LA Small Businesses Struggling Amidst Immigration Enforcement

Here are the morning’s top stories on Monday, June 23, 2025…

• The Trump Administration’s immigration raids have cast a cloud of fear over immigrant communities across the state. They’ve also dealt a blow to small businesses and economic life, particularly in Los Angeles. 
• The deployment of National Guard troops sent to Los Angeles by President Trump has been at the center of a see-sawing legal battle between California and the Trump Administration. For now, the soldiers are staying as the dispute is before a judge on Monday.
• The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday dealt a blow to California’s ability to set its own vehicle emissions standards. That will likely strengthen the fossil fuel industry’s ability to challenge the state’s energy policies and goals.

Small Businesses In Los Angeles Facing Impacts Of Immigration Enforcement

Immigration enforcement continues across the Los Angeles area. The Trump administration’s actions have left many immigrant communities on edge. And it’s also had a big impact on small businesses.

Michael, who didn’t want his last name used, owns a clothing shop in Huntington Park. “It’s worse than the pandemic,” he said. “Since the time they started the raids, business went down almost 90%. You didn’t see any people in the street. They’re afraid to walk in the streets, because a lot of them are undocumented. And our business depends on those people.”

L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis said immigrants are part of the fabric of the community. “The collateral damage as I call it from these raids is evident in our local economy. With nearly 3.5 million immigrants in Los Angeles County, just keep this mind they’re spending power amounts to $79.7 billion fueling our local economy.”

Judge Delays Hearing On Troops In LA, Leaving Them Under Trump’s Control 

Armed military troops will remain in Los Angeles and under President Donald Trump’s command for now after a federal judge delayed a hearing Friday in California’s case challenging his authority to dispatch them in response to immigration protests.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer asked lawyers for the federal government and the state of California to submit legal arguments by Monday on how the case should proceed, after an appeals court sided with Trump and blocked an earlier ruling of Breyer’s.

Late Thursday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stayed — or suspended — Breyer’s June 12 temporary restraining order that had directed Trump to hand back control of the 4,000 California National Guard troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom. In its ruling, the 9th Circuit panel wrote that the restraining order was essentially a preliminary injunction, which Breyer said made his Friday hearing moot since it had initially been scheduled to weigh whether to grant a preliminary injunction.

Supreme Court Rules Oil Producers Can Challenge CA Emissions Standards

The Supreme Court on June 20 ruled in favor of the oil industry, granting it standing in a case seeking to block federal approval of California’s 2012 clean-car regulation. The 7-2 ruling will allow the companies to sue. “This case concerns only standing, not the merits,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the decision. “The regulations likely cause the fuel producers’ monetary injuries because reducing gasoline and diesel fuel consumption is the whole point of the regulations.”

The case filed by oil companies, other fuel producers and 17 other states argued that the federal government exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act when it granted California a waiver to set its own tougher auto emissions standards.

The Supreme Court agreed to only examine whether the fuel companies that appealed a lower court ruling have the standing to sue. Oil and other fuel companies are not regulated under the California standards; only automakers are.