Business
With Trump vowing deportations, workers in Los Angeles race the clock for a reprieve
A line of immigrant workers formed outside an office building in Koreatown on a recent Friday afternoon.
They followed makeshift signs to a small courtyard, where scores of volunteer lawyers, translators and other staff helped them apply for a little-known federal program that offers an unusual — and probably fleeting — reprieve from deportation.
Under the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement program, people in the U.S. illegally who work at companies under investigation for workplace violations can receive permission to work in the country for four years. The program, which was started during the Biden administration, is intended to encourage undocumented workers to cooperate with investigations into safety violations, employment abuses and other issues without fear that their immigration status will be used against them.
Earlier registration clinics like the three-day push that the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance began Nov. 8 drew little interest. But President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport millions of people when he returns to office has reignited fears among the millions of people living and working in the U.S. illegally. More than 500 workers turned up at the KIWA event, several hundred more than initially expected, as information about the government program and the registration clinic spread by word of mouth.
With applications averaging 60 days to be processed, the workers found themselves in a race against the clock to try to secure four years of protections before Trump takes office Jan. 20. With time running out, aid groups are ending their registration efforts. Hundreds of workers from California traveled to Las Vegas over the weekend, where Arriba, an organization that helped run the Koreatown event, held a final registration clinic.
Although Trump is widely expected to do away with the program, immigrant labor advocates said they don’t expect that officials in the new administration will rescind work permits that already have been granted.
Bliss Requa-Trautz, executive director of Arriba, a Las Vegas-based advocacy group, said she warns workers of the risks that come with applying to the deferred action program: Although applications are meant to be confidential, applying nonetheless makes authorities aware that a worker is in the country illegally, giving rise to the possibility that they could be targeted for deportation afterward.
“Once you’re in the system you’re visible to the agencies, whereas otherwise folks might be flying under the radar,” said Alexandra Suh, executive director of the Koreatown worker center. “It’s a certain level of visibility that comes with a risk.”
Regardless, for many workers who take odd jobs under the table or use a false Social Security number to work, a temporary job permit can mean better pay and a temporary reprieve from the fear of being deported.
A man who said he immigrated to the United States from Chihuahua, Mexico, more than 20 years ago sat in a white plastic chair waiting his turn to meet with an attorney at the Koreatown registration drive. He learned about the clinic from some of his friends whom he used to work with at Bella+Canvas, a local apparel manufacturer and wholesaler. The company has worked with BaronHR, a staffing company that has come under scrutiny from federal agencies for alleged abuses of workers it recruits for warehouses, factories and distribution center jobs in California and elsewhere.
A man who asked to be identified by only his first name, Hector, waits at the Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance for help applying for job permits under a federal program that provides deportation protection for workers involved in labor investigations.
(Suhauna Hussain / Los Angeles Times)
“I am sure my life is going to change,” said the man, who asked to be identified by only his first name, Hector. “I’m going to be able to take more work to help my family.”
During the Obama administration, authorities began granting relief to workers involved in some labor cases and the program was formalized under Biden at the beginning of 2023. As of the end of October, more than 7,700 workers had been granted protections under the program for assistance in more than 50 investigations by state and federal agencies, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Over the summer, the length of the protection was expanded to four years from two.
An investigation of a chemical leak that killed six workers at a Georgia poultry plant in 2021 served as an early test case of how granting protections to workers could help bolster the collection of evidence and testimony, said Jessie Hahn, senior counsel for labor and employment policy at the National Immigration Law Center. Immigrant workers had initially hesitated to come forward because they feared retaliation by the plant’s owner, including a call to local police or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she said.
“One thing to understand is that this program does not have a humanitarian purpose. It has a law enforcement purpose,” Hahn said. “The government is trying to facilitate investigations.”
Hahn said her organization has partnered with the United Farm Workers union to help farmworkers employed by major farms and labor brokers under investigation by California’s workplace safety agency enroll in the program.
Daniel Lopez, a spokesperson for California’s Department of Industrial Relations, said state labor agencies — including the Labor Commissioner’s office and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health — have submitted about 150 requests to the Department of Homeland Security requesting protections for workers employed by companies under investigation. Each request can cover multiple workers.
Attorney Yvonne Medrano of Los Angeles-based Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit legal advocacy group, said the loss of the program would not only affect workers but also would create an uneven playing field for employers that follow the rules since it will become difficult to punish bad actors that are flouting minimum wage laws and other regulations.
“We want workers to speak out against bad employers because it benefits everybody,” she said.
To apply, a person must show a letter issued by a government agency naming the worker’s employer as the subject of an investigation and specifying the period covered by the inquiry. A worker admitted into the program is not required to cooperate with the investigation.
A worker who asked to be identified by only his first initial, “A,” because of fear of being identified as being in the country illegally, decided the day of the clinic to drive from Santa Fe Springs with his parents to the Koreatown clinic. He was among many workers at the clinic employed by BaronHR. Until the firm collapsed this year, workers whom the firm employed were often underpaid and working in unsafe conditions, according to a New York Times report published Sunday.
