Over the past two weeks, the country’s eyes have turned toward Washington, DC—many with horror, some with delight. The streets of the capital now swarm with federal agents, National Guard soldiers, and federalized police targeting people for supposed threats to public safety like sleeping outside or even throwing a sandwich. This worst of this occupation may be temporary, but the people of Los Angeles know that the long-term dangers, including frequent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and a climate of fear, will not simply end when the last soldiers leave.

For more than two months, masked and heavily armed federal agents have descended upon Los Angeles, racially profiling and arresting Angelenos at work, church, and even elementary schools and courthouses. As President Trump deployed Marine Corps and National Guard troops alongside local police in response to large protests and peaceful prayer vigils, law enforcement engaged in expensive and dangerous militarized shows of force, fired rubber bullets at both civilians and journalists, and arrested civic leaders and protesters alike. ICE has since arrested more than 4,000 people in LA, many now locked in overcrowded detention centers with limited access to their lawyers.

Most of the Marines and National Guard troops have now left LA, but with President Trump’s recent windfall of funding for immigration enforcement, the city may be under siege for months or years to come. Meanwhile, Trump has launched his assault on DC, and threatened similar takeovers and intensified immigration enforcement in cities like Baltimore, Chicago, New York, and Oakland.

As Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez stated, LA is the canary in the coal mine for Trump’s big-city power grab. It is a harmful exercise in political theater designed to distract from the administration’s actions that are endangering our safety. City leaders across the country have spoken powerfully but largely focused energy on areas where they have little power or impact. There is so much more that local leaders can do to support their communities, and as DC and other cities come to face the nightmare we have seen in Los Angeles, our city leaders can set a national example for how to actually keep us safe.

The ripple effects of fear

Today, parts of Los Angeles look unfamiliar: city blocks and parks, usually bustling with diverse vendors selling food, fruit, and art, sit empty, with boarded-up storefronts and fencing. Unemployment is surging, and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute has estimated a nearly $300 billion overall blow to California’s economy. Leaders have canceled civic events out of fear for our neighbors. Small businesses in neighborhoods with large Latine populations have reported up to a 90 percent drop in business. Even public buses, typically full of Latine riders, are seeing plummeting ridership as many people hide at home for fear of their own safety.

We’ve seen this firsthand at Vera California’s office, in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, a vibrant neighborhood normally teeming with street art and immigrant-run small businesses. The area around our office is now emptier—and thus it feels less safe.

The chilling effect of Trump’s actions will undermine safety not just in the short term, but also for years to come, especially for immigrant communities. Take recent reports that immigrants have been canceling their appointments at mental health clinics and other public health clinics, losing access to much-needed treatment and medication because they’re afraid of ICE raids. Or that the raids have caused people to flee city domestic violence shelters meant to provide a safe haven to survivors. These stories fly in the face of evidence that these services make people safer.

The public defender and district attorney’s offices, along with the Superior Court, all agree that ICE arrests at local courthouses disrupt the justice system. As LA’s Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II said, “These intimidating and unnecessary displays undermine public trust in the justice system, deter people from seeking justice, and send a dangerous message to immigrant communities that they are not safe to fully and freely participate in the legal process.” Indeed, research shows that Latine people are less likely to report crimes or seek help under the kind of increased immigration enforcement we’ve seen in our city. While this will hit immigrant communities hardest, it will make the whole city less safe.

What’s more, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has strained our local budget to the tune of nearly $30 million for its aggressive response to protests. Outsized spending on law enforcement means fewer resources for solutions proven to keep our communities safe over time, such as job skills training, emergency mental health responders, and community infrastructure like streetlights and green spaces.

While Trump claims he has made LA “safe and sound,” all of this will only take the city further from the long-term safety and justice we deserve. Voters know this too—it’s part of why they oppose workplace raids and support limiting local collaboration with federal immigration enforcement.

What Angelenos really need (is safety for all)

The truth is that local leaders have limited tools to stop harmful ICE practices or federalized troops. And while vocal resistance is important, it can only do so much for people’s day-to-day lives. Still, there is so much Los Angeles’s leadership can to do keep our city safe, vibrant, and thriving for all—and set a model for leaders nationwide in the process.

Help people get back on their feet with cash aid

Angelenos need groceries, know-your-rights advice, and cash aid. Nearly 500,000 people, mostly Latine, have lost their jobs, and countless small businesses have shuttered. In response, Santa Ana recently allocated $100,000 in cash aid for families impacted by the raids, and LA plans to coordinate efforts between donors and nonprofits to provide gift cards to impacted families. If Los Angeles is serious about safety, city leaders should set aside millions in city funding to support local families forced to miss work. Given the current climate of fear and distrust in government, this stabilizing aid should go through trusted groups that are already working in LA’s immigrant communities.

Protect people from government overreach

Angelenos need immigration lawyers, public defenders (who, already stretched thin, are now being tasked with supporting criminalized protesters), and robust sanctuary policies.

Although California recently passed a budget that includes some funding for immigration representation, both the state and our cities can do more to meet the urgency of this moment, just as they have done swiftly during past emergencies like this year’s deadly wildfires. Our immigration system is wildly complex and, without a lawyer, many people with a legal right to stay in the country will be deported. The city should ramp up investments to provide lawyers to people in deportation proceedings and significantly increase funding for longstanding immigrant representation efforts like Represent LA, which are already serving people facing detention and deportation.

We also need measures to ensure accountability, like a recent city council motion requiring LAPD to verify the identity of masked people in plain clothes taking community members off the street when concerned Angelenos call local law enforcement for help. The people of LA will never fully trust the city government if it isn’t clearly separate from the federal agents terrorizing our city.

Take (and fund) concrete action

In speeches, Mayor Bass and other city leaders have fiercely supported the immigrants that make up LA. The mayor decried the heavily armed federal agents who disrupted a children’s summer camp in MacArthur Park, for example, as a “political agenda to terrorize immigrants and signal that they need to stay at home.” But people won’t feel safe leaving their homes until they see action. To meet immediate needs, the city should fund house calls from health clinics and improve access to virtual care for people missing appointments out of fear. Local courts should also consider waiving unnecessary hearings. These temporary solutions can help keep us all safer and preserve vital city functions until it is safe for people to return to public life.

Leaders also need to fund what works on a much larger scale. Because of limited funding, it takes nine months to repair a street light in a LA. County parks are facing weekly closures because of budget shortfalls. LA’s health care system is at risk of collapse. Municipal budget items come from a fixed pie that is dangerously strained by federal cuts. LAPD is among the few line items that grew in this year’s budget (to nearly $2 billon), while effective homeless prevention programs face cuts. As the federal government threatens our safety, city leaders must choose to meaningfully fund solutions that work, like street safety improvements, youth programs, and housing.

Los Angeles is a city of dreamers, immigrants, and inspirational leaders. As Trump ramps up his threats against safety and justice in cities that oppose his agenda, it is time for LA to show the country how to protect our communities.