S1: Hey , everyone , I'm Andrew Bracken. On today's show , an Ice detention center in Imperial County has been getting a special tax break for years. Plus , a look at the race for California's 75th State Assembly seat. Then we take you inside the newsrooms and on the beats of reporters in Tijuana and learn more about the challenges they face. KPBS roundtable starts now. Right now , more than 5000 people are being held in California's eight Ice facilities. That includes the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico. A new KPBS investigation finds that the nonprofit that owns the facility has received millions in tax breaks. Joining me to tell us more about it is Corey Suzuki. He's South Bay and Imperial Valley reporter here at KPBS. Hey , Corey.
S2: Hey , Andrew. Thanks for having me.
S1: Great to have you here. So your story , you know , starts with a man named Timothy Kelly. He's standing inside this half finished theater in the city of Brawley. What can you tell me about Kelly and the nonprofit he co-founded. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. That's right. Well , Tim Kelly is the founder and board member of the Brawley Community Foundation , which is this registered , registered , non-profit organization that's based in the northern Imperial Valley city of Brawley. And the organization was granted tax exempt status by the IRS in 2006. So it's been around for about 20 years now. The foundation , Kelly says , was created to improve downtown Brawley by investing in old buildings , improving them , and using the money to buy other properties. This is a pretty common strategy among community development nonprofits.
S1: So I want to go back back in time a little bit here and take us back to a public hearing back in 2013 , where economic development officials are trying to figure out how to finance a new detention center near Calexico. And I'm just wondering , first off , can you tell me how do facilities like this and the jobs that come with them , play a role in the economy in Imperial County.
S2: Right ? So this was a hearing in front of the Board of Supervisors , the Imperial County Board of Supervisors. It was a decision on whether or not to approve kind of a complicated financing arrangement for how to build this facility. It's pretty common to see these kinds of hearings on , you know , land use and funding. In this case , it was for a detention center project. Who exactly which agency was going to be using ? It wasn't exactly clear , as far as I understand at that time. But it is true that the federal government already plays this really big role in Imperial County is a major employer in a place where it can be hard to find stable jobs. Um , Border Patrol is a is a really big , uh , industry. And um , in this case , though , the developers working on the project , they said something interesting. They said that they needed to have a nonprofit involved in this project. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So tell us more about how that ended up. You know. Why did a nonprofit need to come in for this project ? Right.
S2: Well , basically what the developers say is that they were looking to get access to certain loans and therefore , um , these loans would allow them to basically kind of reduce some expenses to pay less interest. Um , I spoke to Todd Ely about this. He's the director of the center for Local Government at the University of Colorado , Denver. He studies financing of public projects in state and local governments. And Ely says having a nonprofit involved gave them broader access to something called the municipal bond market , which is kind of this marketplace where state and local governments go to get money for bridges and roads and other infrastructure to get loans , basically. And , um , having this nonprofit involved in this project , Ely says , gave them broader access to specifically Tax exempt municipal bonds , which have lower interest rates. The detention centers owners say they later had to refinance those into taxable bonds. Um , when Ice got involved. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So there are a lot of layers here. But what at what point did the nonprofit at the center of your story , this Brawley Community Foundation , when did they get involved ? Right.
S2: Well , this comes back to Tim Kelly , and I should say , Tim Kelly is not only just the founder and a leader of this nonprofit , he's also president of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation , which is a powerful entity in Imperial County. He is also a recently elected city council member in Brawley and a member of the board of the local Republican Party. And he , Kelly says that the the Economic Development Corporation was also involved in the early talks around this detention center project. And he says that they looked to other local nonprofits first to be involved. But the Brawley Community Foundation was kind of the first one that was willing to take this project on others. Other nonprofit leaders were kind of , uh , he says. They just weren't they weren't prepared to move forward with the project. So that's really how it ended up with the Brawley Community Foundation being the one to sort of move forward as , as playing this kind of central role.
