Angeles Equestrian Center near Burbank have reportedly been fired.

What we know: Employees told FOX11 as many as 40 employees who cared for the horses and stables were let go Friday morning.

Some who board their horses at the center were upset by the mass firing.

The city contracts private company ASM Global to run the facility.

The LA Equestrian Center says of itself,

The Los Angeles Equestrian Center offers complete boarding facilities with access from our property perimeter to over 50 miles of Griffith Park horse trails. We are also proud to host a variety of training programs for all levels of riders through its successful resident trainers.

In other words, its clientele is people who board their horses and participate in horse shows, dressage, and equivalent events. By and large, these are the very wealthy, the same people who hire illegals as domestic servants. They're upset!

Some who board their horses at the center were upset by the mass firing.

"It's terrible," said Susan Becker. "There's a lot of people whose life has been upended."

. . . "I'm devastated you know? This is a terrible situation for all these people who, a lot of these people have been working a long time and they've been working really hard," said Becker.

According to Mayor Bass,

"Apparently, I guess ICE asked for whether or not the employees had proper identification and through e-Verify, and that's all I know right now," said Bass. "But what's important to me, though is, is ICE changing their tactics? Are they changing their tactics?"

Just last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a federal judge's Temporary Restraining Order preventing ICE from stopping and questioning people about their immigration status without reasonable suspicion or a warrant.

It does not appear that today's events at the equestrian center violate that order, but still people are upset.

If I were Mayor Bass, I would be upset that a city contractor had been exploiting its workforce, quite possibly in breach of its agreements with the city over paying taxes and social security and such, but that's apparently not what bothers her or the people who board their horses. The liberals at The American Prospect also view the shortage of illegal labor with alarm:

Net immigration, which provides a steady supply of available workers in key fields, is way down this year. Employers are scrambling to find substitute workers and worrying about productivity losses. Remittance payments to Mexico have plummeted, suggesting a decline in these workers’ economic contributions, not only to their relatives, but to industries like home care, agriculture, and construction.

. . . The 2,800 arrests in Los Angeles since June, outside Home Depots and car washes and homeless shelters, massively understate the chilling effect of ICE raids on the largest city in the largest state in the union. A report from the University of California, Merced’s Community and Labor Center released last month found that 3.1 percent of the entire private-sector labor force in California didn’t show up for work between May 11 and June 8, just as ICE activity was ramping up in L.A. These numbers resemble the losses from the Great Recession and the COVID pandemic, and if anything, they’ve grown as raids intensify.

A month ago, Mayor Bass said she was even going to send the illegals gift cards to make up for them not going to work, or something like that:

Bass said a plan is being worked out to provide cash assistance to those affected by the enforcement operations, the Los Angeles Times reported. Cash cards with a "couple hundred" dollars on them will be distributed by immigrants' rights groups in about a week, Bass said.

The money will not come from city coffers, but from philanthropic partners, she said.

This was four weeks ago, but as of today, nothing more has come out about the gift cards. Maybe the people who are upset about the firings at the Equestrian Center could pool together and buy some gift cards, but they'd still need to board their horses, so maybe that wouldn't work. I tried to find out how much it costs to board a horse there, but the Equestrian Center makes you register and wait for someobne to call you to find out. I did see this on reddit:

In terms of facilities, most places in LA will be 12x12 box stall with 15 minute turnout (that you pay for). "Affordable" is going to be relative, most places are $450-$700 [monthly?] for 12x12 box stall, alfalfa, and shavings but prices will skyrocket the moment you look for a larger stall & add grass hay.

The bigger problem is that if the Equestrian Center can no longer exploit illegals, the boarding fee is going to go up to cover market wages and benefits. Heck, I'd be upset, too! Mayor Bass, you go, girl!

On the other hand, I see a problem with the gift cards. How will the illegals qaulify? Will they go down to City Hall and present evidence that they're illegal to get a gift card? Otherwise, anyone could get one, and that wouldn't be good, right? But if they have to do something like that to qualify, what's to keep ICE from waiting outside City Hall to pick them up, or even tracking the cards to people once they're used?

I don't think Mayor Bass has thought this through.