The 30-year-old, who immigrated to the United States from El Salvador with his family when he was 10, had been reluctant to apply to DALE over fears of reprisals if he spoke out about the staffing agency, which also employed his parents. And after so many years living in the country illegally, he also didn’t trust that the program really offered the possibility of working in the country legally.
“Growing up undocumented you grow skeptical, with a nonstop defense mechanism. Even though I’ve seen co-workers get permits, I haven’t accepted it,” A. said. “I’m protecting myself by not letting myself care too much.”
Around 5 p.m., as the light disappeared and the air grew chilly, Jovita Bautista, 50, stayed at her post at the check-in desk outside KIWA, where she had been stationed since 8 a.m. Bautista had applied for her work permit in early August, and received it weeks later.
She said she has been able to secure better-paying work, leaving behind her minimum-wage staffing agency job. She now does the same work, but because she is directly employed by the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, she is paid $22 per hour, she said.
Bautista said she admires Trump for what she describes as his business acumen, and said she owns three of his books. But she fears his impending presidency, because she worries about her siblings who are in the country without authorization.
“I like Donald Trump, but not as president.”
Residents of Monterey Park voted overwhelmingly to ban data centers on election day, making the San Gabriel Valley city the first in the nation to do so by public vote.
As of Wednesday, 86% of votes were in favor of Measure NDC, the city ban, according to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk.
Other cities and towns have passed moratoriums on data centers, as a wave of opposition sweeps the country. But the Monterey Park vote can only be overturned by another ballot measure, making it the most permanent data center ban in a jurisdiction.
Monterey Park’s City Council had already banned data centers by ordinance, after a proposed 247,000-square-foot data center met an outpouring of public anger and concern. The developer withdrew that plan.
That facility would have been less than 500 feet away from the nearest home, and would have used three times the electricity of the entire 60,000-person city. Residents said it would have caused noise and air pollution and driven up electricity rates.
“This ensures long-lasting protections for current and future generations,” Amy Wong, co-founder of the group San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action, said of the vote. “It means that future city councils cannot overturn a data center ban, even if data center developers wanted to spend money to fund pro-data center candidates.”
The measure had no formal opposition. The developer of the proposed facility, investment firm HMC StratCap, said it wouldn’t engage in the ballot fight when it withdrew in March.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, expressed disappointment in the vote.
“It sends a signal that the area is closed for business, both for data centers and for other significant economic development projects,” state policy director Khara Boender said.
“It deprives local residents of the opportunity to compete for jobs and investment, while also causing the area to relinquish substantial long-term economic investment, high-wage jobs, and critical tax revenue to neighboring areas or other states.”
SGV Progressive Action worked with hyperlocal groups including No Data Center Monterey Park to rally support for the measure.
The group is now focused on stopping data center proposals in the City of Industry and fighting a move by City of Industry, Santa Fe Springs, Vernon and City of Commerce to welcome data centers and other industry with fast-tracked permitting and tax incentives.
City of Industry, in the San Gabriel Valley, and Vernon, south of downtown L.A., are primarily industrial areas, each with around 300 permanent residents. They are employment centers, and tens of thousands of workers commute in daily.
There has been little vocal opposition to data centers among the few residents of these cities. Wong said the protest is primarily coming from the surrounding neighborhoods.
“If a data center gets built in City of Industry, residents across the region would bear the brunt of pollution and increased utility costs,” Wong said, noting that it is surrounded by 16 other cities and unincorporated communities.
Data center proposals have been limited in California compared to Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Illinois and Arizona, which sit at the center of a recent boom in hyperscaler facilities to power artificial intelligence.
California has the third-most data centers in the country, with 300, but high electricity rates, expensive land and regulatory hurdles mean that fewer, and smaller, facilities are currently planned than in other hotspots.
That doesn’t mean opposition hasn’t been fierce. In Coachella and Imperial County, residents are showing up in droves to protest local proposals.
In the San Gabriel Valley, Montebello, El Monte and Baldwin Park have all enacted temporary moratoriums, and Alhambra recently banned data centers as part of a zoning code update.
Wong said she hoped the ballot measure vote would galvanize the opposition. “The vote is a testament to the people power of our region,” she said. “Our region is worth protecting, and we won’t let data centers determine our future.”
A rule intended to prevent rent gouging in the wake of the Eaton and Palisades fires has lapsed in Los Angeles County, possibly exposing some renters to hikes.
The executive order that blocked rent increases was issued by Gov. Gavin Newsom amid the devastating wildfires last year. Under the order, landlords couldn’t increase rents by more than 10% above their prefire levels.
The rule, which was supposed to be temporary and was repeatedly extended, ended Friday after a vote to extend it again failed to garner enough votes. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes Pacific Palisades, sounded the alarm in a motion to extend price protections that failed to pass at the Board of Supervisors’ May 19 meeting.
“These price gouging protections continue to be necessary as construction and rebuilding continue, and as thousands of people remain displaced,” the motion said. “Families which signed short-term leases could face drastic price increases of 50% or more without further price gouging protection.”
