Every year brings its own unique challenges for California farmers: water shortages, fires, finding laborers to do the work, bureaucrats in Sacramento adding new requirements and fees, and more. But the second term of President Donald Trump has made this year very different.
As part of deep cuts across much of the government, the administration of President Donald Trump chopped $1 billion from the U.S. Department of Agriculture almost without warning. This led to widespread financial pain that affected already struggling farmers and left hungry patrons of food banks in many parts of the country desperate for other sources of healthy food.
On Feb. 28, California officials warned farmers who had grown food for schools and food banks that there was funding only for work done up to Jan. 19, despite the fact that farmers had submitted invoices for work and harvests past that date.
To address unjust policies and conditions, more than 70 incarcerated workers inside Centinela State Prison collectively decided last fall to “slow down” production for the California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA). According to workers who spoke to Prism, the organizing effort was successful — and there may soon be another slowdown. CALPIA, also called the PIA, employs between 5,800 and 7…
On Monday, April 28, more than 55,000 Los Angeles County workers, members of my union, Service Employees International (SEIU-721), began what is planned to be a two-day strike in response to unfair labor practices by the county. The SEIU represents workers who provide a huge range of vital services to the county, from sanitation and parks and recreation workers, to mental, public health, and homeless outreach workers. The union membership authorized the strike by 99%. The union leadership called the unfair labor practices (ULP) strike because the county has failed to fairly negotiate a new contract for months now
On August 6, 2012, a corroded, eight-inch pipe at Chevron’s oil refinery in Richmond, California, cracked open, sending a white cloud hundreds of feet into the air. The cloud quickly engulfed the 19 refinery firefighters, managers and other workers who had been trying to fix what had been a small leak in the pipe. Some of them went to ground, unable to see past their hands…
Politico (4/16/25) finds “a disconnect between political elites”—i.e., its own subscribers—”and the electorate.”
A recent Politico article (4/16/25) gave readers an excellent lesson in how not to report on a poll—unless the goal is to push politicians to the right, rather than reflect how voters are truly feeling.
“California Voters Have Trump-Resistance Fatigue, Poll Finds,” declared the headline. The subhead continued: “From taking on Trump to hot-button issues, voters writ large embraced a different approach—although Democrats are more ready to fight.”
From the start, the piece framed its polling results as showing the California “political elite” are out of step with voters, who are apparently tired of all this “Trump resistance” being foisted upon them. Reporter Jeremy White explained that “the electorate is strikingly more likely to want a detente with the White House,” and that “voters are also more divided on issues like immigration and climate change.”
But problems with this framing abound, from its wrong-headed comparison to its skewing of the results, revealing more about Politico‘s agenda than California voters’ preferences.
‘Driving the state’s agenda’
First of all, the poll in question—which the article never links to—surveyed two samples of people: registered California voters and “political professionals who are driving the state’s agenda.” Those “influencers” are a sample taken from subscribers to three of Politico‘s California-focused newsletters, which, the article explained, “included lawmakers and staffers in the state legislature and the federal government.” Presumably that sample also included many journalists, lobbyists, advocates and others who closely follow state politics.
But in a country where the political right has overwhelmingly rejected reality- and fact-based news in favor of a propaganda echo chamber, one can safely assume that subscribers to Politico, a centrist but generally reality-based media outlet, will include vanishingly few right-wingers. In contrast, in a state where 38% of voters cast a ballot for Trump in 2024, a representative sample of voters will necessarily include a significant number of Trump supporters. In other words, by sampling their own subscribers, Politico has selected out most right-wing respondents and created a group that is by definition going to poll farther to the left than the general voting public of California.
On top of that, people subscribed to Politico‘s state-focused newsletters are highly informed about the policies being polled on. One of Politico‘s sources points this out, explaining that “they’re more aware of the factual landscape.”
As polling expert David Moore (FAIR.org, 9/26/24) has explained, large segments of the voting public are disengaged and uninformed on most policy issues, so their opinions on survey questions that don’t provide a great deal of context are not terribly firm or meaningful. There’s very little reason, then, to compare policy opinions of California political professionals from Politico‘s subscription list with a cross-section of California voters, unless your purpose is to push lawmakers to the right.
