By Vanguard Staff
LOS ANGELES — A new analysis released by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) alleges that federal immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles County between June 6 and July 20 were concentrated in Latino and other communities of color, a pattern the group describes as a deliberate campaign of racial profiling and intimidation under the Trump administration.
CHIRLA, a prominent immigrant rights organization, compiled data from the Los Angeles Rapid Response Network (LARRN), documenting 471 confirmed enforcement actions during the six-week period. These incidents, mapped and visualized in what CHIRLA calls the “Areas of Focus for Federal Enforcement Activity” heat map, reportedly illustrate what the organization characterized as a “military” operation aimed at provoking “panic and confusion” in immigrant neighborhoods.
Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, said the data highlights systemic bias in how and where enforcement actions were carried out. “The blatant racial profiling by the Trump Administration is clearly visible in this map,” Salas said. “Areas where People of Color live and work, which also include major Latino hubs, were racially profiled and targeted.”
“The data highlights systemic bias in how and where enforcement actions were carried out.” – Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA
The report identifies the ten ZIP codes with the highest volume of reported enforcement activity, led by Pacoima and North Hills in the San Fernando Valley. Other high-activity areas include Pico Rivera, Echo Park, Bell Gardens, and several neighborhoods in South and Downtown Los Angeles. The top ZIP code, 91402, recorded 22 confirmed enforcement actions during the reporting period.
CHIRLA also noted enforcement hot spots in Southeast Los Angeles, including Norwalk, Bellflower, Downey, and South Gate, as well as the Inland Empire near Pomona.
In total, CHIRLA received 1,677 calls reporting immigration enforcement during the period, nearly 1,500 of which mentioned the presence of armed agents. The organization said 389 of the reports described community members being arrested at random.
The group said that identification of enforcement agents was difficult in many cases. According to CHIRLA, first responders frequently noted that agents were dressed in plain clothes and used unmarked vans. Reports also described enforcement activity near schools, parks, and residential intersections. CHIRLA said that while a few days saw large-scale operations involving multiple agents, video documentation of the events was rare, complicating verification efforts.
CHIRLA further claimed that nearly 90 percent of reports received failed to identify which agency conducted the operation, raising concerns about the transparency and accountability of immigration enforcement tactics.
The Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration raids in urban areas like Los Angeles have drawn sharp criticism from civil rights groups, who argue that the approach disproportionately impacts Latino communities and immigrants of color. The administration has defended such actions as necessary for national security and public safety.
The CHIRLA analysis comes at a time when critics have expressed increasing concern over how immigration enforcement is carried out and where it is concentrated.
The group’s findings, they say, suggest a pattern of targeted operations that, in their view, amount to racially motivated enforcement and a campaign of intimidation in communities already vulnerable to displacement, policing, and economic instability.