S1: So you mentioned a little bit about these , these bonds involved in the bond market , how that kind of works. Um , can you tell us more about the special tax break that they were applying for this ? It's called the welfare exemption. You know , talk more about that and what it's typically used for. Right.
S2: Right. Well , this is the other big thing that we found separately as the foundation was moving ahead with this financing agreement , Tim Kelly and the foundation were also applying for this special state tax break called a welfare exemption on the detention center property. This is a tax break that's meant to support charities , hospitals , scientific and religious organizations. And to get it , you have to apply it to two specific state agencies the state , I'm sorry to two specific agencies , one state and one local. The state Board of Equalization and your local county assessor. So this is a this is a long , long standing tax break that's been around for a while , but it has these very specific cases that it's supposed to be applied to. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And so I mean you mentioned charities , hospitals , scientific organizations I think I mean , how did the Brawley Foundation then argue they should qualify in that. Right.
S2: Right. Well , what the foundation says , and this is according to letters , tax records and other documents that I was able to get my hands on through public records requests. We can see that in the process of applying to both of these agencies , the foundation argued that they should qualify for the charity category they should be considered a charity because they were reducing the strain , they said , on government agencies by running this detention centre themselves. And according to the records that I obtained. Both of these agencies raised some doubts about this at first , but ultimately signed off starting in 2016.
S1: Okay , so that's a lot of the backstory. Now , you know , more than a decade later , how much money has that tax break resulted in ? Right.
S2: Well , from what we've been able to tell , this tax break has excused the non-profit owner of the Imperial Regional Detention Facility from paying around $6 million in property taxes. Again , this is over the span of the last decade. But , um , so , I.
S1: Mean , a sizable amount.
S2: That's a significant amount of money.
S1: So , you know what makes this case unique from other , you know , the ways other ice facilities are run. Right.
S2: Right. Well. I think that's a good point. It has become very common for private companies to be involved in the US detention system. Um , as the federal government has put more and more money into arresting and holding immigrants. But one of the big questions here is whether this really qualifies as a charitable purpose. And I asked Jeff Green about this. He leads the California Association of Nonprofits. Here's what he said.
S3: I can give you a personal opinion and say that , you know , that does not sound to me like a charitable purpose.
S1: Yeah , definitely raising some concerns there. I mean , you also reached out to state and county tax officials to figure out who's really responsible for these tax breaks. Did you get much clarity there ? Yeah.
S2: I mean , I think we we got a lot of answers about that actually. And it's really these two states. I keep saying that it's really these two agencies , the State Board of Equalization and the Imperial County Assessor's Office. The state decides who potentially could qualify , and then the assessor makes the final decision , and some of the records that I obtained show that the foundation was open about its plans to build and run a detention center , and that it was in talks with Ice. When I reached out to both the Imperial County Assessor's Office and the Board of Equalization about this , both agencies sort of tried to deflect responsibility for issuing these tax breaks onto each other. The the Board of Equalization pointed out , correctly , that the assessor's office really has the final say. Um , the assessor's office said that they initially raised some doubts about whether or not this project would qualify for these exemptions to the state , and they actually went back to the Board of Equalization and asked for guidance , and that they shared a an in-depth analysis. Several pages that the Board of Equalization did. That showed that they had looked really deeply at some of the legal , um , framing of this question and ultimately had found , um , the issue , this analysis that supported granting the exemption and the Imperial County Assessor's office told me that that was what they based their decision on the state's analysis.
S1: Got it. So bring it back now to that detention center in Imperial County. What can you tell us about conditions there ? Right.
S2: I I'm glad you brought that up. I mean , I think that , uh , this is really what is at the core of some of the questions that are being raised here about this arrangement. Um , the Imperial Regional Detention Facility has this kind of , uh , has faced many accusations in court records and in other complaints of abuses , things like providing undercooked food , holding people in solitary confinement. Some of these allegations Ice denies. But federal inspectors from the Department of Homeland Security have also found that the facility violated ICE's own standards at some points when it comes to providing medical care and doing well. Wellness checks. And since President Trump's return to power , two people have died after experiencing health crises at this facility.
