Mayor Karen Bass just made it official: Los Angeles is a sanctuary city when it comes to enforcing food safety laws with thousands of street stands that have popped up all over the city — many of them run by illegal aliens.
Bass’s announcement this week ordering police to stop issuing violations to unpermitted vendors follows a Breitbart News investigation last month that revealed the widespread lack of enforcement of city and county food safety laws, with street food stands run by illegal migrants getting a free pass while citizen restaurateurs and licensed food stands are subject to fines, high costs, burdensome regulations and even closure.
Bass’s office told the California Post Thursday that the mayor “stands firmly with street vendors” and has directed the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) to stop issuing criminal citations to unpermitted vendors.
“Street vending is a quintessential part of LA’s world-class food scene and a livelihood for thousands of hardworking Angelenos. Supporting LA’s street vendors is more important than ever given ongoing attacks by ICE,” her office told the outlet.
The message is clear, say critics. If you’re in the United States illegally and operating a business illegally, you get a free pass. If you are a citizen, you must follow all the rules or face fines and even closure.
As Breitbart News reported in July, an estimated 50,000 vendors operate throughout Los Angeles but fewer than 700 have active permits, with only 53 of those for food vendors.
Besides presenting food safety problems for America’s second largest city, the tent canopies and smokey grills that accompany many operations have become a blight on neighborhoods and business districts, contributing — along with the homeless and widespread littering — to the kind of streetscape typically found in impoverished Third World countries.
Current city statutes require a city vending permit to sell food or merchandise on city sidewalks and in city parks. It must be renewed annually. Food vendors must also obtain a county heath permit, demonstrating they have met all the requirements of food safety, such as refrigeration, sanitation stations and other commonsense practices that restaurants must follow.
Just across Lincoln Blvd from family-owned restaurant Casablanca, unpermitted food is prepared and sold in sidewalk operations. (Lowell Cauffiel)
Breitbart News’s investigation revealed scores of unpermitted food stands throughout the city that lacked basic food safety equipment. The report highlighted one operation near Venice Beach where cooked chopped beef could be seen stored in an open plastic tub exposed in the hot sun only inches from passing cars.
The county is on board with the hands-off policy as well. As Breitbart News reported:
The Los Angeles County Health Department, citing immigration enforcement efforts by the Trump administration, last fall suspended all enforcement of thousands of noncompliant street food vendors who have proliferated with the massive influx of illegals under the Biden administration.
With the labor market flooded with cheap migrant labor and the increasingly high cost of living in the Golden State, migrants were already ignoring regulations and licensing requirements to openly prepare and sell their native countries’ meals on sidewalks and curbsides.
The health department suspended enforcement despite nearly 3,000 food poisoning complaints reported to the county in 2025, with health officials suspecting many more went unreported.
If someone gets seriously ill from unlicensed street food, undocumented operators are typically uninsured and can easily disappear before being held accountable.
The problem has ignited debate on social media, with video posted of the widespread illegal practice.
“Imagine putting your life savings into opening a restaurant,” one Angelino with the handle KingOf98580 wrote on social media. “You do everything legally, pay rent, employees, taxes, business licenses, and a street food vendor pops up across the street with no overhead, no license, cash only, and undercuts your business. L.A. city officials suck.”
When asked about the unequal application of the law, the county health department told Breitbart News that it had shifted its street-level enforcement to pair with the district attorney to “target the larger organizations that control many street-level operations in order to conduct enforcement at the source.”
These efforts include “unpermitted central food preparation and distribution hubs that support multiple unpermitted sidewalk locations,” the department said.
That statement turned out to be misleading at best.
When Breitbart News contacted the District Attorney’s Office earlier this month about such an effort, a spokesman responded that it was limited to a “Street Vending Workgroup” which met monthly “to discuss street vending issues.”
“Currently, our Bureau of Investigation does not participate in enforcement operations,” communications chief Venusse Dunn told Breitbart News. “Questions regarding specific enforcement operations should be directed to the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Now LAPD is officially off the case, per Bass’s order.
Bass’ policy actually puts her at odds with Councilwoman Nithya Raman, her opponent in November’s mayoral election.
“Raman has argued that the city should make it easier for vendors to obtain permits and enter the legal system rather than leaving large numbers of operators outside it,” the Post reported.
Legal gourmet hot dog cart operator Anthony D’Eugenio told Breitbart News his revenue has dropped from $100,000 to $30,000 annually at his West Hollywood location because of illegal vendors, many of them controlled by Latin gangs.
D’Eugenio blasted the mayor’s decision as “shameful” and an affront to legal vendors. His costs to operate exceed $1000 annually for insurance, tax permits and the like, with $750 for the operating permit alone.
“They punish hardworking people and reward the criminals,” he said.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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