Learn And Advocate
Welcoming Immigrants & Refugees in Los Angeles and Beyond
Throughout our 110-year history, IILA has not only provided direct services to countless refugee and immigrant families, but it has also been a voice for them in challenging times. During World War II, for instance, we stood with Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and opposed the forced relocation of our Japanese American neighbors. Advocating for our refugee and immigrant sisters and brothers continues to be of critical importance.
One of the great strengths of our nation is its incredible diversity; welcoming refugees and other immigrants isn’t just good for them, it’s good for the United States. We invite you to utilize the resources below to find out more about how refugees and immigrants positively impact our country. Then join us in taking action to welcome and support those who so profoundly enrich our communities and society.
Please continue to visit this page for updated information and ways to advocate.
Last updated on October 12th, 2026 at 02:07 pm
As a general source of helpful fact-based information, consider signing up for the monthly Cato Immigration newsletter.
The U.S. Economy
- New ACLU and AFL-CIO Report Shows Deportations Lower Wages and Raise Costs for America’s Workers – ACLU, 9/16/2026
- Financial incentives drive the continuation and expansion of our immigration detention system. – Detention Watch Network
- Immigrants Are Founders Of Most U.S. Billion-Dollar Companies – Forbes 6/3/2026
- Shock, awe, and economic fallout: The employment effects of ICE enforcement in US cities – Brookings Institute, 5/29/2026
- Prices for all Americans are set to unnecessarily rise under recent and proposed immigration policies impacting the U.S. labor force – fwd.us, 5/20/2026
- The economic chilling effect of Trump’s immigration crackdown – NPR’s Planet Money, 5/12/2026
- Immigrants Use Less Welfare, Even Counting Their US-Born Children – Cato Institute, 2/23/2026
- Immigrants’ Recent Effects on Government Budgets: 1994–2023 – Cato Institute, 2/3/2026
- Immigrant and Native Consumption of Means-Tested Welfare and Entitlement Benefits in 2023 – Cato Institute, 1/27/2026
- Trump’s deportation agenda will destroy millions of jobs – Economic Policy Institute, 7/10/2025
- Opinion: Editorial: Editorial: Immigrants are California’s lifeblood. They need support now more than ever – LA Times, 12/25/2024
- Opinion: It’s time to tell the truth about how immigration affects the U.S. economy – LA Times, 10/24/2024
- Data shows migrants aren’t taking jobs from Black or Hispanic people, despite what Trump says – AP News, 10/12/2024
- Mass deportations would harm the US economy – Peterson Institute for International Economics, 9/26/2024
- Why California’s surge in immigration is lifting our economy – LA Times, 7/31/2024
- Understanding Health Care For Undocumented Immigrants – The Alliance for Citizen Engagement (ACE), 6/19/2024
- Immigration is “taking pressure off” the job market and U.S. economy, expert says – CNBC, 3/2/2024
- Immigrants are not hurting U.S.-born workers: Six facts to set the record straight – Economic Policy Institute, 2/20/2024
- Fed Chair discusses immigration’s role in economic recovery on 60 Minutes, 2/4/2024
- Congressional Budget Office–Director’s Statement on the Budget and economic Outlook for 2024 to 2034, 2/7/2024
- The report includes this paragraph: “In our projections, the deficit is also smaller than it was last year because economic output is greater, partly as a result of more people working. The labor force in 2033 is larger by 5.2 million people, mostly because of higher net immigration. As a result of those changes in the labor force, we estimate that, from 2023 to 2034, GDP will be greater by about $7 trillion and revenues will be greater by about $1 trillion than they would have been otherwise. We are continuing to assess the implications of immigration for revenues and spending.”
- The Fiscal Impact of Refugees and Asylees at the Federal, State and Local Levels from 2005-2019 – Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, US Department of Health and Human Services, 2/2024
- The report concludes that the net fiscal impact of refugees and asylees over the 15-year period was positive at $123.8 billion, with most of the benefit ($92.3 billion) going to the states (page 4).