S1: Well , so , you know , earlier you talked about , you know , some of the setting up these facilities , kind of how they play a part in the economy there in Imperial Valley in your story. We also meet Kristian Salgado. She's a longtime Calexico resident and organizer there , you know. Tell us about her and her perspective on this facility. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. Christian is a third generation Calexico resident. The. This is the city where the detention center was built. So it's outside the city , but it has a Calexico address. And Salgado is an activist with the Imperial Liberation Collaborative , a local immigrants rights group that tries to connect directly with people who are detained at the facility , tries to to visit them , to connect them with family members and friends , and to generally try and raise awareness about conditions that they say are happening inside the facility. And Salgado has been in particular trying to learn more about the ownership structure of the facility. So when I spoke with her about our findings , she said it was really both confusing and unsettling to hear that a charity could own an Ice detention center. Here's a little bit of what she said.
S4: I don't see the detention center as a community benefit. I , I don't think the jobs that come out of it really outweigh the harm that that it creates.
S1: So bringing it back now where we started with Timothy Kelly of the Brawley Community Foundation.
S2: And he argues , essentially , that the detention center has brought a lot of benefits to the region through the jobs that it provides. According to a 2017 audit of the facility by the Department of Homeland Security , the Imperial Regional Detention Facility has around 240 employees. That's including both private contractors and Ice. And Kelly says , um , in his eyes , that that level of employment , those jobs have strengthened the regional economy. And he also says that he's proud of the conditions at the facility and the standard of care that they provide. Here , here's a little bit of what he told us.
S5: I think we look at opportunities are going to create jobs and generate taxes that are going to benefit our community. And that's what this did. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. You know , in the time we have left here , Corey , I'd love to kind of get your thoughts. I mean , you cover not only Imperial County and Imperial Valley. You also call Cover San Diego , South Bay. So you're juggling a lot different communities , different issues at play here. A lot of things there. And I'm just wondering , you know , how this story fits into the larger picture of how you approach coverage in the areas that that you cover for us here at KPBS ? Yeah.
S2: Thanks , Andrew. I that's a that's a good question. I think that , um , one way that I've , I've really been thinking about this is that both of these areas , South San Diego County and the Imperial Valley , my , my beat when it was created , um , the job that I have now was supposed to try and fill in gaps , to try and bring more news coverage to areas where there is not always , um , the kind of substantial and robust , um , kind of accountability reporting that we know leads to , um , less government waste and less fraud. And , um , so I think that , um , and not to say I should say not to say that , um , that's , that's what's happening here. We don't we don't know that. But , um , I guess I say that to , um , to to mean that , um , I think I see this , this project as maybe one case where , uh , some of the people that I spoke with said that they , they really felt like there was just not a lot of attention on it. In the beginning , there was not a lot of , um , People who knew that it was happening. This um , hearing that you mentioned back in 2013 , it was pretty sparsely attended , and there were really only a handful of community members who had come beyond the developers and the the county officials there to to weigh in. And Salgado , the immigrants rights organizer that I spoke with. She , you know , third generation Calexico resident and she was , uh , had just graduated from college. And she says that from what she remembers , nobody was really talking about this as it was coming together. And so I think that , um , one of the big questions that , uh , some of the people who are really looking in on this , on on this detention center now , and how the story of how it came together , uh , they're just wondering sort of , um , what what things might have looked like if maybe people were more aware Um , that it was that it was it was coming together and that this project was taking place at the time.
S1: We really appreciate you joining and sharing more about your coverage with us. I've been speaking with Corey Suzuki. He's covers the Imperial Valley here at KPBS. Corey , thanks so much.
S2: Thanks , Andrew.
