The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health will temporarily halt its enforcement of street vendors without permits due to concerns over recent federal immigration operations in the L.A. region, officials announced Wednesday.
Street vendors have been among the thousands of immigrants who have been detained by armed and masked federal agents in raids across the L.A. region this summer.
In the statement, the Public Health department noted that it has historically responded to complaints of unpermitted sidewalk food vending, but that enforcement activities will be paused “in the areas within its jurisdiction due to safety concerns for our staff arising out of federal immigration enforcement actions.”
Instead, the department will focus on providing unpermitted food vendors, who operate food trucks and carts, with outreach informing them in English and Spanish the steps they need to take to obtain a public health permit.
The department will also provide educational material on the risks associated with not adhering to food safety standards, according to the statement.
This news comes as street vendor leaders and advocates urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign SB 635, a bill that would prevent immigration enforcement agents from accessing street vendor data collected by local governments.
The bill, which was introduced by Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, would also bar local sidewalk vending permitting programs from inquiring into immigration or citizenship status or requiring invasive fingerprint background checks.
“When licenses become weapons of persecution, we pass laws that protect that information,” Durazo said at a press conference today at Las Fotos Project on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue.