ABOUT US

Immigrants Are LA (IRLA) is a coalition of grassroots immigrant organizations that launched a campaign in 2021 to ensure immigrants get their fair share of Los Angeles County’s portion of federal COVID relief and, eventually, become fully integrated into Los Angeles County’s budget process.
As the historic American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) took shape in Congress, more than 100 forward-thinking, diverse organizations, guided by the California Community Foundation’s Immigrant Integration Task Force, banded together as IRLA to present an agenda of immigrant-centered budget priorities to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, who would decide how to spend $1.9 billion, a record for the county, in ARP funds.
Over 18 months, IRLA’s advocacy and organizing resulted in the county budgeting more than $163 million to programs that include or focus on immigrants.

OUR DEMANDS

As county officials present their recommended budget requests for 2024-25, IRLA released its own immigrant-centered budget requests for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, focusing on four areas of need: housing, language access, worker justice, and the social safety net.

The requests, arising from needs identified through a survey of IRLA member organizations, are IRLA’s contribution to the county’s yearly budget process. This is the second year that IRLA has advocated for immigrants to increase their inclusion in the Los Angeles County budget. IRLA member organizations began the year engaging in conversation with supervisors’ staff, and they have sent a formal letter detailing IRLA’s immigrant-centered agenda. Here are the requests, by area of need: 

LANGUAGE ACCESS

The immigrants who are one-third of LA County’s population are often stopped at the door when it comes to accessing available county services because they do not speak, read or understand the language in which these services are made available. The literacy gap can extend to platforms with which they are not familiar, including digital, making for a double barrier. IRLA’s initial requests to fill this void are:

  • Create a community work group to review and provide feedback for county departments’ language access plans.

  • Allocate $500,000 to OIA to hire at least three more OIA staff to work on language access.

  • Dedicate adequate resources to promptly launch Language.LACounty.gov hub.

  • Allocate $5M for contracts with local CBOs for translation and interpretation services and expedite those contracts.

  • Allocate $3M for capacity building grants for CBOs to provide translation/interpretation services to the county.

HOUSING

Housing is a foundational need for everyone, and immigrants’ access to it is severely limited. The COVID pandemic increased homelessness among immigrant Californians, and now rising rents and vanishing renter protections put them at greater risk. A “housing first” approach by BOS involves:

  • Reduce the rent increase cap from 5 percent to 3 percent, or 60% of CPI change, whichever is lower. Lowering the overall cap can help them overcome hurdles that now allow increases to go far above 5 percent.

  • Allocate $10M to fund rental subsidies through a housing subsidy pool to keep up to 3,000 immigrant families in their homes. This pool would specifically help immigrants who can’t qualify for federally funded rental subsidies.

WORKER JUSTICE

Lost income from wage theft drives homelessness rates and other forms of poverty in LA County. In LA, 88% of low-income workers experience wage theft, and immigrant workers are twice as likely to experience wage theft as their counterparts. We recommend:

  • Establishing a Worker Wage Theft Retaliation Restitution Fund for qualifying workers that file claims with the California Division of Labor Strategic Enforcement for wage theft or retaliation.

  • Investing an initial $2.5 million toward a wage theft retaliation restitution fund, with an additional $300,000 for the Department of Economic Opportunity to educate workers on how to access the fund.

SOCIAL SAFETY NET

Immigrants contribute billions yearly in state and local taxes, helping fund California’s programs. But thousands have no financial safety net as they reach retirement. By 2030, seniors will be 28 percent of LA County’s population. Immigration status should not prevent some of those seniors from accessing programs that maintain their financial wellbeing. We recommend:

  • Expanding the Breathe Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) program to undocumented seniors 60 and older.

  • Investing $93.2M to support the 15.5% of Los Angeles County's population living below the poverty line, including the growing number of adults 60 and older.

  • Establishing a county-funded public-private savings account pilot for immigrants to help them build a financial safety net, similar to programs managed by Opportunity LA and ScholarShare529. It should be available regardless of income, background, immigration status, include incentives, and not count as household income.

GET INVOLVED

Join IRLA’s campaign to ensure that immigrants are included in Los Angeles County’s regular budget! Here’s how to get involved.

CLICK TO EMAIL

Here’s what you need to
contact your supervisor to demand the county #FUNDIMMIGRANTS!

TAKE ACTION

Join our advocacy! Check out the tool kit below!

IRLA Steering Committee

  • Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

  • Council of Mexican Federations in North America (COFEM)

  • Pilipino Workers Center (PWC)

  • The TransLatin@ Coalition

  • Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA)

  • Inclusive Action for the City

Join OUR COALITION

We are community-based organizations, immigrants’ rights groups, faith-based groups, and direct service providers advocating for a just recovery for all Angelenos.

  • ACLU Foundation of Southern California

  • African Communities Public Health Coalition

  • Altamed

  • American Indian Movement So Cal

  • Antelope Valley League of United Latin Americans

  • APAIT - A Division of Special Service for Groups

  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles

  • Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council

  • Asian Prisoner Support Committee

  • ASILO

  • Bet Tzedek Legal Services

  • Building Skills Partnership

  • C. S. H.

  • California Community Foundation

  • California Immigrant Policy Center

  • Carlos Bulosan Book Club

  • Central American Resource Center (Carecen Los Angeles)

  • Centro Cha Inc. Long Beach Community Hispanic Association

  • Children’s Institute

  • Clean Carwash Campaign

  • Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

  • Cofem Council of Mexican Federations

  • Communities United For Restorative Youth Justice (CURYJ)

  • Community Coalition

  • Council On American-islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles (CAIR-LA)

  • CURB

  • Equality California

  • Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project

  • Faith And Community Empowerment (Formerly Kccd)

  • Families In Schools

  • Fathers & Families Of San Joaquin

  • Filam Arts

  • Filipino American Service Group, Inc

  • Filipino Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA) - Los Angeles

  • FWC

  • Golden State Opportunity

  • Ground Game LA

  • Immigrant Defenders Law Center

  • Immigration Resource Center Of San Gabriel Valley

  • Inclusive Action For The City

  • Inland Coalition For Immigrant Justice

  • Interfaith Refugee & Immigration Service (IRIS)

  • International Rescue Committee-Los Angeles

  • Juarez Consulting Inc

  • Justice for Filipino American
    Veterans (JFAV)-USA

  • Kheir Clinic

  • Khmer Girls in Action

  • KIWA

  • LA Voice

  • LCLAA LA Chapter

  • Long Beach Forward

  • Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition

  • Los Angeles Black Worker Center

  • Me Too Survivors March
    International

  • Mental Health America of Los Angeles

  • Mexican American Opportunity
    Foundation (MAOF)

  • MILPA

  • Mirror Memoirs

  • MOTHER MOVEMENT

  • National Day Laborer Organizing
    Network

  • National Immigration Law Center

  • Occupy ICE L.A

  • Para Los Niños

  • Parent Engagement Academy

  • Pars Equality Center, Los Angeles

  • Philippine Women's Center

  • Pilipino Workers Center

  • Pillars of the Community

  • Pomona Economic Opportunity Center

  • Proyecto Pastoral

  • Restaurant Opportunities Center
    of Los Angeles

  • Revolve Impact

  • SAHARA

  • SALVA

  • Search to Involve Pilipino
    Americans (SIPA)

  • SEIU United Service Workers West

  • Somos Familia Valle

  • South Asian Helpline and
    Referral Agency

  • South Asian Network

  • Southwestern Law School -
    Community Lawyering Clinic

  • St. John's Well Child & Family Center

  • Tender Loving Care Family
    Caregiver Support Group

  • The Black Alliance for
    Just Immigration (BAJI)

  • The TransLatin@ Coalition

  • UCLA Immigrant Family Legal Clinic

  • UCLA Labor Center

  • UFCW Local 770

  • USC Equity Research Institute

  • Venice Family Clinic

  • YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles

  • Young Center for Immigrant
    Children's Rights

IN THE NEWS

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March 2024

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PRESS CONTACT

Tessie Borden

teresa@tzunu.com

323-559-1895