S1: Coming up , we continue to look at this year's primary election with a look at the 75th district race. Stay tuned. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable I'm Andrew Bracken. California's June 2nd primary is just weeks away. Voters are casting their ballots for governor , judges , local measures and more. They'll also vote for state assembly representatives. So today , we're zooming in on one race , and that's California's 75th State Assembly seat. Two candidates are on the ballot this year incumbent Republican Carl Demayo and Democrat Gerald Bosco. Scott , Rod's an investigative reporter here at KPBS who's been covering the race , and he joins me now. Hey , Scott. Welcome back. Hey , Andrew. Great to see you. So before we dive into the candidates , the issues at play in this race , I'm wondering if you can just give us a sense of the area. We're talking about this 75th district.
S6: Yeah , it's a huge district. It's really most of inland San Diego County. It goes down to the border , up to the US-Mexico border , up to the northern border of the county. It includes , you know , like Fallbrook and Anza-Borrego Springs and , um , it also stretches all the way up into East County. So it's it's a big district. And there are definitely consistent issues and concerns across the district. I'd say certainly one of them like cost of Living , but there's also in different parts of the district various concerns. So you have a pretty you have a constituency with a pretty varied , um , concern based and issue based. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And it's I mean , it's pretty striking. And you include a map in your video explainer on on the race because it is just a big old chunk like other than the coast. You're right. It goes from the border way up out to the desert. So talk more about the , you know , the political makeup of the 75th.
S6: It's largely Republican. They definitely outweigh Democrats. There is a decent percentage of independents as well. But I would say you could certainly characterize it as a safe Republican district generally. Okay.
S1: Okay. So , Scott , you covered state politics in Sacramento for several years. You're pretty familiar with it. Can you just give us just , you know , a brief refresher on how elections for the state assembly and the state Senate work ? Sure.
S6: Yeah. So the state legislature is broken down into the Senate and the Assembly. Um , the the Assembly has elections every two years versus the Senate has elections. Well , they're six year terms. So what's interesting about the Assembly is you kind of have to you have to re-up , you know , pretty regularly. And I think what's what's worth paying attention to in the Assembly races is when there are changes in trends , voting trends , and if it's shifting left or right , you can see that more consistently in the Assembly , at least statewide , because they have to go back to the voters every two years and make their case to say , hey , you should really keep me in office.
S1: You should really get a sense of those kind of wave elections. So it's kind of like the House and the Senate and the US Congress. It sounds a little bit similar. Yeah. So let's talk about the candidates for this 75th district race. Republican Carl DeMaio is running for re-election here. And he has , you know , a pretty long resume in San Diego politics at this point. Yeah. Remind us a little bit about his background , his history here. Sure.
S6: Sure. Yeah. As you said , there's there's quite a bit of name recognition around Carl de Mayo. He was elected to the San Diego City Council over a decade ago. He then later tried to he ran for mayor of San Diego , the city of San Diego , and it was a close race , but he lost. He ended up unsuccessfully running for a few congressional seats. And so he after his time on the city council , he was known as a person who ran for a variety of offices. He didn't quite make it in. But even without without winning any of those seats , he still was making quite a bit of impact with his , I guess you'd call radio show slash podcast , which would broadcast very regularly , and he was gaining a lot of support , both. I think just generally from people , but certainly financial as well. He started an organization called Reform California in 2017 , and they've raised I mean , they say they've raised around $25 million in that time , a tremendous , really amount of money for a political action political advocacy group. Um , and then it was in 2024 when the 75th district seat was up for grabs , essentially , and he threw his hat in the race. He threw his hat in the race fairly late. We actually had a story back in 2024 that looked at how he got into the race , and essentially it involved him pretty much last minute finding a residence in the district , establishing his voter registration there just within days with a deadline. And then he said , you know , in all of that , I should say , is within the bounds of what's allowed under California state law. And he ran for the seat. He faced quite a bit of opposition and pushback , not only from Democrats , but also from Republicans as well. I mean , there was a pretty memorable press conference back in 2024 when he was running , where you saw Republicans and Democrats lining up to say why you should not vote for Khalil de Mayo. And I couldn't imagine some of these Democrats and Republicans sharing a stage for really for any reason. And they came together for that purpose. But despite those odds , he made it through the primary and then won the general election. And he's been in the Assembly for the last two years.
