Researchers are calculating the cost that ICE raids have had on Latino businesses in LA County, which is the most populous county in the U.S. A partnership between UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute and a local Boyle Heights non-profit has gathered quantitative data from brick and mortar business of all kinds across the county in the wake of last summer’s militarized ICE raids. And the reports from business owners are dismal.

Researchers conducted both focus groups and used cell phone data in nine areas around LA County that were targeted by last summer’s raids. The cellphone data helped determine the loss in foot traffic after the ICE raids had taken place, while the focus groups talked to business owners who not only themselves have been impacted by the loss in income, but whose family and community members have also been impacted. One of the project’s findings concluded that 3.16 million dollars and 46,000 less people patronized these businesses in the first two weeks after the raids.

Think about that in terms of the loss to the community: how many relationships and opportunities for growth and connection have been lost to these horrific raids?

(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action.)