‘Lower the temperature’
And based on how they skew the polling numbers, that’s exactly what Politico appears to be trying to do here. Regarding the “Trump-resistance fatigue,” White wrote:
The poll shows that while Democratic voters favor taking on Trump, the electorate broadly wants their representatives to lower the temperature. Forty-three percent of registered voters said leaders were “too confrontational”—a sentiment largely driven by Republicans and independents—compared to a third who found them “too passive.” A plurality of Democrats surveyed, 47%, wanted a more aggressive approach.
This is what gives the piece its headline. But it conveniently leaves out all the voters who said state leaders’ level of confrontation was “about right”—a sizable 24%. In other words, 57%—a 14-point majority—either approve of their state leaders’ resistance to Trump, or want more of it, yet Politico manages to spin that into a headline about Trump-resistance fatigue.
Turning to one of the “hot-button issues” the poll asked about, Politico told readers that “a plurality of voters is skeptical of legal immigration.”
What the hell does that mean, you ask? White doesn’t say, except to note several paragraphs later that voters are “more likely to support reducing legal immigration” than the political elite are. Looking at the poll, it would appear to come from the question: “The US admits over a million legal immigrants a year. Do you think the number should be [increased, decreased, stay about the same]?”
Forty-three percent of respondents said “decreased,” either “a lot” or “a little,” while 21% said “increased” and 36% said “stay about the same.” Technically, sure, a “plurality” want fewer legal immigrants (which isn’t exactly the same thing as being “skeptical” of legal immigration). But, just as with the “Trump-resistance fatigue” spin, this buries the majority opinion, which is not “skeptical,” being either fine with current levels of immigration or wanting to see more.
On immigration, the article also reports:
While a clear 60% of voters support the state’s “sanctuary” laws, which partition local law enforcement from federal immigration authorities, policy influencers were 20 points more likely to support that policy.
Again, that Politico subscribers in California poll to the left of voters is to be expected. That voters still support sanctuary laws by 20 percentage points despite the relentless onslaught of fearmongering from the Trump administration, as well as both right-wing and centrist media, about immigrants? That seems like important news—that Politico would apparently prefer to bury.
ACTION ALERT: Messages to Politico can be sent here (or via Bluesky@Politico.com). Remember that respectful communication is the most effective.
Featured Image: Protesters gathered at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza to protest the Trump administration on April 5, one of 137 “Hands Off!” demonstrations across California that day (Creative Commons photo: Lynn Friedman).
Carla Flagg remembers the joy of growing up in west Altadena.
“We had these great pool parties where all the cousins and everybody would come to the Fair Oaks house,” she says, smiling, as tears welled up in her eyes. Her parents owned the house and passed it down to her sister and her sister’s kids. “ We had that home for 50-some odd years, and there are still people who know the original phone number.”
Flagg’s family home was one of some 9,400 structures that were destroyed in the Eaton Fire in January. It was also one of many homes passed down within the Black community by family members. Discriminatory redlining of the 1960s steered her parents away from Pasadena, and realtors encouraged them to purchase on the west side of Altadena.
The state of California is suing President Donald Trump over tariffs he has imposed on scores of countries, alleging that he is abusing his authority by claiming there is a national emergency that warrants unilaterally imposing tariffs without congressional approval. The litigation makes California the first state in the country to sue Trump over his tariff plan. The U.S.
Fresno Bee reporter Thaddeus Miller was subpoenaed by prosecutors for the city of Fresno, California, on April 8, 2025, in connection with a criminal case. The subpoena was dropped as moot following the case’s dismissal on April 10.
The case involved Wickey Twohands, a 77-year-old homeless man who was arrested in October 2024 for alleged violations of the city’s controversial anti-camping law.
The ordinance — among the toughest in the state — went into effect in September 2024 and bans camping, sitting or lying on public property at any time. Twohands pleaded not guilty on Jan. 21, 2025, and his trial was postponed until April 10 so his attorney could file motions to dismiss the case.
Deputy City Attorney Daniel Cisneros subpoenaed Miller and a second reporter, Fresnoland’s Pablo Orihuela, ordering the journalists to appear to testify at the hearing, the Bee reported. Both Miller and Orihuela had previously interviewed Twohands and reported on the charges against him.
Miller told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had been out of the office each time they attempted to serve him from April 4 to 7, but the afternoon of April 8 they succeeded. He said the subpoena did not include any indication of what prosecutors intended to ask him, just a copy of his March article.
“The most frustrating part for me is it’s a good story, an interesting story, and now I can’t cover it,” Miller said. “It’s frustrating to try to be doing your job, where your whole job is being impartial and staying out of it, and then they try to pull you into it.”
