Insights and Analyses

• Protections for undocumented Californians are crucial. In 2021, there were about 2.4 million immigrants across the state who were undocumented.

• A majority of lawful residents in California were people of color. In 2021, Latinos and Asian Americans composed 49% and 32% of lawful residents in California, respectively.

• Some immigration statuses are temporary in nature, creating instability and anxiety for immigrants who have to renew their statuses frequently. Across California, as of the end of 2024, there were about 150,000 immigrants who had Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Moreover, as of 2024, there were about 72,000 immigrants in California who were Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients.

• Immigrants who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others (LGBTQ+) are underrepresented in data. According to a 2021 report by the UCLA Williams Institute, there were nearly 1.3 million adult immigrants in the U.S. who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), about 289,700 of whom were undocumented. California was home to an estimated 59,600 undocumented adults who identified as LGBT, the highest number of any state, with an estimated 23,000 of them residing in Los Angeles County, as of 2025.

• Among the approximately 41,000 transgender adult immigrants in California, the UCLA Williams Institute estimates that about 69% are naturalized citizens, 14% are non-citizens with “Green Cards,” and 17% are non-citizens without “Green Cards.”

• California is also home to a large number of international students studying in the U.S. Data by the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) showed that as of August 2025, there were just over 144,000 active international students in California.

• In California, a sizable number of immigrant workers hold H-1B visas, a classification that allows immigrants to temporarily work in the U.S. in distinct occupations through a U.S. employer. However, this visa must be renewed every three years, leaving this subset of immigrants in a vulnerable position if they lose their job. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, 78,000 workers were approved for an H1-B visa in California.

• A 2025 study from UC Santa Cruz found that immigration status was a particularly important factor to consider during the public health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study assessed survival outcomes of those who contracted COVID-19 between March 2020 and May 2023, and found that the pandemic introduced over a 50% increase in the rate of death among potentially undocumented immigrants, while U.S.-born citizens experienced a 12% increase. This highlights the threat of COVID-19 exposure for undocumented immigrants, amidst the concurrent risks of detention and deportation, and lack of workplace and public benefits.

Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) Organizer Phal Sok, formerly incarcerated and targeted for deportation by ICE, shares his story to emphasize the need to reform “crimmigration,” the intersection of criminal law and immigration policy.

As an infant, Phal Sok and his family were granted permanent resident status in the U.S. after fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and spending time in a refugee camp in Thailand. When they arrived in Los Angeles, they were forced to navigate a whole new way of life and Phal's parents did not do well. They divorced before Phal's third birthday and his mother never turned back. As a youth, Phal's father passed away and he was left without resources. When he went to his school seeking support, he was pushed out. Soon thereafter, he was arrested for armed robbery, tried as an adult, and sentenced to prison for 23 years and eight months.

In 2015, Phal was one of the first and few that was granted parole thanks to SB 260, a bill that recognized juveniles should not be treated as adults. On the day of his release from prison, despite having permanent resident status and having gone through a vigorous parole suitability process, Phal was arrested and detained for ICE. He was ordered deported and eventually temporarily released pending deportation. Before he was re-detained by ICE four months later, Phal connected with community members in L.A. including a local church who encouraged him to fight his deportation. He filed on his own in the federal courts and was later released in late November 2016 under bond. He began to organize in L.A. and became a member of YJC working on "crimmigration."

In 2018, he received a full and unconditional pardon from then-Governor Jerry Brown to help protect him from deportation. As an organizer, he has given back to his community in L.A., supporting immigrant youth and formerly incarcerated people. He has played key roles in YJC campaigns such as stopping the construction of new jails in L.A. County and YJC's FREE L.A. High School. To learn more about YJC’s work, visit youthjusticela.org and @youthjusticela on Instagram and X. Watch Phal’s story unfold through Debt Free Justice’s documentary here.

The California Values Act, established to protect the rights of undocumented and immigrant residents, is being targeted by the Trump Administration through the withholding of federal dollars and by employing aggressive immigration enforcement activities to stoke fear and undermine the state’s pro-immigrant policies.

