According to U.S. Census Bureau data, Los Angeles is home to 160,800 immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and thus, according to the L.A. Weekly, “has more residents who hail from countries covered by President Trump’s so-called Muslim ban than any other metropolitan area.”
The vast majority of Angelenos from Trump-banned countries are from Iran — 136,000 of the 160,800. In 1979, both Muslims and Jewish Iranians fled the revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran and instituted the Islamic Republic of Iran. Many say they resettled to Los Angeles because the Mediterranean climate reminded them of home. Both Muslim and Jewish Iranians “brought their money, skills and education with them, settling in places like Beverly Hills, where it’s been said that at least one-fifth of the population is of Iranian descent,” reports the Weekly.
“The current ratio of Iran-born Jews to Iran-born Christians/Muslims in L.A. is not well documented,” states UCLA sociology Professor Kevan Harris. “But given recent immigration to the area over the past two decades, it is safe to say that Iran-born Jews are a declining segment of L.A.’s growing Iranian community. … So the [president’s] executive order would have its main effect on migration and visa approval for Iranians … who tend to be Muslim or secular.”
