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The change to SBA loans could have a huge impact on California, which has the most small businesses and the largest immigrant population in the nation.Green-card holders no longer qualify for loans from the Small Business Administration, eliminating a longtime source of financing for immigrants that advocates say will discourage job creation and harm the economy.
The SBA limited access to its loans to U.S. citizens and nationals only starting in March, and expanded that policy to SBA-backed loans beginning in April. On top of that, any business that’s even partly owned by a permanent legal resident with a green card is no longer eligible for the loans.in the nation — could be most affected. SBA loans have been important to immigrant entrepreneurs because they typically are low-interest and available to those without an established credit history. The agency has also backed loans by private funders, providing a government guarantee for people banks may deem riskier. Now, all those loans are off the table for owners and would-be owners of restaurants, bake shops, law practices, medical clinics, taxi medallions, nail salons and more who hold green cards.Green-card holders no longer qualify for loans from the Small Business Administration, eliminating a longtime source of financing for immigrants that advocates say will discourage job creation and harm the economy. The SBA limited access to its loans to U.S. citizens and nationals only starting in March, and expanded that policy to SBA-backed loans beginning in April. On top of that, any business that’s even partly owned by a permanent legal resident with a green card is no longer eligible for the loans.in the nation — could be most affected. SBA loans have been important to immigrant entrepreneurs because they typically are low-interest and available to those without an established credit history. The agency has also backed loans by private funders, providing a government guarantee for people banks may deem riskier. Now, all those loans are off the table for owners and would-be owners of restaurants, bake shops, law practices, medical clinics, taxi medallions, nail salons and more who hold green cards.. Immigrant entrepreneurs make up 40% of the state’s business community and generated $28.4 billion in income in 2023, according to GO-Biz, the governor’s office of business and economic development. Small Business Majority, a national business advocacy group, wrote to the SBA in mid-March, urging the federal agency to reconsider the changes. The letter, signed by dozens of state and national groups and chambers of commerce, called the new policies"a misguided approach that ignores critical economic data underscoring the job creating power of the immigrant community." The SBA has a limited lending capacity, said Maggie Clemmons, a spokesperson for the agency. “The agency’s rule change will help ensure more American citizens have access to funding previously granted to noncitizens,” she said in an email. The SBA approved 3,358 loans for small businesses owned partly by a lawful permanent resident in fiscal year 2025, largely during the Biden administration, Clemmons said. That represented 4% of the 85,000 loans approved by the agency. In California, the changes could affect about 220,000 small business owners who hold green cards, said Carolina Martinez, chief executive of CAMEO Network, a national association of organizations that support small businesses. “The most important thing for us is to really understand that this SBA decision… is really bad for the American economy,” Martinez said.Cristina Foanene, a Romanian immigrant who arrived in the United States 20 years ago, was a green-card holder when she obtained an SBA loan in 2018 that allowed her and her husband to buy a building and expand their glass company, MCS Glass, in Fresno. They now have 30 employees. “The loan gave us an opportunity to create more jobs, to have an even greater impact in our community,” Foanene said. Their goal is to manufacture more products and create more positions, she added. She said she doesn’t know where the business would be today without the SBA loans they received over the years. They just signed their third loan last month, Foanene said, their first as American citizens. She called herself loyal to this country and said she’s sad that others like her may not have the same opportunities to pursue the American Dream by securing SBA loans while “respecting the laws.” “It literally breaks my heart,” Foanene said. “There are so many good people with good intentions. I feel it’s unfair.” Other entrepreneurs or independent contractors also lose a possible safety net that SBA loans once provided. “During the pandemic, these loans were crucial to people’s survival,” said Dung Nguyen, program and organizing director for California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, an organization that advocates for Vietnamese immigrants, many of whom work in the nail-salon industry. The group signed the Small Business Majority’s letter to the SBA. Nguyen said the nail-salon workers and owners who took out those loans during the pandemic are still paying them back.Kenia Zamarripa, spokesperson for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, which also signed the letter to the SBA, said this latest policy change is another example of how immigrants are more vulnerable as federal funds for other programs have been taken away. Her group and others are pushing for immigration reform that includes a standardized path to citizenship, she said. “This is a community that’s doing things the right way, looking for a legal path,” she said. “It’s like you’re punishing them for doing the right thing.” The SBA changes push green-card holders to “informality,” Zamarripa said. “What’s next? What other resources will be taken away? How else will immigrants continue to be targeted?”