California Today: Worries Over Deportation

New York Times 

By Matt McPhate

April 05, 2017

California Today: Worries Over Deportation 

LOS ANGELES — President Trump is still in the early stages of putting in place the tough immigration policy he vowed as a candidate. The wall along the Mexican border seems a ways off, and his executive order restricting immigration is tied up in court. But the administration is already stirring deep concern here in Los Angeles, where close to 50 percent of the population is Latino.

That was abundantly evident in a poll released Tuesday by the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California.

The poll found that 37 percent of respondents said they were afraid that they, a family member or a friend would be deported because of their immigration status. Of those, 80 percent said the risks of deportation increased if a friend or family member enrolled in any kind of governmental health, education or housing program.

Latinos were more likely to express fear of a friend or family member being deported: 56 percent of respondents expressed that concern, followed by 31 percent of Asians. But Zev Yaroslavsky, who is the director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the Luskin School, and oversaw the poll, said he was struck by how many whites expressed concern.

“Nineteen percent of the Anglos were worried,” he said. “That could be their maid or co-worker in their office or gardener.”

Fear of deportation was higher among younger Angelinos: 56 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 said they were concerned. And 83 percent of younger Latinos who were worried about deportation were wary of signing up for government programs. “The younger the Latino, the higher the level of worry,” he said.

“The number of people in our country concerned about deportation is staggering,” Mr. Yaroslavsky said.

The survey is part of an annual study the university does that is focused on quality of life in Los Angeles. The findings were based on interviews with 1,595 residents, from Feb. 28 to March 12.

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