By Sandra De Anda This Sunday, my partner and I spent the day eating Laotian dishes and drinking Beerlao brews at Royal King Restaurant, a small but bustling hole-in-the-wall in Garden Grove. By early noon, all the tables were taken with the weekend lunch rush. By meal’s end, I felt full with food, but also […]
What First Defeat of DOJ Suit Against State’s “Sanctuary” Laws Means for OC
By Abigail Marin “Standing aside does not equate to standing in the way.” United States District Judge John A. Mendez’s words in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ lawsuit deeming California’s “Sanctuary State” laws as “actively obstructing federal law enforcement” helped deliver the federal legal challenge its first defeat in court on Thursday. Mendez kept […]
Why We’re in San Diego to Grind Operation Streamline’s Fast-Track Down to a Halt
By Samuel Paramore Immigrant rights activists and allies from Orange County and beyond are gathered in San Diego today to protest against Operation Streamline’s expansion. The program is better known by critics as a legal “assembly line” for migrants caught crossing the border. It’s become a major feature of mass imprisonment and making private prisons […]
Leaked Handbook Shows ICE Allowed to Engage in “Otherwise Criminal Activity”
By Samuel Paramore Extortioners? Con Men? Wannabe Gangsters? All are seemingly appropriate labels to stick to undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents following the revelations of a 227-page manual that Unicorn Riot, an alternative media outlet, published online. The Undercover Operations Handbook, reportedly having been current from 2008 up until 2016, shows an agency […]
Give ICE the Boot in OC to Keep Immigrant Families Together
By Abigail Marin On Thursday, activists from numerous immigrant rights organizations took the streets of Orange County with a clear demand. We want the county board of supervisors to boot Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of here until the 15-year-old federal agency is abolished for good. A diverse crowd met earlier at Morrison Park in […]
Anti-Arpaio Protesters Outnumber Ex-Sheriff Supporters in Yorba Linda
By Abigail Marin Local Know Nothing candidates running on a pro-Trump, anti-immigrant political agenda continue to place Orange County on edge by welcoming notorious xenophobes into the fold. On Friday, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio made an appearance at the Yorba Linda Community Center at the invitation of Phil Liberatore, a no chance in […]
How Passing Rent Control in Santa Ana Will Benefit Undocumented Residents
By Samuel Paramore For many years, Santa Ana city council members and developers have coveted the gentrification of downtown. But it isn’t just Mexican storefronts disappearing because of hipster bars and high-priced eateries. Draconian landlords are an integral part of the displacement of low-income Latino tenants just trying to put a roof over their head. […]
The U.S. is Quietly Detaining and Deporting Our Cambodian and Vietnamese Neighbors
By Sandra De Anda Most of the migrant caravan Central Americans have been admitted into the United States to apply for asylum. While they await what comes next, refugees already in the country from Vietnam and Cambodia are quietly being sent back. Orange County is home to both populations. We frequent local Cambodian doughnut shops […]
March Without Borders Greeted the Migrant Caravan at Border That Divides Us All
By Samuel Paramore On Sunday, the March Without Borders arrived from Los Angeles to the U.S.-Mexico border at San Diego. They greeted the migrant caravan they’re supporting on the other side. Separated by the fencing that seals off Tijuana, the migrants endured a campaign of fear and misinformation spread about them by the Trump administration […]
Free Brake Light Repair Clinic Gives OC Police One Less Reason to Pull Us Over
By Sandra De Anda “The reason for the stop is your third brake light is out,” convicted South Carolina killer cop Michael Slager said to Walter Scott in 2015. Moments later, Slager shot Scott to death in the back after he ran away. Last year, another cop stopped Philando Castile in Minnesota for a broken tail […]
Win or Lose in Los Alamitos, Undocumented Immigrants Will Continue to Fight
By Samuel Paramore For a long time, Orange County’s preferred public image proclaimed itself a white suburban wonderland. The hard-working immigrant communities that are its backbone are made to be unseen, save for when they’re bashed for political expediency. Immigrants, undocumented or not, are always exploited for their labor and when it comes to their […]
OC’s Anti-Sanctuary State Revolt is On the Wrong Side of History
By Erik Garcia Many cities in Orange County faced a decision to make last week regarding California being a “Sanctuary State.” Fullerton chose to take no action in Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ federal lawsuit against our state’s laws, including SB 54, that offer a measure of protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants. But the city […]
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens Feeds OC’s Anti-Immigrant Frenzy With Latest Stunt
By Erik Garcia Orange County’s riding a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria that’s putting its Know Nothings back in the national spotlight. The Orange County board of supervisors got its turn after passing a resolution last week and joining federal lawsuits that seek to undermine SB 54–California’s “Sanctuary State” law–in building on a momentum that started […]
We Must Stop Orange County’s Backlash Against “Sanctuary State” Laws
By Samuel Paramore It’s been almost six months since California’s “Sanctuary State” bill was signed into law, marking a still-lacking but substantial step towards human rights for undocumented immigrants. Then, Attorney General Jeff Sessions filed a lawsuit against it and other protective laws, which is still pending in the courts. Of course, it’d be only […]
Undocumented Youth Came Out of the Shadows and Onto the Streets in SanTana
By Erik Garcia When undocumented youth declared to be “undocumented and unafraid” at Chicago’s Federal Plaza in 2010, they started “Coming Out of the Shadows,” a moment in the national immigrant rights movement. Through different presidential administrations, the state of our immigration system hasn’t changed much since then (Obama was the Deporter-in-Chief, remember?). Undocumented youth continue […]
California’s “Sanctuary State” Laws Threaten Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Agenda
By Daniel Millán The Trump administration continues its attack on immigrants by challenging California’s so-called “sanctuary laws.” On Mar. 6, Attorney General Jeff Sessions filed a lawsuit against the state’s relatively new laws and policies meant to protect the rights of immigrants. The California Values Act, or Senate Bill 54, which prevents local police from […]
How to Break the Fear of Workplace ICE Raids
By Jose Servin Alerts of upcoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Northern California and in Los Angeles sparked fear and mixed reactions last week on social media from the undocumented community. These raids, known as I-9 audits, or colloquially as redadas, were promised last year by ICE acting director Tom Homan as a […]
Activists Post Bond for SanTana Immigrant Trans Woman Seeking Asylum
By Jose Servin After spending three years behind bars, Valeria De la Luz finally walked out of an Albuquerque, New Mexico Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office on Friday with just an ankle monitor thanks to community efforts that crowdfunded her $3,000 bond. De la Luz, a SanTana-based trans immigrant activist, previously served time for involuntary […]
ICE Gains Access to License Plate Data With Help From OC Law Enforcement
By Jose Servin Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation machine has a new tool of surveillance. An article in The Verge recently revealed a deal between ICE and a private company granting the agency access to a license plate recognition database that would help to track undocumented immigrants’ vehicles. With this technology, ICE could hypothetically track where a […]
Surprise, Surprise: Democrats Cave on Ending Government Shutdown Without DACA Deal
By Jair Bautista Senate Democrats appeared to stand their ground last Friday when they overwhelmingly voted against a spending bill to fund the government that came without protecting DACA recipients nor securing proper funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and states hit with natural disasters. This vote was a culmination of months of grassroots […]
Trans Immigrant Community Decries Honduran Woman’s Fiery Death
By Stefany Urrea Firefighters responded to an apartment ablaze in a Pico Union neighborhood on Wednesday when they later discovered a badly-burned body inside. Police couldn’t make an identification at the time, but the next day, Bambi Salcedo, president of TransLatina Coalition, informed the trans and immigrant community of Viccky Gutierrez’s death in the fire on […]