“This dialog is really challenging our concept of what undocumented means,” said Gabriela Alemán, a spokesperson for Mission Asset Fund, a San Francisco organization that supports and lends to small business owners. “These are community members that are now being pushed into a new kind of status.” Mission Asset Fund’s lending circles — modeled after the Mexican community-based lending practice called tandas — can provide up to $2,500 in loans to small business owners. The group just got its California lenders’ license and will eventually be able to provide larger loans, Alemán said. But it will be tough for groups like it to fill the gap left by the SBA’s new policies for permanent legal residents who may want to start or grow their businesses. “There are not any other options at this scale ,” said Brian Kennedy Jr., entrepreneur ecosystem director at AmPac Business Capital, a Los Angeles-area community development financial institution and SBA partner. “We’re talking about $35,000 up to $30 million.”Many small business owners already use — and may increasingly rely on — community development financial institutions and other lenders whose mission is to help people with limited options, credit histories and savings. They could also turn to the state for help. State-funded options include a small business loan guarantee program through its IBank, and programs through the treasurer’s office that reduces risks to lenders by pledging state funds as collateral, or contributing to loan-loss reserves. Microenterprise Collaborative of Inland Southern California works with lenders, technical assistance providers and community partners to help small business owners in Inland Southern California. Pamela Deans, the group’s executive director, said the SBA’s policy change will alter how the organization refers entrepreneurs to sources of capital. Rather than pointing them to “a relatively straightforward” SBA process, she said the group will have to inform them of a more fragmented set of options and warn them about predatory lending. “Many of these would‑be owners will have a much harder time piecing together enough safe, affordable capital to lease a space, buy equipment or cover early working capital — so the taquería, the child care business, the trucking startup may never open in the first place,” Deans said. Bianca Blomquist, California director for Small Business Majority, also is concerned about small business owners turning to unscrupulous lenders. She said her group found out recently that an owner of a child care business in downtown L.A. took out a $10,000 loan at what she thought was 13% interest. It was actually closer to 250%. Other advocates are hoping philanthropy and impact investors will step up and make more capital available to small lenders. “Women, entrepreneurs, immigrants and communities of color always have had to think outside the typical paths,” said Leticia Landa, executive director of La Cocina, a small business incubator in San Francisco. “I do hope, especially in California, that we’re going to come up with something.”Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could remain at U.S. airports even after Transportation Security Administration workers receive their paychecks, according to White House border czar Tom Homan.NPR reached out to DHS for additional comment on the timing of when workers would get paid but the department has not responded. A DHSon Friday indicated TSA had begun the process of paying its workforce and that paychecks could arrive as early as Monday. That announcement came after President Donald Trumpthat workers get paid from existing funds, even though Congress has not allocated the money amid an impasse over passing legislation to fund DHS. It remains unclear where the money would come from to fund the paychecks asled to a DHS shutdown. More than 480 TSA workers have quit, according to TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill. She told lawmakerslast Wednesday that worker absences were as high as 40% at some airports. That has led to long wait times for passengers at security checkpoints.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could remain at U.S. airports even after Transportation Security Administration workers receive their paychecks, according to White House border czar Tom Homan. Asked if ICE agents will leave airports once TSA workers begin receiving pay again, Homan said on Sunday"we'll see." "It depends on how many TSA agents come back to work how many TSA agents have actually quit and have no plan coming back to work," Homan told Homan also said he spoke with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, adding that there is a plan to get TSA workers paid"hopefully by tomorrow or Tuesday." "It's good news… because these TSA officers are struggling. They can't feed their families or pay their rent," Homan told Tapper. NPR reached out to DHS for additional comment on the timing of when workers would get paid but the department has not responded. A DHSon Friday indicated TSA had begun the process of paying its workforce and that paychecks could arrive as early as Monday. That announcement came after President Donald Trumpthat workers get paid from existing funds, even though Congress has not allocated the money amid an impasse over passing legislation to fund DHS. It remains unclear where the money would come from to