A new brief from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that 10% of all LGBT adult immigrants in the U.S.—122,000 people—live in Los Angeles County. Approximately 49,000 of them do not have U.S. citizenship, including 26,000 who hold lawful residency and 23,000 who are undocumented.
In his first weeks in office, President Trump issued a series of executive actions on immigration. On June 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations began across Los Angeles, leading to the arrest of over 100 people by the end of the weekend, prompting widespread protests, and resulting in the Trump administration’s deployment of 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the streets of Los Angeles.
Using prior research from the Williams Institute and reports from the University of Southern California Dornsife Equity Research Institute and the Pew Research Center, this brief estimates the number of foreign-born LGBT adults in Los Angeles County who could potentially be impacted by heightened immigration activities in the region.
Results show that more than 5,200 transgender or nonbinary adult immigrants live in Los Angeles County, including just under 1,000 who are undocumented.
“LA’s LGBT undocumented immigrants face the most immediate risks of detention and deportation, but LGBT people who hold legal status and even naturalized citizens may face collateral consequences of the increased immigration enforcement,” said lead author Laurel Sprague, Research Director at the Williams Institute. “These policies and practices erode trust in community institutions, increase fear and psychological distress, and lead to poorer economic opportunities and overall health outcomes, especially among those who know someone who was detained or deported.”
The impact of immigration enforcement may be felt most severely in Los Angeles County Supervisorial Districts 1 and 2, which contain many of the county’s historically Black, Latine, and Asian and Pacific Islander neighborhoods. These districts are home to nearly 29,000 LGBT non-citizens—nearly 60% of all LGBT non-citizens in the county.
Los Angeles County’s LGBT Latine community could experience the most significant impact, with an estimated 60% of LGBT non-citizens in the county having origins in Latin America.