the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 29, 2025
Since early June, the U.S. government has pushed immigrant workers across Los Angeles into a terrible choice: “Go to work and risk being kidnapped by ICE, or stay home and fall further behind on the rent,” as a tenant rights organization observed. These included documented and undocumented, as well as citizen and non-citizen, mostly low-income workers.
Now, because they are losing their already meager incomes, these workers, imprisoned or not, are facing utility shutoffs, landlord harassment, eviction notices, and homelessness. One third of the immigrant workers owe more than one month’s rent to their landlord, placing them at risk of immediate eviction. One in eight immigrant workers said that their landlord threatened to report them to ICE.
In Los Angeles County, the rents are unaffordable. For example, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is approximately $3,400, while the average monthly income for undocumented households is around $3,900. The vast majority, more than three-quarters, of the low-income undocumented workers annually earn less than $25,000.
For this reason, not surprisingly, a 2024 investigation by the University of Southern California (USC) found that a staggering majority of undocumented households, about 70%, are considered to be financially burdened by rents. As such, immigrant workers were already struggling to pay these high rents before the ICE raids started.
After the ICE raids, 95% of undocumented immigrant workers were experiencing a rent burden as of early August. As a result, most immigrant workers had to return to work because of their fear of eviction.
One worker, Leslie Quechol, told a reporter from a local public radio station that her cousin was one of dozens arrested in an ICE raid on Ambiance Apparel, a company in downtown Los Angeles’ Fashion District. Her cousin is “the head of his household.” After being detained, he “left three kids and his wife” behind in their home. “Their conditions inside there were awful.”
Even immigrant workers who have not been detained, or those who have documents, are also losing their income as entire workplaces shut down to avoid being targeted in future government sweeps. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, a Los Angeles shopping district known for its predominantly Latino community, is now unusually quiet. The usual rush of shoppers looking for fresh fruit, clothing, or home goods has mainly disappeared.
Los Angeles is now facing a working class disaster that can result in mass evictions and homelessness.
The workforce that faces this immediate danger consists mainly of low-income workers performing menial labor at construction sites, restaurants, farm fields, car washes, gardens, daycare or nursing centers, or as street vendors.
ICE, which the U.S. government is building into a much bigger paramilitary force, is currently used against this low-income workforce. But in the future, it will be used against the whole workforce, whether documented or not. The fight of this immigrant workforce against such oppression is also our fight.