fund the paychecks as It's been a week since the president ordered ICE to send agents to airports around the country to help TSA with security as the DHS shutdown entered a sixth week. ICE officers have been assisting TSA agents by"checking identification" and"plugging other security holes," allowing remaining TSA workers to focus on tasks that require more training, such as monitoring machines that examine luggage, according to Homan.led to a DHS shutdown. More than 480 TSA workers have quit, according to TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill. She told lawmakerslast Wednesday that worker absences were as high as 40% at some airports. That has led to long wait times for passengers at security checkpoints."I was in Houston — wait lines decreased in about half. We got additional agents going to Baltimore yesterday, to bring those lines down," Homan told CNN.Sunday afternoon said wait times had improved since Saturday but remained longer than normal. At George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, security wait times were under two hours Sunday. But the airport As for when permanent funding for DHS can be reached, that remains unclear. Negotiations in Congress remain stalled as lawmakers left Washington for a planned recess. The Senate returns April 13. The House is back on April 14.The decision, not expected for months, could reshape what had been a longtime, constitutionally enshrined practice that has been challenged by the Trump administration.Public opinion on the issue is complicated. Americans are heavily in favor of granting citizenship to children born to parents who were also born in the U.S. — or to those who immigrated to the U.S. legally. But they are split on — or much less in support of — automatic citizenship for children born to parents who immigratedThe decision, not expected for months, could reshape what had been a longtime, constitutionally enshrined practice that has been challenged by the Trump administration. Public opinion on the issue is complicated. Americans are heavily in favor of granting citizenship to children born to parents who were also born in the U.S. — or to those who immigrated to the U.S. legally. But they are split on — or much less in support of — automatic citizenship for children born to parents who immigratedIn the United States, birthright citizenship became part of the Constitution in 1868 as an effort to protect recently freed slaves. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."Aimed at immigrants who cross the border illegally, the Trump administration argues that the Constitution's clause is outdated and has been abused.Public opinion is nuanced on birthright citizenship and can depend on how pollsters ask the question., people largely say they are supportive. But that support begins to crumble when respondents are asked about the parents' legal status — with significant divisions by party, race, age and how they get their information.But both showed higher support than other surveys, and both mentioned in their questions that the right is found in the U.S. Constitution.showed that more than 9 in 10 support birthright citizenship for those born to parents who immigrated to the U.S. legally, but — by a 50%-49% margin — were divided on giving it to those born to parents who are in the country illegally. had 51% in favor with 39% opposed. But that dropped considerably for those not in the country legally. Just 31% said they were in favor of granting citizenship to babies of people who are"undocumented," as the survey put it, and only 25% for tourists visiting the U.S. Many polls fairly consistently show majorities of Democrats, Latinos, Black Americans and those who are younger are in favor of birthright citizenship, while majorities of Republicans, especially white Republicans, are against. For example, Pew found three-quarters of Democrats in support of granting citizenship to children of those who immigrated illegally, but only a quarter of Republicans supported it. There is a split among Republicans, though. Only 18% of white Republicans are in favor, but 55% of Republican Hispanics are in favor. By race regardless of political party, Pew found three-quarters of Latinos and 61% of Black Americans were in favor of birthright citizenship for those whose parents immigrated illegally, but only 48% of Asian Americans and 42% of whites were. CHIP50, similarly, found 8 in 10 Democrats support birthright citizenship"regardless of their parents' immigration status," but only 39% of Republicans in favor. Those under 50 were in favor of birthright citizenship if the parents"immigrated illegally" by a 58%-41% margin, according to Pew. But almost 6 in 10 of those 50 or older were against it. There was also a divide depending on how long the respondent has been in the United States. Two-thirds of second-generation Americans in Pew's polling were in favor. But 55% of those who are third generation or higher were against it. PRRI found a big divide by how information is consumed, too. In that survey, 80% or more of those who most trust newspapers or mainstream TV news were in support of birthright citizenship,"regardless of their parents' citizenship status." But only 41% of those who trust Fox News support birthright citizenship, and an even lower number of those who prefer outlets that are considered even further to the right did, too.If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.A trans comedy fest, delish Passover treats, a TreePeople exhibit and more of the best things to do this week.Tuesday is International Trans Day of Visibility, and what better way to mark the occasion than with some