The subpoenas to both Miller and Orihuela were rendered moot and functionally dropped after County Judge Brian Alvarez dismissed the case against Twohands on the grounds that the city violated his right to a speedy trial.
Following the dismissal, Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz told a Bee editor that he had not reviewed or authorized the subpoenas and that they had not been issued according to protocol, noting that “any communication with media or journalists has to be run through the City Attorney.”
Janz told the Bee that the journalists were subpoenaed to confirm the validity of their reporting and what the defendant had told them during his interviews, and that in the future the city will first ask journalists to voluntarily testify about published information.
Miller said that Janz’s stance was concerning. “I kind of expected the city attorney to say that they had made a mistake and that we shouldn’t worry about it in the future, but that doesn’t seem to be the stance he’s taken,” Miller told the Tracker. “It’s worrisome that the city attorney’s office sounds like they want to be doing this more in the future.”
David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, told the Bee that while the state’s shield law does not prohibit such subpoenas, the California Evidence Code establishes that news articles are self-authenticating.
“Whether they ask or send subpoenas, it’s immaterial,” Loy said. “It’s unnecessary, superfluous and compromises the independence and neutrality of the press. People aren’t going to be able to trust reporters if they see reporters on the stand testifying to the government.”
San Jose, CA – On April 9, around 60 San Jose State students and community members gathered by the campus’s Cesar Chavez arch to protest the recent revocation of student visas by the federal government. According to San Jose State University president Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson, 12 San Jose State University International students had their F-1 visas revoked. The revocations came as part of a wave of visa revocations by the federal government, most of which are student visas.
As soon as the news broke, the San Jose chapter of Students for a Democratic Society called an emergency action to put forward several demands.
Pablo Orihuela, a housing reporter for the nonprofit news outlet Fresnoland, was subpoenaed by prosecutors for the city of Fresno, California, on April 4, 2025, in connection with a pending criminal case.
The case involves Wickey Twohands, a 77-year-old homeless man who was arrested in October 2024 and may be the first to go to trial for alleged violations of the city’s controversial anti-camping law.
The ordinance — among the toughest in the state — went into effect in September 2024 and bans camping, sitting or lying on public property at any time. Twohands pleaded not guilty on Jan. 21, 2025.
Orihuela reported on the charges against Twohands in February after his trial was postponed so his attorney could file motions to dismiss the case. The parties are due back in court April 10 for a ruling on the motions and, if the case proceeds, the start of the jury trial.
Deputy City Attorney Daniel Cisneros ordered Orihuela to appear to testify at the hearing with less than a week’s notice, according to a copy of the subpoena reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
The request did not provide any indication of what the journalist would be questioned about, and included only a copy of Orihuela’s February article obtained April 3, according to the header.
Orihuela declined to comment until after the hearing and Cisneros did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment.
David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, wrote a letter on Orihuela’s behalf objecting to the subpoena the day it was issued.
“Even if the subpoena were timely and properly served, California’s reporter shield law absolutely protects Mr. Orihuela against a subpoena from the City compelling him to testify about any unpublished information,” Loy wrote. “Accordingly, the City should immediately cease attempting to subpoena Mr. Orihuela.”
Loy told the Tracker that the subpoena was improperly served, as it was sent via email to Orihuela and Fresnoland Executive Director and Managing Editor Danielle Bergstrom, and that without proper service a witness has no legal obligation to comply.
“It’s obviously highly significant for any reporter or newspaper or publication to get a subpoena, even by email,” Loy said. “One would hope that government lawyers would be better educated on reporter shield law.
“I’m going to assume best intentions, until proven otherwise: that this is some good-faith mistake and that hopefully — now that I’ve written to the city explaining the law — they have stopped trying to subpoena a reporter.”
On March 31, also known as Cesar Chavez Day, unions and workers from across California converged on Delano, home of the historic Delano Grape Strike that began the struggle of the United Farm Workers. The Real News reports from the ground, speaking with union and community leaders who say workers are coming together across sectors to oppose Trump’s attacks on immigrants and the federal workforce.
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Mel Buer:
On March 31st, 2025, thousands of workers from all over the state of California met in Delano, California to celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez, and stand in solidarity with immigrant workers across the United States. One in every three workers in the state of California are immigrants. And raids by ICE and border patrol agencies on immigrant communities have intensified in the months following Donald Trump’s inauguration in mid-January. In California, all across the state, immigrant workers have been detained and deported. Some of the most harrowing experiences have been in Kern County, in California’s Central Valley, where ICE raids have terrorized the immigrant community and left workers uncertain about their future in the country. In a show of solidarity, union workers from all over the state traveled to Delano to remind the country and each other that these attacks on immigrant workers won’t go unchallenged.