During the first Trump administration, many localities passed “sanctuary” laws to protect their residents from excessive immigration enforcement activities, and were engaged in legal fights to defend these policies from federal challenges. However, in the second Trump administration, these jurisdictions have once again become targets for litigation, as well as now being targeted for aggressive and wide-ranging immigration enforcement activities, similar to the smaller-scale raids that took place during the first administration. California was the first state to become one of these “sanctuary” jurisdictions, having passed SB 54, or the California Values Act, in 2017 as a result of ongoing grassroots advocacy efforts. SB 54 prohibits state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources for immigration enforcement purposes and requires state facilities, including courts, to implement policies outlining their commitment to protect Californians regardless of status, ensuring that these places are accessible to all. The California Values act includes prohibitions on immigration holds, arrests on civil immigration warrants, inquiries about an individual’s immigration status, sharing personal information with ICE, and notifying ICE of release dates. Furthermore, this law requires state facilities, including courts, to implement policies outlining their commitment to protect Californians regardless of status, ensuring that these places are accessible to all. In recent years dozens of local jurisdictions like Alameda, Berkeley, Coachella, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and others have also passed similar ordinances. A report by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, University of Oxford, and Border Criminologies found that within the first five months of implementation there was an immediate reduction in immigration arrests in local jails. Some advocates have felt that while it helps protect immigrants, because the policy includes exemptions for those who have criminal records, the California Values Act excludes some immigrant families, causing “confusion and poor implementation”.

At the same time, there has also been resistance to the state’s sanctuary law, both from local governments and local law enforcement agencies, even from those in “sanctuary cities.” For example, Huntington Beach filed a federal lawsuit over SB 54 in 2018, which failed, and then again in 2025 after the city council declared the city a “non-sanctuary” city. Additionally, some local law enforcement agencies have been accused of violating SB 54. Reports from coalitions in Orange County and San Diego County assessing SB 54 implementation both found that some local law enforcement agencies were utilizing loopholes and exemptions to continuing to work with ICE and to otherwise not fully comply with SB 54. In 2025, immigrant advocates have called for San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez to be held accountable for violating SB 54 with an ICE transfer in 2023. In February 2025, Amador County Sheriff Gary Redman went on record saying he intends to break SB 54. In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reported honoring zero of the 631 ICE detainer requests that it had received in 2023, as well as zero of the 430 ICE detainer requests that it received in 2024. However, during the June 2025 ICE raids, the LAPD was under scrutiny for collaborating with ICE. While LAPD denies collaborating with ICE earlier in the month, city leaders are concerned that LAPD is often at the scene of ICE arrests. Though not aiding in immigration arrests, local law enforcement agencies throughout the state are often engaging in “scene security” activities that are perceived as providing cover for immigration enforcement activities, and some local groups are calling on local law enforcement to provide stronger protections for residents from these raids. Additionally, in June 2025, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department began sending inmates to ICE, which it has not done since early 2020, using the exceptions in the state’s sanctuary law for those cases that involve criminal offenses.

Currently, California remains one of the main targets of Trump’s January 2025 executive order, which called for stopping funding for jurisdictions with “sanctuary” policies. While California fought to preserve SB 54 in the courts, in early June 2025, President Trump sent federal immigration officials from ICE and CBP to California, detaining thousands of immigrants throughout the state, sometimes en masse, at their jobs, on the streets, in their homes, businesses, health clinics, and even after their immigration court hearings. This aggressive show of force created an unprecedented environment of fear and terror throughout the state as families were torn apart and many taken by force, often without any warrants or due process. In response, crowds showed up at federal buildings and city centers to protest against these ICE and CBP raids. The federal government further escalated tensions by deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles in response to protests against ICE raids, without the permission of Governor Newsom. In July, a U.S. District judge issued a temporary restraining order against the federal government, requiring ICE and CBP to stop the sweeping immigration raids across Southern California that included detaining people off the streets without warrants and denying them access to basic needs and access. Despite this order, as of July 2025, immigration enforcement has continued to detain residents across the state as the federal administration takes aim at California and other jurisdictions across the country with pro-immigrant laws.

To learn more about the impact and limitations of SB 54, read Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, University of Oxford Centre for Criminology, and Border Criminologies’ report here. Read the report discussing Orange County law enforcement’s relationship with ICE here. To learn more about the ICE Out of CA campaign, click here.

Photo credit: Peg Hunter