Fear of immigration raids is decimating transit ridership in Los Angeles, where tens of thousands of low-income workers rely on the city’s public transit system.
In a piece for the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Buchanan, Colleen Shalby, and Hannah Fry describe the rippling impacts of ICE raids that have forced many Angelenos into hiding. “After June 6, when immigration agents launched a campaign in Los Angeles to find and capture undocumented immigrants, some residents have started to go underground, staying away from work, school, churches and other public venues for fear of being swept up in a raid.”
Bus and rail ridership in the region has dropped by between 10 and 15 percent since June 6, when purported immigration officials in unmarked began detaining people in the street, including at bus stops…