David Huerta:
Today’s also, not only a recognition of that, but also really standing united against the attacks against working people and the most particularly, immigrant workers, right? And so I think we stand today in the sense of saying that we stand shoulder to shoulder with one another, all workers for every worker. Doesn’t matter your status, doesn’t matter what language you speak, doesn’t matter. We have to stand united as working people at this moment in time, as we see this president continuous attacks against working people, and most particularly, against the immigrant community.
Mel Buer:
The Real News joined a caravan from Los Angeles to Delano, organized by the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West. Dozens of workers from all over Los Angeles met early in the morning, shared breakfast together, and then made the two and a half hour journey to Delano to march. When asked about the importance of organized labor coming together in support of each other, SEIU President David Huerta had this to say.
David Huerta:
This is the moment in time that as every fight, working people have to stand united. Whether you’re a farm worker, a janitor, a hotel worker, a state worker, a nurse, all of us have to stand together because really with this administration, their attack right now is against federal employees. But that attack against federal employees is just a precursor to what he’s trying to do to the rest of the labor movement, and that’s dismantling. And we cannot allow that to happen because the labor movement is the last line of defense for working people in this country.
Mel Buer:
After arriving in Delano, workers gathered for opening speeches in Memorial Park before beginning the three-mile march to Forty Acres, owned by the United Farm Workers. Members of CWA, the Teamsters, UAW, SEIU, UNITE HERE, and other unions were represented in a massive show of solidarity with immigrant workers in California and the U.S.
Speaker 3:
So I think when we think about what Trump is doing on immigration, it’s an attack on the working class. And not just immigrant workers, the entire working class. When one group of workers is so afraid of getting deported that they’re not willing to talk about wage theft or unsafe working conditions, obviously, that’s bad for them, but that’s also bad for every other worker in that industry. So we’re looking at construction, agriculture, home care, kitchens, janitors, right? If you’re an American worker in those jobs, when undocumented workers who are essential to those industries are in those same battles, they’re afraid to speak out, that’s bad for everyone. So I think it’s literally true that an attack on any worker pushes wages and working conditions down for every worker. And so it’s so important that labor defend immigrant workers. If for no other reason then, we cannot have a labor movement in this country if the immigrant working class, which is such a large and literally essential portion of that working class, is afraid for their very life.
Mel Buer:
For members of the Chavez family, the continuation of their father’s legacy and activism as founder and leader of the United Farm Workers in modern day movements has been a high point of the Cesar Chavez Day in California and beyond.
Paul Chavez:
It’s heartwarming to see that his legacy continues to inspire whole new generations of workers and activists. My dad had commented that it would’ve been a terrible waste of a lot of hard work and sacrifice if his work ended with his life. And the fact that we’re here with people from all walks of life that have come from the many places, and a lot of times from places far away, would put a smile on the face because I think he would say that his work continues even after his passing.
Speaker 5:
And this is a great opportunity for us to do that as a community, as people, especially, people who know the struggles of the people who actually have this country moving forward, those immigrants that at times are abused or do not have the recognition that they should as people that they are. May this moment for all of us be an empowering moment so that we might remember our commitment as Christians to uphold the dignity of those who are voiceless. May we be an inspiration to others to do the same in every aspect of their lives.
Mel Buer:
Reporting from California for The Real News Network, I’m Mel Buer.
A new bill proposed in the California legislature threatens to undermine the rollout of ethnic studies classes in the state’s high schools. Assembly Bill (AB) 1468 is the latest installment in a series of legislation backed by pro-Israel organizations seeking to intervene in ethnic studies classrooms and silence Palestine-related speech in California schools. “This latest bill is part of a…
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into California’s Department of Education over Assembly Bill 1955, a law passed last year that limits the forced outing of transgender students to their parents. The bill, already the subject of multiple legal challenges, has become a lightning rod for anti-trans activists who claim it infringes on parental rights.
In response to President Donald Trump’s promises to increase deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the United States, activist groups in Los Angeles have set up complex “community defense” networks. ‘La migra patrols’ look for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, students walk out of public schools, and volunteers canvass neighborhoods with flyers informing people of how to assert their rights if approached by ICE officers. Many of those groups draw on a rich, decades-long history of “community self-defense” and Chicano activism within Los Angeles.
