Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn says it’s “not the county sheriff’s job to be involved in immigration issues.”

Hahn’s comment, made during a talk to the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum, is a contrast to what Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell has said about his department’s treatment of undocumented immigrants, especially since President Donald Trump has begun cracking down on them. “We will not be involved in immigration issues,” Hahn said.

McDonnell is a central figure in the undocumented immigrant controversy. He is in charge of the county’s huge jail system. Sheriff’s deputies send the names and fingerprints of those booked into jail to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which identifies those it would like to pick up. These are usually undocumented workers with a record of arrests for offenses ranging rom major to minor. At ICE’s request, the sheriff hands over undocumented inmates who have been arrested for what the federal government considers major crimes or who have prior convictions.

McDonnell told the Los Angeles Times that if immigration officers can’t pick up people in jails, the ICE officers will scour the streets for them, disrupting immigrant communities. He and other sheriffs around the state oppose a bill by State Sen. President Kevin deLeon restricting sheriffs’ ability to cooperate with ICE. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck have said they don’t want LAPD officers acting as immigration cops.

While McDonnell is nominally supervised by the Board of Supervisors, the supes generally keep hands off his department unless a scandal explodes. So it’s not known whether Hahn’s remarks will impact his policies.

The question, from Current Affairs Forum director Emma Schafer, first brought a chuckle from Hahn, who said she had been assured it would be a friendly, intimate gathering and now she found herself hit with controversy with a table full of reporters in front of her. But she answered the question in depth and with good-natured openness. She treated other questions the same way, showing her years of experience as a Los Angeles city council member and congresswoman—and as the daughter of the famed late Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.
Her position reflects the strongly liberal tilt of the five-member board with four Democrats and a moderate Republican, Kathryn Barger.

Like her father, Hahn favors expansion of the board to nine members. Having one supervisor represent 2 million people, as she does, is too much, Hahn said.

After the surprising victory of Measure H, the homeless assistance sales tax increase, in the last election, county and city officials and non-profit organizations are planning to move quickly to put its money to work.

I talked to Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas about implementing the measure, which will raise about $355 million annually to provide services for the growing number of homeless on the streets. Combined with a city bond issue, passed by voters last year, the combined city-county strategy envisions moving homeless from the streets into rental housing. They will also be treated be for addiction, mental illness and other ailments that bedevil that population,

“Rapid rehousing” will be the goal, he said. The supervisors should approve the plan June 15 and “we’ll be rocking and rolling by July 1,” he said.

Teams of outreach workers will visit the rapidly increasing tent encampments to persuade the inhabitants to move into rental housing. Teams will be doubled to more than 30. They will include a public health nurse, a social worker, and a formerly homeless person. Treatment facilities will be set up around the county. Hopefully, landlords will accept homeless tenants, whose rent will be paid by the government, if treatment is available nearby.

“We’ll make an assessment of existing housing units,” he said. Meanwhile, the city bond issue will begin to finance construction of new housing for the homeless.
Obstacles remain. The Trump administration could reduce funds that pay the rent for homeless housing.

Officials will be under pressure to perform. “The people did something extraordinary” in approving Measure H,’ Ridley-Thomas said. “We have to show results.”

It’s something of a miracle that Measure H, the Los Angeles County tax increase to improve services for the homeless, may be near voter approval.

True, some votes remain to be counted. Still, the Los Angeles countywide measure, raising the sales tax by a quarter of a cent, just made it above the two thirds vote required for victory in Tuesday’s election. Absentee and provisional ballots could defeat the tax increase. But as Doug Smith wrote in the Los Angeles Times, if the majority holds up, a victory “would constitute a wave of generosity by city and county voters—giving homeless services organizations the funds they say they need.”

It would to add about $355 million annually for homeless programs over 10 years. The money would provide support services for the new housing in Los Angeles as well as rental subsidies and services for thousands more units around the county. The housing would be financed by a bond measure approved by Los Angeles city voters last November.

Even with victory not clinched, the results are still noteworthy and offer lessons to be learned. This is especially in the Trump era, where all we hear about are Republican efforts to wipe out government services they consider worthless. Among the lessons:

-People want results and self-interest is important. Looking at a Los Angeles Times map of the vote, it’s possible to trace support through a widespread area, many of whose residents once gave little thought to homelessness but now see encampments on sidewalks, parks and under freeways as a daily presence.

-Government can work. Measure H was the second element of a two- part Los Angeles city and county attack on homelessness that has zoomed out of control. The housing bond issue was the first. The county’s Measure H would finance the hiring of social workers and mental health staff to go out on the streets and persuade the homeless to accept help and possibly move into the housing provided by the city bond issue. The city and county governments have been notorious for their feuding. The crisis brought together leaders in city hall and the county to come up with a solution that offers a chance of success but no guarantee. It took many meetings, immersion in detail and putting ego aside to agree on the plan.

-Unsung heroes deserve praise. While Angelenos watched in horror as homeless encampments sprung up on their neighborhood streets, social workers and volunteers went from tent to tent, talking to people afflicted with mental illness and substance abuse. Others worked in social service programs across the basin, seeking housing, finding space in overcrowded care facilities. Their numbers were small given the size of the problem. But the workers haven’t given up and Measure H would greatly increase their number.

-Newspapers still count. Most news media have focused in on homelessness, but the Los Angeles Times deserves special praise. Its reporting team, including columnist Steve Lopez, prowled the streets and talked to countless people to get the story. The Times’ powerful coverage was a great help in getting out the Measure H vote.