S1: So as you mentioned , he pulled it out. He won in 2024.
S6: And I would say he's successfully done that. He's got a pretty unvarnished approach to to politics , some might say confrontational. I pulled a couple examples of him speaking in the Assembly , and let's give a listen to it.
S7:
S8:
S7: Then why have you become props to Governor Gavin Newsom's presidential campaign ? That I've seen the good , the bad and the ugly. And let me just tell you , this is one of the most dishonest , destructive , irresponsible budgets I have ever seen. And in California , there's a lot of competition for that title. You have high speed rail that's propped up by cap and cap and trade , which is nothing more than grift.
S6: So again , just a sampling there. I think DiMaggio's critics would call that unnecessarily combative or confrontational. I think his supporters would say that's a breath of fresh air. We like people who just call it as it is.
S1: And it's I don't know very of the times right now to , I guess in certain parts of our political discourse.
S6: I think that's right.
S1: Let's talk about , you know , his his opponent in this race. We have the Democratic challenger , Gerald Briscoe. He's a newcomer to politics. You know , tell us more about him.
S6: You know , when I interviewed him , he said he hadn't really thought that much about going into politics. At least , you know , earlier in his life he was a he is a military veteran and an IT contractor. And he said he just saw this as a moment where he felt a Democrat needed to get into the race and give a challenge to DeMaio. And , you know , frankly , his odds are he's got long odds and he recognizes that he's got an uphill challenge , in part because the district is largely registered Republican , but also just in terms of the financials. Carl DeMaio. He is good at raising money. I think even certainly his critics would recognize that and acknowledge it , that he brings in money. There have been some claims , some some allegations about. Well , is he following the rules with some of his fundraising ? I'll say that there's a pending FBK investigation right now , but that's sort of a whole separate conversation. He certainly is good at bringing in money. And as of April , he brought in upwards of $1.7 million for this race. You look at Persico and he's still in the thousands of dollars in terms of fundraising.
S1: So yeah , a big uphill climb there for Bosco. But , you know , as you mentioned , you did speak with him. And , you know , he shared some of his own personal life experiences with you , which I thought was pretty interesting. Here's a little of what he told you.
S9: I was personally homeless myself for nine months in uniform , so that's really personal for me. I don't believe anybody should go without a roof over their head. And we really government has a responsibility to making sure that its people are housed.
S1: Um , you know , we play that clip , I think just because it illustrates , you know , his experience. Not only as a veteran , but but experiencing homelessness here.
S6: And he says he believes that the government needs to be more hands on. They need to get more involved. They need to figure out ways to fund more affordable housing. Um , I will say that's an interesting contrast to DiMaggio's perspective , who also says housing is an issue , but he believes that the government needs to get out of the way , needs the there needs to be a cutting of red tape. There needs to be fewer regulations. So both candidates see certain things as top issues in the district. Housing is one of them , another one being cost of living , but certainly their perspectives on it , how to solve it quite different.
S1: Let's talk more about the cost of living , because that is the dominant issue seems to be on on this , you know , on the ballot this year. Tell us more about what daimyos thinking.
S6: For DeMaio , it's all about deregulation. It's all about cutting taxes. It's again about telling government to , hey , get out of the way ! Get your hands out of my wallet ! Hands out of my pocket book. Essentially , when I asked him to sum up , just why is cost of living such a big issue ? What are the problems here ? Here's what he had to say.
S10: Politicians that run the state have blamed everyone but themselves for the damage that they've done. It's been their reckless policies , their mandates , their costly regulations and taxes that have caused everything in California to be unaffordable to working families.