Women carrying “mass deportation now” signs outside of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, WI. Photo by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel.
During his 2024 reelection bid, President Donald Trump not only promised increased immigration enforcement along the US border, but used the slogan “mass deportations now” regularly on the campaign trail. Once Trump entered office on Jan. 20, he appointed Tom Homan as border czar, who announced his focus would be to deport “as many as we can.”
Almost immediately after his inauguration, Trump threatened to pull federal funding for sanctuary cities and pushed for immigration enforcement agents to be allowed to enter churches and schools to make arrests. Los Angeles officially declared its status as “sanctuary city” in December.
Protests against the threat of mass deportation began quickly. On Feb. 2, a large group marched through downtown LA and took to the 101 freeway. Hundreds of students left their schools and walked Cesar Chavez Avenue in protest two days later. Students from nearby middle and high schools denounced the ramp-up of deportations, walking out again on Feb. 20 to Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights.
Members of the Brown Berets and the American Indian Movement direct traffic outside of a protest. Photo by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel.
This current wave of protests often references Los Angeles’ past of Chicano revolt. Call-and-response chants of “Chicano power” ring occasionally throughout the crowds. Brown Beret chapters from throughout Southern California have attended the protests to provide security. Indigenous dance groups often attend, and dance in step with drums.
The Chicano Moratorium on Aug. 29, 1970, looms large within immigrant rights groups in Los Angeles. On that day, as many as 30,000 activists marched through Whittier Boulevard in East Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War and draft. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department broke up the rally violently; they claimed they had received reports that a nearby liquor store was being robbed. They chased the “suspects” into Laguna Park, and promptly declared the gathering of thousands to be an illegal assembly. More than 150 were arrested. Three people were killed: Lyn Ward, a medic and Brown Beret, Angel Gilberto Díaz, a Brown Beret from Pico Rivera, and Rubén Salazar, a Los Angeles Times journalist and columnist. Laguna Park was later renamed to Salazar Park in honor of the journalist.
The Chicano Moratorium on Aug. 29, 1970, looms large within immigrant rights groups in Los Angeles.
Though the brutality in response to the Aug. 29, 1970, Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War has led to it getting a large share of attention, there were actually three Chicano Moratorium rallies from 1969 to 1970. Years later, public records requests provided concrete evidence that the FBI had infiltrated them in an attempt to suppress their goals.
The Brown Berets emerged as a pro-Chicano organization in the late 1960s, and were central to organizing the Aug. 29 march. The group had been working for educational reform and farmworkers’ rights. They also worked against police brutality and the Vietnam War. Brown Berets began to operate under the motto “To Serve, Observe, and Protect,” and formed what they referred to as “community self-defense.” Often, they were outwardly in opposition to the Los Angeles Police Department, whose motto is “To Protect And To Serve.”
Carlos Montes was a co-founder of the Brown Berets and an organizer of the first rally of the Chicano Moratorium in 1969. He recalled moving to Los Angeles as a boy from Juarez, Mexico, and spending most of his life fighting what he called “the nightmare of US racism.” He said that, alongside others, he’d “organized the Brown Berets with the young, angry men and women. Angry Chicanos. We wanted to express our identity of being proud Chicanos, and we took on the struggle for better education.”
By the early 1970s, most Brown Beret groups had disbanded. Federal and state law enforcement infiltrated the group. Sexism allegations led women to resign en masse. The “East LA 13,” including Montes, faced 66 years in prison before they were acquitted on charges stemming from student walkout organizing. Montes fled underground to Mexico in 1970 with his wife, due to “heavy repression and threats.” Eustacio Martinez, an employee of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the US Treasury Department, had acted as an agent provocateur; he wreaked havoc on relations between pro-Chicano groups.
In 1994, California passed Proposition 187, which restricted undocumented immigrants from accessing public services, including education and healthcare. Just weeks later, a federal judge ruled an injunction after immigrant rights groups challenged it in court. Ultimately, courts sided with immigrant rights groups and ruled it unconstitutional under the 14th amendment.
In response to Proposition 187, and rising anti-immigrant sentiment, the Brown Berets began to reform. Today, female leadership and organizers are often at the helm of chapters. At ra, the majority of the voices saying “Ya Basta!” are often women.
Activists march from Calle Olvera in Los Angeles. Photo by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel.