joy, namely L.A.’s trans theatre and comedy festival, “The Joy Who Lived.” Back for its second year with more than 30 shows, readings and workshops by trans and nonbinary artists, the festival opens with comedy-variety show Make sure to catch this first institutional show at LMU’s museum highlighting the work of L.A. muralist Noni Olabisi before it’s gone. The show features 40 pieces made from 1984 to 2022; Olabisi died unexpectedly in 2022, and her works were added to thepick up the two best Passover foods — matzo ball soup and chocolate-dipped macaroons — at all Superba locations. They are available for pre-order and pickup through April 9 at all locations.I went to a fantastic art talk with Cole Case and Shana Nys Dambrot last week, where Case talked about his paintings of the ongoing immigration protests in Los Angeles, which have deep art history references — and even some fun local news ones. Check out the powerful exhibit atrecommends going back to school with indie star Mitski, who’s playing the Hollywood High auditorium. She’ll also be there Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tuesday, K-pop star Jackson Wang plays the Forum, indie torch singer Goldie Boutilier is at the Belasco, rising pop singer Sarah Kinsley is at the Fonda, and veteran Welsh noise-rockers McLusky play the Regent. On Wednesday, singer-songwriter Ricky Montgomery plays the Wiltern, and on Thursday, Philly emo bandThe alternative title for this comedy hit that sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe is, so I think you can see where this is going. Rom-com fans will get every nuanced joke in this feminist parody take on your favorite escapist movies with Kerry Ipema institutional show highlighting the work of L.A. muralist Noni Olabisi before it’s gone. Olabisi portrayed Black Americans with a truthful eye and examined the history of racism, particularly in her large-scale murals, including “Freedom Won’t Wait” , painted following the L.A. uprising after the Rodney King trial, and “To Protect and Serve” , which portrayed a history of the Black Panther Party and police brutality. The show features 40 pieces made from 1984 to 2022; Olabisi died unexpectedly in 2022, and her works were added to theMacArthur “Genius” Mary Halvorson brings her new jazz quartet project, CANIS MAJOR, to the Getty for a free concert that explores sound in a unique way. She's known for “crystalline single-note lines that seem to ‘bend’ time, kaleidoscopic harmonic turns, and an innovative use of effects — especially subtle pitch-shifting and delay — that expands the guitar into something orchestral and uncanny.”Whether you’re having a seder or not, pick up the two best Passover foods — matzo ball soup and chocolate-dipped macaroons — at all Superba locations. They are available for pre-order and pickup through April 9 at all locations.The Ravi Shankar Ensemble’s tour launches at the Alex Theatre with the ethereal sounds of world-class musicians celebrating the legendary sitarist's legacy. The evening will blend traditional sitar and tabla rhythms with contemporary arrangements; it’s a great introduction to the sounds that inspired everyone from the Beatles to John Coltrane and many more.Tuesday is International Trans Day of Visibility, and what better way to mark the occasion than with some joy, namely L.A.’s trans theater and comedy festival,? Back for its second year with more than 30 shows, readings and workshops by trans and nonbinary artists, the festival opens with comedy-variety showA banner for last year's Nowruz celebration at UCLA. This year's celebration was canceled out of respect for the thousands killed this year in Iran.In Southern California — home to the largest Persian community outside of Iran — the annual festivities for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, have been overshadowed by, and in some cases, canceled because of the ongoing war in Iran.Nowruz coincides with the Spring Equinox and celebrates life, the beginning of spring, and the triumph of light over darkness. The celebrations typically last 13 days.Some Nowruz celebrations have been canceled. But others are still taking place, including an April 4 performance by the Pacific Symphony and guest Iranian musicians and artists. Shardad Rohani, former music director of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, said it’s important to emphasize the holiday’s message of hope. “Without hope, there is really no future,” he said. “So we are really not a hundred percent in the mood of celebration, but we are hopeful.” In Southern California — home to the largest Persian community outside of Iran — the annual festivities for Nowruz, the Persian New Year, have been muted by the ongoing war in Iran. Nowruz coincides with the Spring Equinox and celebrates life, the beginning of spring, and the triumph of light over darkness. The celebrations typically last 13 days., which promotes Iranian arts and culture, canceled its 16th annual Nowruz event at UCLA this year. “It just was not something that was appropriate when so many Iranians are mourning the terrible loss of life in Iran,” said Alireza Ardekani, the foundation’s CEO.Some Nowruz celebrations are still taking place, including an April 4 performance by the Pacific Symphony and guest Iranian musicians and artists. Shardad Rohani, former music director of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, said it’s important to emphasize the holiday’s message of hope. “Without hope, there is really no future,” he said. “So we are really not a hundred percent in the mood of celebration, but we are hopeful.”
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