- Rights of Undocumented Workers in California – East Bay Community Law Center
Immigration & Public Safety
- Immigration Saves Lives – Cato Institute, 2/23/2026
- Fear of Immigration Raids Undermines Minnesota’s Health Care System – Cato Institute, 1/30/2026
- NPR: Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans, studies find, 3/8/2024
- National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER): Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the US-Born, 1850-2020, 3/2024
- Cato Institute: Illegal Immigration and Crime in Texas, 10/13/2020
- The Marshall Project: Is There a Connection Between Undocumented Immigrants and Crime?, 5/13/2019
- The New York Times: The Myth of the Criminal Immigrant, 3/30/2018
Population Growth
- The Demographic Outlook: 2024 to 2054 – Congressional Budget Office report on projected population growth, 1/2024WNYC Studio’s “On the Media” Podcast: What the Media Misses by Focusing on the Southern Border, 2/2/2024
- New census projections show immigration is essential to the growth and vitality of a more diverse US population – Brookings Institution, 11/29/2023NPR’s “Fresh Air” Podcast: ‘New Yorker’ writer traces the current U.S. border crisis back to the Cold War, 1/30/2024
The U.S. Refugee System
- U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) Factsheet – Resettlement Support Center Africa and Church World Service, 2026
- Afrikaner refugee families to return to SA, sparks outrage from Americans, 4/23/2026
- Investigating Trump’s claims that White South African farmers are victims of genocide – 60 Minutes, 2/22/2026
- PBS News Hours: How does the U.S. refugee system work?, 3/23/2024
- Switchboard TA: How Refugee Resettlement Agencies Work With the U.S. Government (video), 12/30/2022
- Switchboard TA: Who Are Refugees and How Do They Arrive in the United States? (video), 10/6/2021
Current Immigration Enforcement Activities
- “In the Middle of the Night, They Come and Get You: Systematic U.S. Government Pursuit of Refugees and Torture Survivors Granted Protections by U.S. Judges” – Human Rights First, 10/2026
- US Pursues Deportees Abroad for Hundreds of Millions in Unpaid Fines – Bloomberg, 9/8/2026
- U.S. Deports Thousands to Countries They Don’t Know Under Secretive “Third Country” Deal – Democracy Now!, 9/1/2026
- ICE arrested 50,000 people in August, continuing record pace – NBC, 9/1/2026
- Relative of Afghans who aided US military deported to Africa – Al Jazeera, 8/30/2026
- A quiet channel between ICE and Iran shaped deportation flights, newly released emails show – AP News, 8/19/2026
- Immigration arrests hit a new record, DHS says in long-awaited data – USA Today, 7/22/2026
- ‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools – The Guardian, 6/24/2026
- ICE accused of retaliating against Adelanto hunger strikers with transfers and solitary confinement – LA Times, 6/11/2026
- Immigrant detainees sue over ‘horrific’ conditions at Texas ICE facility – Houston Public Media, 6/1/2026
- Immigration courts are using a new tactic to speed up deportations – NPR, 5/26/2026
- USCIS Cut Green Card Approvals in Half to Help ICE Arrest Legal Immigrants – Cato Institute, 4/21/2026
- Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids — ProPublica, 3/23/2026
- Give A Little Whistle – This American Life, 3/6/2026
- Blind refugee abandoned by Border Patrol is dead – Investigative Post, 2/25/2026
Current Immigrant and Refugee Policies
- Change in human trafficking policy could make some minors easier to deport – AP, 9/16/2026
- U.S. Deports Thousands to Countries They Don’t Know Under Secretive “Third Country” Deal – Democracy Now!, 9/1/2026
- Trump Officials Now Restricting All Legal Immigration Categories – Forbes, 8/17/2026
- 26-employee Texas law firm gets $150M to represent 24,000 children in immigration court – Politico, 8/4/2026
- More than 24,000 immigrant children could lose legal representation as a federal contract expires – LA Times, 7/29/2026
- California’s largest ICE facility neglected detainees’ medical needs, monitor finds – The Guardian, 7/28/2026
- Thousands of immigrant children risk losing lawyers after Trump aid cuts – The Guardian, 7/22/2026
- New Trump rule makes it harder for some immigrants to get green cards – CNN, 7/20/2026
- ‘Deportation machine’ or long-overdue enforcement? Bond denials grow sharply under Trump – LAist, 7/15/2026
- More than a dozen immigration detention facilities have gone over a year without inspection under revised ICE policies – CBS, 7/9/2026
- Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s rebuke of Trump on birthright citizenship – CNN, 6/30/2026
- Inside the coordinated strategy to radically reshape U.S. immigration – NPR, 6/30/2026
- Court allows Trump administration to end removal protections for Syrian and Haitian nationals – SCOTUSblog, 6/25/2026
- Supreme Court Allows Trump to Block Asylum Seekers at Border – New York Times, 6/25/2026
- The Trump administration’s attack on immigrant children – Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, 6/11/2026
- US still talking with countries to resettle Afghans as Rubio defends entry to white South Africans – Associated Press, 6/2/2026
- Trump administration plan would allow for quick asylum rejections without interviews, internal documents show – CBS, 6/1/2026
- Trump raises refugee ceiling by 10,000 to bring in more white South Africans – Reuters, 5/26/2026
- How Trump Is Prioritizing White People as Refugees – New York Times, 5/8/2026 (video)
- Ten Major Immigration and Refugee Policy Changes Since January 2025 – Church World Service, 5/2026
- Trump Is Said to Be in Talks to Send Afghans Who Aided U.S. Forces to Congo – New York Times, 4/21/2026
- USCIS Cut Green Card Approvals in Half to Help ICE Arrest Legal Immigrants – Cato Institute, 4/21/2026
- Refugees International Concerned by U.S.–Costa Rica Third Country National Deportation Deal – Refugees International, 4/14/2026
- Refugees Challenge Discriminatory Preference to White Afrikaners – International Refugee Assistance Project, 4/8/2026
- The Trump Administration Wants the Supreme Court to Permanently Close the Border to Asylum Seekers – Ms. Magazine, 3/23/2026
- Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids — ProPublica, 3/23/2026
- Trump’s Mass-Detention Campaign | The New Yorker 3/15/2026
- Give A Little Whistle – This American Life, 3/6/2026
- Investigating Trump’s claims that White South African farmers are victims of genocide – 60 Minutes, 2/22/2026