Calle Olvera and its adjoining plaza filled with pro-immigrant speakers and organizations on Feb. 17 of this year. More than 100 people gathered. More than 70 different activist organizations were present. Those organizations have agreed to march as the Community Self-Defense Coalition.
Rosalio Muñoz was present at the Calle Olvera protest carrying a sign; he’d been an organizer for the 1970 Chicano Moratorium. Muñoz was the first Chicano student president at UCLA. He won 60% of the vote on a platform that supported the work of the United Farm Workers, as well as organized against police brutality and US involvement in Vietnam.
Montes was there in Calle Olvera as well. He now works with Centro CSO, one of the groups that participated in the Feb. 17 march. The group organizes for immigrant rights, public education, and “supporting, in solidarity, other communities seeking social justice,” according to their website. The group is also helping to organize against threats of mass deportation, particularly in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Carlos Montes looks at a stencil reading “Chicano Power” in Boyle Heights. Photo by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel.
In early February, Los Angeles Times revealed that ICE had plans for a “large scale” immigration operation. Further details were sparse, though rumors the operation would begin on Feb. 23 would ultimately prove correct.
Activist groups began to ramp up work behind the scenes to form ad-hoc community defense. Via Signal, an encrypted messaging service application, group chats were used for communication between different organizations and affinity groups. Dozens of “Know Your Rights” seminars have been held at community centers, churches, parks; many of them broadcast live on social media.
Unión del Barrio is another activist group involved in the Community Self-Defense Coalition. Since the 11th anniversary of the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in 1981, Unión del Barrio has “led struggles to resist migra and police violence; defend the rights of workers, prisoners, mujeres, and youth; and even launched numerous independent electoral campaigns.” Ahead of the Feb. 23 date, they called for additional volunteers in a widely circulated social media post. It read, in part, “Los Angeles: Who is willing to patrol their community tomorrow to look for ICE activities? Let’s protect each other by participating in this form of Community Self-Defense!”
Centro CSO organizes for immigrant rights, public education, and “supporting, in solidarity, other communities seeking social justice,” according to their website.
Unión del Barrio formed their patrols in 1992. On their website, they say they’re “a means of building community-based power that will challenge police and migra attacks. These agencies are trained to profile, harass, detain, arrest, and brutalize our people.”
Today, groups like Unión del Barrio train volunteers to look out for potential signs of ICE agents. They look out especially for Ford Explorers, Dodge Durangos, and Chevy Impalas—all vehicles they say are often used by immigration enforcement officers.
Lupe Carrasco Cardona, a member of the Association of Raza Educators (ARE), often patrols in neighborhoods of Los Angeles before she begins her workday as an educator for Los Angeles Unified School District. She says the group is about “communicating self defense, to defend the rights of the people whether they have documents or not.”
ARE has existed since 1994, and was originally founded in San Diego’s Barrio Logan neighborhood as a response to Proposition 187’s attempts to remove undocumented children from public schools. They have since expanded throughout California and have chapters in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Sacramento. In their mission statement, ARE says that they “believe that education is the first step in creating consciousness that leads to action. In these turbulent times, we know that it’s just not enough to teach about social justice, we have to practice social justice in every face [of] our lives.”
Carrasco Cardona said that she’s seen mental health issues rise among her students. From what she has seen as an educator in LAUSD, “students are very afraid. Students are not going to school; they’re coming to school with anxiety. It is really impacting their education.” The patrols are partially designed also to calm those fears, according to Carrasco Cardona. She continued, “We’re all here saying we see you, we love you, we are not going to let them just come and take you. We have to get to a point where the people defend themselves.”
Carrasco Cardona described how community self-defense works. “We divide major streets from north to south, and then everyone with a partner goes in a vehicle. We have radios and we have megaphones.” She said that if they find ICE officers, they respond with noise and alert nearby neighbors: “…We put them on notice that we see them. We make noise for people in the community so they know not to open their doors, and we radio the other community self defense units to come and support us [with backup].”
On Feb. 23, there were patrols on the lookout for immigration officials throughout the 4,084 square mile area of Los Angeles County, including in South Los Angeles, Skid Row, West Adams, Lennox, Boyle Heights, and East Los Angeles.
Members of “la migra patrols” in Boyle Heights. Photo by Sean Beckner-Carmitchel.