S6: And again , contrast that with what Portugal told me about. No government needs to be more active , more involved , you know , smarter with their actions. But you know , there needs to be more of an effort to try to proactively bring down costs , whether it be through housing or creating more job opportunities , etc..
S1: So , Scott , you know , Democrats have a supermajority right now in the legislature.
S6: There are still some that are pending , but it's not. It's not shocking that in us , you know , a legislative body that has a Democratic supermajority that a Republican is going to have , it's going to struggle to get legislation passed. But the fact that none have passed , I think that is , you know , notable often there will be , um , you know , Republicans can can find something to co-author , even if it's something , you know , a slam dunk , you know , let's protect turtles , whatever it may be , they can usually find something where they can get a piece of legislation through. But Tamayo hasn't found that thing. His , his his legislation has seen quite a bit of pushback.
S1: So as you mentioned , Demayo hasn't gotten much legislation through. But , you know , he has made headway in other ways. Tell us more about that.
S6: Well , the most notable success so far is that he's gotten he was he spearheaded signature gathering for a ballot initiative that is going to require voter ID in many cases , to vote or for you to put ID information on your ballot if you mail in your ballot. This is something that DeMaio has really beat the drum on. It's a it's something that he says is a major issue. He's raised concerns about voter fraud. It's worth noting that in California , voter fraud is really quite rare. Um , but certainly since the Trump election going back to 2016 , you've , you've people , um , raising concern about it , at least quite a bit more. And I do think it's on people's minds if even if it is quite rare. So you have this ballot initiative that's going to be on the November ballot. And for him , he saw this as a major victory. And he said , let's let's put this to the voters directly. He has brought it up in the legislature. It hasn't gone anywhere. So for him , he sees that as a win to be able to put it before the voters in November.
S1: So this you know , we have primary system here. The top two vote getters move ahead to the general. What's next for this election.
S6: Well for this one not to be too anti-climactic. The these are the only two candidates that are on the ballot for the primary. So they're set to move on to the November general election , but still seeing the results from the primary. My anticipation would be that DeMaio comes out ahead. It'll be interesting to see just how far ahead. And then from there , it's it's kind of an assessment of what would Boris go need to do to try to close that gap. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. As we move and we know the general election brings out a whole , you know , more voters. There's a whole different dynamic. There is a lot to follow there. And just a reminder , you can find more on this year's primary election by visiting the KPBS Voter Hub. You can find that at KPBS hub. I've been speaking with KPBS investigative reporter Scott Rod Scott. Thanks so much.
S6: Thank you. Scott.
S1: Up next , look into the work of some of Tijuana's leading journalists and the challenges they face. Stay tuned. Round tables back after the break. Welcome back to KPBS roundtable I'm Andrew Bracken. The role of a journalist is to investigate the truth , often in the face of pushback from those in power. But on top of those challenges , journalists in Mexico also have to face the real threat of violence. Nearly 200 journalists have been killed there over the past 30 years. KPBS video journalist Matthew Bowler recently followed journalists working in Tijuana to better understand their experiences covering the border region. And Matt , welcome back to roundtable. Thank you. So your story begins by introducing us to Giovanni Aranda. He's a reporter with the newspaper El Sol de Tijuana.
S11: A typical day for a lot of general assignment reporters. You know , he told me he has about three assignments a day. El Sol , like many other massive newspaper conglomerates. Right. They have at least 50 newspapers across all of Mexico. I think they're one of the largest publishers in Latin America. Um , you know , they give him three assignments every day , and he's got to run out and , you know , get the news. And on the morning that we tagged along with him , he took us up into his newsroom. He's one of the first people there. Took us up into his newsroom. We got to look around the newsroom and then we went on assignment with him to a like a public security conference. And there were tons of other Mexican journalists there , and they were all questioning the the presidents of these committees for the security committees. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And you kind of bounced around town with him a little bit that day.
