While immigration and customs’ application agents have descended in the workplace in Los Angeles, triggering violent demonstrations in some parts of the city center, Maria S. Salinas decided that the local affairs community should be expressed.
The decision of the president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of the Los Angeles Region was unusual, since the organization generally endeavors to be diplomatic and non -partisan.
When President Trump mobilized the National Guard in Los An sharp declaration that the raids disrupted the communities and threatened the local economy.
“Immigrants are not only appreciated members of our communities, but are also essential to the strength of our workforce and the success of our economy,” the statement said. “Immigrants can critical and contribute to the region’s prosperity daily.”
The Chamber of Commerce of the Los Angeles Region is the oldest and the largest business association in the region, representing more than 1,400 members who employ more than 650,000 people.
Salinas recently discussed the Times of the way in which the current raids affect local businesses.
What impact Implementing measures and protests have had Companies and industries in Los Angeles?
We have seen immigration implementation measures instilling fear and anxiety in our immigrant community. This is something that was definitely prejudicial to Los Angeles, not only from an economic point of view, but something we call the well-being of our community.
When fear like that strikes in an immigrant community like in Los Angeles, it disturbs our economy. Indeed, people do not appear at work and do not appear at school, and even to their health meetings.
I have seen information that even the churches have seen a significant drop in their members. The impact on public transport has certainly been felt. There is therefore a training effect because it has an impact on the livelihoods of immigrant populations. This has an impact on their ability to earn a living, which then has an impact on the ability to spend and spend their daily life.
Fear and anxiety go very deeply within communities.
What companies have been the most affected?
Most of the companies that have been affected are smaller companies, retail companies and restaurants.
The impacts came in two ways: workers did not arise and customers do not arise, especially in areas and in parts of the city which have a flourishing immigrant community.
When people are afraid to go out, they stay far from local stores and do not go out to eat in their local restaurants. You see the void in the local districts. Anecdotal, several stories shared on the impact on construction projects.
What were the effects on CThe employees and customers of Hamber members?
There are small businesses in some of the affected areas that thrive on immigrant customers. Their stores were empty where they had to close their stores because they were in areas that were affected by disturbances.
For hotels in the curfew area, they had to cancel the events. So it was a disturbance of the local economy during these two days. When an event of 1,000 people in a hotel had to be canceled, it affects employees and the overall hotel industry.
Los Angeles lives on tourism, and it is an important part of our economy. We want to make sure that people from across the country or internationally have the best vision of Los Angeles.
Do you have an estimate of the economic cost of disorders?
I think it was still a bit early to say. The Los Angeles County Supervisors Council adopted a request to determine the economic impact of immigration implementation measures. We will remain very close to this, because we are obviously very interested in understanding our local impact.
To what extent are the companies of the dependent on the work of immigrants?
The Los Angeles Region is home to 3.5 million immigrants, which represents 35% of the more than 10 million county. They work in many industries, including the construction sector, hospitality, agriculture.
How did you send your concerns to the Trump administration?
We have called for de -escalation and have a long story of calling for a complete immigration reform. We understand Los Angeles and the importance of remaining competitive with a flourishing workforce.
Do you make Lobbying in Washington for the change?
We make our plea through our federal elected officials who represent the region of southern California.
We visit Washington, DC, on an annual basis with a large delegation. This year, we visited in March and met various administration departments, in particular the trade transport departments (and), (the) Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration.
Our message was to really highlight the importance of the Los Angeles economy for the rest of the country. … it is a workforce that must be competitive so that we can compete with other countries.
Aside from the raids, how do new prices affect the companies of the?
Prices are increasing costs for consumers. They have an impact on each sector because many goods and parts come from outside the United States. Politicians around prices have an impact not only in Los Angeles through our port complex in Los Angeles and Long Beach, but also to the rest of the country. Indeed, around 40% of the goods that come to Los Angeles go to the rest of the country.