In Boyle Heights, a sign commemorates the neighborhood’s “tradition of activism.” Erected by the city of Los Angeles, it describes the neighborhood as “often viewed by longstanding residents as a district too easily marginalized by the city’s political and economic elite…” The sign describes an era from the 1920s to the 1940s, when Yiddish pro-labor organizations and mutual aid groups were harassed by LAPD’s anti-leftist “Red Squad.” In 1947, a chapter of the Community Service Organization was founded in Boyle Heights; Cesar Chavez began his tenure as national director there. The sign mentions walkouts in the 1960s, and refers to the East LA 13.
Just one block away from the sign, several members of Centro CSO filed into vehicles around 5AM on Feb. 23, beginning their “la migra” patrol. They used Signal and walkie talkies to communicate with others on patrol. Four people arrived in a black vehicle. While talking with The Real News Network, occasional updates came in via group chats. Updates came from patrols in other neighborhoods reported where there was no ICE presence.
The patrols are partially designed also to calm those fears, according to Carrasco Cardona. … “We’re all here saying we see you, we love you, we are not going to let them just come and take you.”
Between various check-ins, Montes described his life of activism. He described being represented in the East LA 13 trials by Oscar Z. Acosta, the boisterous inspiration for Hunter S. Thompson’s Dr. Gonzo in Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. He checks in with others via walkie talkie. He moves onto various law enforcement raids on his home throughout his life. Then, he checks in again via walkie talkie. Eventually, he begins to talk about how some of the members of the Chicano movement in the 1960s have become labor organizers or politicians.
ICE agents passed by a Catholic church on 4th street in Boyle Heights. A short discussion of when the last time members attended mass followed. Several used to attend that church. One of the patrol members looked nervous; others looked focused and ready to respond if ICE agents stopped in the neighborhood.
Occasionally, as residents of the neighborhood walked past, the patrol was greeted in Spanish. The patrol offered business cards with phone numbers of immigrant rights groups and legal assistance.
A separate patrol spotted ICE agents in a parking lot in front of a Target in Alhambra. Broadcasting live from her phone on social media, Carrasco Cardona screamed: “You should be ashamed of yourself!” Within minutes of Carraso Cardona pointing them out they began to separate and drive to different areas of the county, and were gone.
When the Boyle Heights patrol heard that Carrasco Cardona had found ICE agents, they quickly filed into their vehicles. They kept in communication; other nearby patrols tracked the ICE vehicles exiting the parking lot, marking where they turned on freeways throughout Los Angeles. Eventually, reports of the vehicles from other patrols slowed down and stopped for the day.
Since the Feb. 23 raids, ICE operations have continued in Los Angeles; protests popping up in response have continued as well. Volunteers continue to patrol neighborhoods and canvas neighborhoods like Boyle Heights with flyers and small red cards informing Angelenos of immigrant rights.
Plans are materializing from activists for a Chicano Summit in Boyle Heights in mid-April. Gabriel, an organizer with Centro CSO, told The Real News that there could be dozens of pro-Chicano groups from throughout Southern California, and possibly the country, there.
When asked about seeing protests and imagery drawing from the Chicano Movement of his youth, Montes said: “Some of the students have been yelling ‘Chicano power!’ When hundreds if not thousands of people are chanting. It’s pretty powerful.” He smiled, and quietly recited the chant, then said the resurgence “takes me back, you know? From the decade of the Chicano power movement. ’65 to ’75, more or less. We never die, you know.”
San Jose, CA – On Monday, March 10, around 1500 bus and light rail operators and mechanics for Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), walked off the job. The workers are represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 265. This is the first strike at the VTA since its founding in 1973.
Around 9 a.m. upwards of 70 ATU rank-and-file members could be seen picketing in front of the VTA headquarters as the strike began. Pickets were held at four other light rail and bus yards beginning at 4 a.m.
VTA and ATU have been in contract negotiations since August.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing widespread criticism from LGBTQ advocates after suggesting that Democrats were wrong to fight for transgender athletes’ ability to compete in female college and youth sports. Newsom made the statement in the debut episode of his podcast, This is Gavin Newsom, during a conversation with MAGA figure Charlie Kirk, who leads the right-wing…
As the Trump administration engages in a frontal assault on the teaching of race and ethnicity at the K-12 level, a quieter but no less important battle is shaping up in deep blue California. Communities of color are mobilizing statewide to defeat AB 1468, the latest bill to emerge from the CA Legislative Jewish Caucus (LJC) in its campaign to censor Palestinian voices in ethnic studies classes, and police all ethnic studies content along with it.
