California finance records show money from a Los Angeles wildfire recovery fund was used for Highway Patrol deployments and emergency service contracts tied to anti-ICE demonstrations in 2025.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A California wildfire relief fund created after the January 2025 Los Angeles-area fires spent more than $14 million on public safety operations tied to anti-ICE demonstrations later that year, according to state finance records cited by the Washington Examiner.
The Los Angeles Wildfire Response and Recovery Fund was established to help residents and communities recover after fires destroyed thousands of homes and businesses across Southern California. Newly released California Department of Finance documents show that part of the fund was instead used for law enforcement and emergency response costs connected to protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A state spending report shows that $12.8 million from the fund went toward costs associated with deploying California Highway Patrol officers during anti-deportation demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles in the summer of 2025.
The report said the spending covered activities including “traffic control, tactical alert, and monitoring of demonstrations to ensure safety of the public and assist other government agencies.”
Another $1.5 million from the fund was used for service contracts with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to “aid and support local law enforcement amidst nationwide demonstrations,” according to the report.
The demonstrations followed immigration enforcement operations launched by the Trump administration in June 2025. Los Angeles became a central site of anti-ICE protests, some of which turned violent as demonstrators clashed with law enforcement. Hundreds of arrests were made during the unrest.
The use of wildfire relief money for protest-related security operations is likely to raise questions about the management of disaster recovery funds and whether the spending aligned with the original purpose of the program.
The latest financial report indicates that a significant portion of the multibillion-dollar recovery fund remains unspent more than a year after the fires. Many wildfire victims are still rebuilding homes and recovering from losses.
State officials have not publicly said whether the $14.3 million spent on protest response will be reimbursed from other funding sources. They also have not said whether using wildfire recovery money for law enforcement operations complied with the fund’s original disaster relief intent.
The records add to broader scrutiny over the pace of California’s wildfire recovery and how relief money has been directed since the January 2025 fires.