Immigration sweeps in L.A. cost businesses millions in revenue, UCLA study finds

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Set us as preferred A furniture store proprietor in Inglewood laid off his employees following the immigration enforcement surge last summer and says he now works twice as hard to earn half as much as he did before.A restaurant owner lost $20,000 in canceled catering contracts last summer, as sweeps across the county coincided with the summer celebration season.A swap meet vendor who made up to $1,500 a week on Saturday and Sunday before the raids and now only makes up to $500.“The Latino customers have disappeared.Some were deported, others self-deported,” the swap meet vendor, identified only by a pseudonym, said.

“I am left only with the clients who were born here.”Those were just some of the stories captured in a new study from the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute, in partnership with Inclusive Action for the City, focused on the long-lasting impact of immigration enforcement on small businesses and Latino entrepreneurs in Los Angeles County following the immigration raids in June 2025.The report, published Wednesday, looks specifically at how the enforcement surge affected commercial activity near nine enforcement sites and the experiences of 75 Latino entrepreneurs across the county.Researchers found there were 46,000 fewer customer visits among formal businesses within half a mile of nine documented enforcement sites and an estimated $3.16 million in accumulated revenue losses during the two weeks after enforcement activity.

The authors of the study estimated that their circumscribed findings extrapolated county-wide could represent up to $114 million in losses over a month of sustained enforcement.“Latino businesses have not recovered.These businesses function as local economic engines.

They employ neighbors, buy from local suppliers, and keep money circulating in their communities,” said Amada...