Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Rebecca Ellis, with an assist from David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government.

A week before President Trump’s first inauguration, L.A. County leaders were entering the resistance era.

“Here is what I want all communities to know,” then-Sheriff Jim McDonnell told county supervisors in January 2017. “My deputies will not initiate any police activity nor arrest anyone based solely on their immigration status. It’s our promise.”

Fast forward eight years, and the immigrant-friendly policies touted by the county during Trump’s first term are on a collision course with an immigration crackdown in his second.

Facing the massive destruction caused by this month’s Eaton and Palisades fires, local officials have begun mapping out a rebuilding process certain to cost billions of dollars. At the same time, Trump is talking about new restrictions on federal relief.

It’s not clear how forcefully the county will push back.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn, a Democrat who served nearly six years in Congress, broached the subject on Tuesday, telling her colleagues she wants to know how the county will respond to the Trump administration’s demands. In advance of Trump’s visit to L.A. on Friday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the board’s only Republican, steered clear of confrontational messages.

“I welcome President Trump to the Los Angeles area during one of the most critical times in our region’s history. His visit is important to me,” Barger said in a statement Friday, as Trump was touring Pacific Palisades. “I’m laser focused on doing everything in my power to leverage collaboration between federal, state, and local leaders to bring meaningful relief to those who have lost so much.”

Trump met with Barger, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and other local officials, including Mayor Karen Bass, just as this newsletter was being put to bed. Seated with the political leaders at L.A.’s Fire Station 69, Trump did offer some supportive words.

“The federal government’s standing behind you 100%,” he told the group as the session started.

In the days leading up to that visit, Trump’s words were tougher.

He wasted no time this week launching his immigration crackdowns, issuing an executive order that asks officials to cut off federal funding to “so-called ‘sanctuary’ jurisdictions.” The order threatens both the city, which backed a sanctuary law in November, and the county, which never declared itself a sanctuary jurisdiction but in 2020 banned employees, including sheriff’s deputies, from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement absent a warrant.

On top of that, Trump spent his first week attacking California’s liberal leadership for their handling of the fires. He told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that he wanted to withhold aid from California until “they let water flow down” and accused Los Angeles politicians of creating the “inferno.”

Trump also suggested that the federal government would withhold funds unless California adopts a “Voter ID” law similar to those in more politically conservative states.

Barger, whose district includes Altadena, invited Trump to visit the region’s burn areas, saying she hoped he would understand the region’s needs after seeing the devastation.

Hahn, for her part, said this week that she’s concerned about the strings that Trump may place on disaster relief.

“We’ve heard these threats. We’ve heard these grumblings,” Hahn said of Trump in an interview. “We need to have a conversation about which strings we’re willing to take.”

Horvath, whose district includes Pacific Palisades and Malibu, took a combative approach to Trump in 2016, when he was a presidential candidate and she was mayor of West Hollywood. At that time, she said she would reject Trump’s application for a rally if he sought a permit in her city.

“Where other cities or other communities might roll out the carpet, we’re rolling up the carpet,” she told The Times in 2016.

This time, the carpet has been unfurled. Horvath said in an interview Wednesday that she was glad that Trump was seeing for himself “the amount of devastation that every Angeleno in this region is facing.”

On Friday after the meeting with Trump, she said she was “encouraged” to hear him say the federal government is “100% behind us.”

Barger and Horvath, the two supervisors whose districts have been ravaged by the fires, spearheaded an ask this week to both Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom for help footing the bill for recovery efforts.

If the seared landscape isn’t compelling enough, there’s also the 2028 Olympics, where L.A. will represent the nation on a global stage.

“If we take him at his word, if he’s serious about putting our best foot forward, that’s another thing we have to be thinking,” Horvath said this week. “In order for that to happen, there needs to be investment on the ground in Los Angeles right now.”

Hahn said she was open to the idea of narrow conditions on federal money — for example, construction of more fire-resistant homes. But she has concerns about Trump tying the money to changes in immigration policy.

Supervisor Hilda Solis, who spearheaded many of the county’s immigration reforms during Trump’s first term, said in a statement that the county “remains committed to ensuring that immigrants have access to the resources they need to prosper” and that it offers legal representation to those facing deportation.

“While Los Angeles County has not declared itself a sanctuary county, absent a judicial warrant, county resources will not be used for immigration enforcement,” she said.

State of play

— WILDFIRE DAMAGE: The wildfires that tore through Pacific Palisades and other parts of L.A. this month have damaged or destroyed about $350 million in city infrastructure, including streetlights, recreation centers and a library that burned down, according to a city report. The estimate did not include damage from the Eaton fire, which burned outside the city of L.A.

— STEVE SIGNS ON: Real estate developer Steve Soboroff, known for his work leading the development of Playa Vista, was tapped by Mayor Karen Bass to lead the first phase of the city’s wildfire rebuilding. Meanwhile, the City Council created a new five-member committee on wildfire recovery, which will be chaired by Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes Pacific Palisades.

— CHANGING CHAIRS: While Park joined the new recovery committee, she gave up her seat on the council’s ad hoc committee on the 2028 Olympic Games. Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson opted to make himself chair of that committee, while bringing on Curren Price to replace Park.

— BASS ON HER BROTHER: The mayor told the Pacific Palisades Community Council on Thursday that her brother’s home in Malibu burned down during the Palisades fire. “The loss that you’re going through, I share indirectly. It’s hit my family too,” she said.

— FAULTY ALERTS: All 17 of the deaths confirmed so far in the Eaton fire occurred in parts of western Altadena that received emergency evacuation orders many hours after the fire started. Records reviewed by The Times show that neighborhoods west of North Lake Avenue did not get electronic evacuation orders until 3:25 a.m. and never received evacuation warnings. By then, embers were raining down on neighborhoods and igniting homes.

— SUSSING OUT SANTA YNEZ: L.A.’s Santa Ynez Reservoir stood empty when nearby residents of Pacific Palisades needed it most — in the middle of a lethal wildfire. Now, they and others are demanding to know: Why was it empty for nearly a year?

— SHRINKING THE LAPD: Officials at the LAPD expect to lose another 150 officers in the coming fiscal year, leaving the department with 8,620 overall. That would be the lowest staffing level since 1995, according to LAPD figures.

— CITY CLERK SENDOFF: The council said farewell on Friday to City Clerk Holly Wolcott, who is retiring after 37 years with the city. In her departing remarks, Wolcott voiced satisfaction at the number of women — eight — now on the council, the most in history. She also urged council members to be honest with the public. “The more you withhold information, the more confused they are,” she said.

Wolcott was pretty honest herself, starting off with a zinger. After being booed by one or more members of the audience, she said: “Gosh, I’m so tempted to flip them off.”

After that, she acknowledged that she could be prickly and fiercely protective of her staff, particularly during budget deliberations. “The rules are, in my world: You never yell at, or fight with, anybody who doesn’t either make more money than you or have more power than you,” Wolcott said.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s signature program to combat homelessness went to Price’s South Los Angeles district, focusing on the area around 45th and Main streets. Outreach workers also went to 17th and Main streets in downtown, an area represented by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.
• On the docket for next week: The Department of Water and Power’s oversight board — a five-member panel of mayoral appointees — is set to hold its first meeting since the Palisades fire broke out on Jan. 7.