S11: Right ? Security and safety. That's that's always a big issue here. Politics is a big issue. Infrastructure , of course , is a big issue. It's probably a little bit of a larger issue there because they have significantly more infrastructure challenges. But also , you know , arts and culture and baseball and soccer and , you know , it's a full city in the same way that San Diego is a full city. And so they're not just focused on one kind of area of coverage there , really. He's really kind of trying to cover the the broad , broad strokes of the area. There was a the book conference , the book fair that was coming up. That was a big story for him that he was going to cover. Yeah.
S1: So I mean , you you mentioned you took us inside his newsroom and you kind of add some really nice details there. You know , he's got this little mini football helmet on his desk.
S11: Yeah , he's a Patriots fan.
S1: Go figure. Yeah. But then you bring our attention to some stickers on a filing cabinet also in that newsroom. And in one way if you can tell us more about those and what they represent.
S11: Yeah , there was a there were two journalists , Margarito Martinez and Lourdes Maldonado , who were both killed in 2022 , about less than a week apart in January of 2022. And so there were there was outcry about that. And after their their murders , there were large signs and bumper stickers printed up and of course , their filing cabinet where they keep a lot of their files and investigations , the work that they're working on. They have it's like a little makeshift memorial. So they've got pictures of him , pictures of Lourdes and a bumper sticker with the Lords and Margarito on it. And they've also got a sticker with , uh , Hector Gato Felix , who was one of the founders of the famous Tijuana investigative weekly Zet. The who was also killed in Tijuana.
S1: And this is sort of the larger landscape of what you're exploring here , just this , this atmosphere that , you know , the environment of , of violence that , that they kind of have to deal with doing their jobs as journalists , like you said , similar to what you do every day. Um , tell us more about the broader problem of violence , you know , against journalists in Mexico.
S11: It's changing over over time , in much of the same way that I think that the threats in the United States are changing over time , too. So last year , first six months of last year , there were eight journalists killed across the country of Mexico , which I like to keep in perspective. It's a very large country. And when you compare to this time last year , there have been this time , that same time period , this year , there have been two journalists killed. So by that measure , you could say that it's getting better because less people are being killed. However , the the threats seem to be kind of shifting gears a little bit , I think. And I spoke to a Vicente Calderon , a veteran Tijuana journalist who's been working in Tijuana for 30s. Right. Oh , yeah. Yeah , yeah. He's kind of an institution in and of his own. Right. He runs a Tijuana press com , and he spoke about how the the threats have been shifting over time and in a way , becoming more like what we face here in the States with legal threats as opposed to actual threats of violence , which , you know , it's up to , up to you to decide whether or not that's a step forward or not. Interesting.
S1: Interesting. So he's seeing a shift , But as you mentioned , you know , Vicente has been working in Tijuana and Baja for for decades. Um , you know , how has he seen this violence and the , you know , constant threats from it impact his career , but also , you know , those of many of his colleagues who I think he knew many of these people that were killed. Right. Yeah.
S11: Yeah. Yeah , he's he has known everyone. Um , he he has told me that it definitely does impact your story choices and how you choose to frame stories and the kind of the delicate ness with which certain reporters and journalists will approach certain topics because , um , you know , threats are real and and , you know , nobody likes to be threatened for any reason. Um , over time , I think Mexican journalists have been able to become more , a more , more aggressive in kind of their reporting , because I do. I mean , from his perspective , he does see things getting better , especially when you're comparing it to 30 years ago when he first started. Um , there has been improvement. There is the mechanism , as they call it , to protect journalists , which is a federal system. But , you know , it's not always it's not it hasn't always been as effective. Lourdes Maldonado , for example , before she was killed , she did try to take advantage or , you know , use the the mechanism to protect journalists. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And actually we have a clip from when she spoke. I think it was at a press conference with then Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador , Obrador , Amlo , back in 2019. Here's here's a little what she had to say. Bingo.
S12: Bingo. Aqui para pedir apoyo ayuda y justicia laboral porque mi vida.
S11: So what's she saying there is that is that she came to ask him for his help. and for him to help to for his work and and because she fears for her life. