Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has issued an executive directive reaffirming the city’s self-proclaimed sanctuary status in response to ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. She also promised to offer cash assistance to illegal immigrants who aren’t going to work in order to avoid federal enforcement action.
Each department must submit plans within two weeks, outlining how they will prevent ICE activity on city property, and each is expected to designate an “immigrant affairs liaison” to address that matter.
The directive further instructs the city to file a Freedom of Information Act request seeking detailed information from ICE, including when and where arrests were made in Los Angeles, who were arrested and for what reasons, where detainees are being held, and how much the operations are costing taxpayers.
The city will also establish a working group to review and potentially revise Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) policies on responding to immigration enforcement.
The LAPD already has a long-standing policy prohibiting officers from asking about immigration status when they interview crime victims, witnesses, or suspects, or from making arrests based solely on someone’s immigration status.
At the July 11 news conference, Bass also announced a forthcoming plan to distribute cash aid to people affected by ICE activity, including those she said are too afraid to go to work for fear of being detained.
“You have people who don’t want to leave their homes, who are not going to work, and they are in need of cash,” she said.
According to Bass, cash cards containing a “couple hundred” dollars will be given out “in about a week,” in a way similar to how the city offered pre-filled debit cards to low-income residents during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
The mayor emphasized that the money will come from “philanthropic partners” and that the cards will be distributed by immigrant advocacy groups such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.
“It’s that type of emergency assistance, and we’re fortunate that there’s a lot of philanthropic partners who have contributed,” she said. “And many more, I hope, will join in and contribute.”
Details of the plan, including exact qualifications for receiving the cards, are still in the works.
On July 7, agents from ICE and Customs and Border Protection were seen entering the area in tactical gear, some on horseback. Bass demanded that the agents leave the park, and they eventually departed without making any arrests.
Bass signed the ordinance into law on Dec. 9, 2024, just weeks after President Donald Trump was reelected on a promise to end illegal immigration by speeding up and expanding deportation efforts.
The lawsuit, which names Bass as a defendant, follows Trump’s deployment of the California National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to quell riots sparked by protests against ICE operations. By obstructing federal officers from doing their jobs, the lawsuit alleges, the city allowed lawlessness to spread unchecked.
“The practical upshot of Los Angeles’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities has, since June 6, 2025, been lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated in its complaint. “The situation became so dire that the Federal Government deployed the California National Guard and United States Marines to quell the chaos.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi has similarly condemned the city’s sanctuary policies, accusing the city of prioritizing illegal immigrants at the expense of citizens.
“Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level—it ends under President Trump.”
