The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to declare a local emergency over federal immigration enforcement in a 4-1 vote on Oct. 14.

The declaration, usually used in situations such as natural disasters, allows for the board to approve an eviction moratorium that would protect tenants who can prove they’ve suffered economic hardship as a result of federal immigration enforcement operations.

Under a moratorium, which requires a separate vote, renters would have to repay deferred rent at the end of the moratorium. The declaration allows the county to apply for state funding for broader relief for those affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

The board proclaimed its premise that the tactics used by ICE and other federal agents have “created a climate of fear, leading to widespread disruption in daily life and adverse impacts to our regional economy.”

“We will not stand by while fear and chaos spread throughout our neighborhoods,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who coauthored the motion, said before the vote. “When our immigrant neighbors are targeted, our entire county feels it in our workplaces, in our schools, and in our homes.”

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the lone “no” vote, opposed the declaration saying it does not meet emergency criteria and could result in lawsuits.

The week before the vote, the Board discussed potential issues with the declaration, such as hardship for landlords who would still have to pay their mortgages; they recommended a bolstered rent relief program as an alternative to the moratorium. Another issue was that court proceedings would force tenants to reveal their immigration status, potentially exposing them to federal enforcement operations.

ICE agents have conducted large-scale operations in Southern California workplaces and neighborhoods since early this year, detaining hundreds of illegal immigrants and sparking protests.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling in September cleared the way for ICE to proceed with enforcement, rejecting claims of racial bias in the detentions.

Researchers at the University of California–Merced documented an immediate 3.1 percent dip in statewide employment following the initial sweeps, attributing it partly to absenteeism driven by fear of apprehension.

Los Angeles has been at the forefront of local resistance to federal immigration policies. Approximately one-third of the county’s 10 million residents are foreign-born. Estimates vary on how many people are living in the county illegally, ranging from 800,000 to nearly a million people. Raids have taken place at home improvement stores, car washes, bus stops, and farms. Many families have skipped out on holidays, staying indoors instead.

Landlord advocates, including the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, sympathized with impacted families but say the moratorium is unfair to landlords who are still obligated to pay their mortgages under such a declaration.

Daniel Yukelson, executive director and CEO of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, said eviction protections hurt landlords, who are still obligated to pay the mortgage on the property.

“When you’re looking at small mom-and-pop landlords, many of them are still struggling from several years ago under the COVID moratoriums,” Yukelson told The Epoch Times in September.

He also noted that one unintended consequence is that landlords are resorting to increasingly stricter requirements for renters, which could potentially exacerbate the housing crisis in the county as they attempt to protect themselves from future moratoriums.