2025 DEMANDS

Immigrants are vital to LA County’s cultural richness, economic growth, and resilience. Yet barriers persist when accessing programs and services, including lack of information about resources, long wait times for services in non-English languages, mistrust of government agencies, and application inefficiencies.

Equitable resource allocation is not just fair—it strengthens the County as a whole. This 2025, IRLA released its own immigrant-centered budget requests for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, focusing on four areas of need: access to vital services, housing, worker protections, and the social safety net.

The requests, arising from needs identified through listening sessions of IRLA member organizations and their members, are IRLA’s contribution to the county’s yearly budget process. 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:

Improve Immigrant Access to Vital Services

Systemic challenges such as language barriers, fragmented information, and insufficient support make it difficult for immigrants to navigate and benefit from essential programs and services.

Recommendations:

  • Streamline Services: Create centralized systems for accessing information, reduce strict eligibility criteria, and improve transportation/digital infrastructure.

  • Enhance Language Access: Expand multilingual resources and reduce wait times for non-English services.

  • Collaborate with CBOs: Strengthen partnerships to ensure timely, clear communication about programs & services.

Address Housing Instability

Immigrants are disproportionately impacted by housing instability, with high rent burdens, overcrowding, and barriers to state and federal programs.

Recommendations:

  • Expand the Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool (FHSP): $20M to stabilize 6,000–8,000 immigrant families at risk of homelessness.

  • Leverage Measure A Funds: Address gaps in housing assistance without restrictive federal/state criteria.

Strengthen Worker Protections

Immigrant workers face rampant wage theft and retaliation when reporting violations, costing LA workers $2.5B annually.

Recommendations:

  • Allocate $3M to expand the Office of Labor Enforcement (OLE) to increase investigations and outreach.

  • Direct OLE to research feasibility of creating the Worker Justice Fund. The feasibility study must be completed within 120 days of BOS request.

Build a Social Safety Net for Aging Immigrants

Undocumented seniors face growing financial insecurity, with no access to retirement safety nets despite contributing $2B annually in taxes.

Recommendations:

  • Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI): $12M pilot to provide $1,000/month to undocumented seniors aged 65+.

  • Expand ITIN Services: $4M to increase access to Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, enabling immigrants to access tax credits and savings tools.