Los Angeles County is home to more than 1 million rental properties, though not all of them needed protection from the new rule. There are already stricter rent increase caps for many residences, depending on the location, type and age of the building. Despite the rent control in the region, the people of Los Angeles pay among the highest rents in the country.
It is uncertain whether renters will face rapidly rising rents now that the protection has lapsed. But some real estate experts and policymakers said there was no need for the temporary rule that was part of the governor’s state of emergency.
Supervisors Kathryn Barger, Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell abstained from voting on the motion to extend the protection, while Supervisors Hilda Solis and Horvath supported it.
“I abstained because I did not see sufficient evidence to justify extending this emergency ordinance, nor did I see evidence to eliminate it entirely,” Hahn said.
Barger’s office said she supported allowing the protections to sunset while waiting to see whether new information emerged.
“Market data already shows countywide rents are only about 2% above pre-emergency levels and rental inventory has grown,” Barger representative Helen E. Chavez Garcia said. “The Supervisor is also mindful of the burden these ongoing protections place on small property owners throughout the county.”
Mitchell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There haven’t been steep rent hikes in neighborhoods within three miles of the Palisades fire, according to a Times analysis of data from Zillow, the property listing company.
In ZIP Codes within three miles of the Palisades fire, rent increased 4.8% from December 2024 to April 2025. In areas around the Eaton fire, which destroyed swaths of Altadena, rent jumped 5.2% in the same period.
In L.A. County, ZIP Codes farther from the fires saw only about a 2% increase.
A landlords representative, Jesus Rojas of the Apartment Owners Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, told the supervisors during public comment at the meeting that the county’s rent-gouging rules have “long outlived the emergency they were intended to address” and are now being “wrongfully used to harm thousands of rental housing providers throughout the county.”
“There is no proof that multifamily rental housing providers are hugely increasing rents for impacted homeowners,” Rojas said.
Indeed, there are strong signs that the property market in the Los Angeles area has at last begun to cool.
L.A. metro-area rent prices recently fell to a four-year low, with the median rent slipping to $2,167 in December.
Meanwhile, condominium sales had their slowest start of the year in decades. Condo sales in Los Angeles have plummeted to a 20-year low, with fewer than 2,000 units sold in January and February — the worst start to the year since 2005.
Newsom defended the price-gouging protections shortly after they went into effect.
“In the days following the Los Angeles firestorms, we worked quickly to protect Los Angeles survivors from any form of exploitation,” he said in February 2025. “The state has the tools in place to not only block price gouging during this emergency, but also to prosecute bad actors.”
The Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs said it received more than 2,000 complaints after the fires, alleging that retailers and landlords were taking advantage of people put in hardship by their losses, and sent out more than 2,000 cease-and-desist letters to businesses and landlords for alleged price gouging, said Morine Merritt, who oversees department investigations into consumer and real estate fraud.
“Close to 90% of the complaints that we received involved allegations of rent increases,” Merritt said in an interview. Now that the fire-related protections have expired, existing laws and “regular market conditions determine price increases for goods and services, including rents,” she said.
Crackdowns on fire-related rent gouging have been rare, said Chelsea Kirk of the activist organization the Rent Brigade, which analyzed L.A. County’s rental market in the year after the fires. It reported 18,360 potential examples of price gouging in listings but said that few lawsuits had been filed by authorities so far.
Last week, Rent Brigade announced what it said was the first private civil lawsuit brought by a family that claimed to be rent-gouged in the aftermath of the wildfires. Plaintiffs Randall and Candy Renick, whose Altadena home was damaged, said they were charged nearly three times the maximum permitted rate for nearly 10 months. They seek restitution of $96,000 plus civil penalties and attorneys’ fees.
The rental market has probably stabilized since the fires, Kirk said, but other families may still be “locked into illegal rents” that they agreed to pay when they were in a rush to find housing after they were displaced.
Dear Mr. Pelley:
I meant what I said in my letter last week to the 60 Minutes team: joining 60 Minutes is the honor of my career and I am grateful to be working alongside the people who have contributed to the most important television journalism brand this country has ever produced. While I’m new to 60 Minutes, I’ve devoted my career to investigative journalism and storytelling. I started this job excited to collaborate and to benefit from the wisdom and experience of the 60 Minutes veterans, with you among them. For that reason, one of the first things I did in my new role was call you to talk and invite you to dinner. It is a profound disappointment that you rejected that overture and chose ambush instead. Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt. I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort. Yesterday’s performative display of hostility enacted in front of the staff instead of in a civil, private conversation-demonstrated that you have no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress. I am here to deliver first-in-class news programming, not to make headlines about newsroom drama. I am eager to work alongside those who share this goal.
Despite yesterday’s misconduct, I had hoped that in sitting down with you today we could find a path forward together. You made clear that you are not interested in such a path.
Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear. And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News, Inc. (“CBS”) to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated for cause effective immediately. Enclosed is your formal termination letter.
Sincerely,
Nick Bilton
Executive Producer, 60 Minutes
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