Although the words “Gaza,” “Palestine” and “Israel” are nowhere to be found in the proposed legislation, the language of AB 1468 restricts the discipline to the “domestic experience” of “marginalized people” to discourage teachers from developing lessons on the impact of Israeli settler colonialism on Palestinian American and Muslim communities.
What began as one northern California activist’s idea to up the ante on pressure against local congressmen who support Israel’s assault on Gaza has turned into a plan to air the issue in the international arena.
Retired high school history teacher Seth Donnelly, a resident of Boyes Hot Springs in Sonoma County, California, said he was fed up with his Congress member Mike Thompson, who refused to respond to phone calls, emails, and protests demanding that he stop funding Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“I even invited him to speak before a student human rights group at Rancho Cotate High School,” Donnelly said, referring to the school where he taught until recently.
This week on Reveal, we celebrate our 10-year anniversary with a look back at some of our favorite stories, from investigations into water shortages in drought-prone California to labor abuses in the Dominican Republic. And we interview the journalists behind the reporting to explain what happened after the stories aired.
Picket lines formed across California Wednesday as 20,000 health care, research, and technical workers in UPTE (Communications Workers Local 9119) and 37,000 patient care workers in AFSCME Local 3299 walked out on short strikes across the University of California system.
AFSCME will stay out for two days, UPTE for three. Both unions are charging that the university system is engaged in unfair labor practices.
They have been working under an expired contract since October. The workers struck in November, too. Then, Labor Notes’ Barbara Madeloni wrote how the UPTE workers have been remaking their union to prepare for this contract fight
Last October, the ACLU launched a lawsuit against the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), challenging the school’s administrators’ suppression of student and faculty speech.
That suppression ultimately resulted in the police’s violent destruction of the school’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment amid clashes with Zionist provocateurs.
“I can still hear the relentless sound of the stun grenades,” described one student protester at the time. “Trepidation still courses through my body when I think about police in riot gear shooting rubber bullets at and beating students and friends.
Los Angeles, CA – On February 17, over 1000 Chicanos gathered at Placita Olvera in downtown Los Angeles to protest against ICE deportations and to fight back against Trump’s racist, right-wing agenda.
The rally and march were called for by Chicana activists who used social media to get the word out. Recent protests in Los Angeles have brought out large crowds of Chicanos ready to stand up and fight, with the last one, on February 2, drawing tens of thousands who took to the streets. That afternoon protesters even took over the 101 Freeway, shutting it down for hours and completely overwhelming LAPD, LASD and CHP, which were completely unprepared and caught off guard by Raza fighting back.
Talk a walk through the Los Angeles’ Arts District, and you’ll learn that there’s nothing contradictory about trying to save the world and living a luxury lifestyle. Start your tour with the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), which proudly displays a banner stating: “the future begins here.”
LACI is “a non- profit organization creating an inclusive green economy” and run “by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.” They are also supported by a “community” that includes not only the City of Los Angeles but also BMW, Wells Fargo, United Airlines, and JPMorgan Chase.
I was arrested on Easter Sunday in 1999 while driving through the small town of Lemoore, California. I was held in a local county jail for seven years while fighting my case. In 2006, l was convicted of murders I did not commit, then was promptly hauled off to San Quentin’s notorious death row. Though I have never been a stranger to societal injustices, there’s something about being Black and…
2400 striking behavioral health care workers in Southern California have taken to the streets – literally. On February 8, workers sat down in the middle of Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, blocking traffic in front of Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center. The strikers, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), blocked traffic until a dozen of them, as well as California Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez and other supporters, were arrested. The sit-in marked day 110 of the strike. The strikers want parity with Kaiser’s workers in Northern California, workers who won significant gains in a 2022 10-week strike.
Thousands of University of California healthcare, research and technical employees voted to authorize a strike, citing what they described as systemic and ongoing staffing shortages that erode patient care and hurt research operations.
The strike authorization comes amid strained negotiations between the university and University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119, the union representing nearly 20,000 employees in various research labs and medical facilities across the 10-campus UC system.
The unionized workers include nurse case managers, mental health counselors, optometrists, pharmacists, physical therapists, clinical researchers, IT analysts and animal health technicians.
In January, some Airbnb hosts more than tripled nightly rates as evacuees from the Eaton and Palisades fires scrambled to find temporary housing, according to a data analysis run by Better Neighbors LA, a coalition of housing activists and labor groups that monitor short-term rental enforcement. (One of those groups, the union Unite Here Local 11, is a financial supporter of Capital & Main.
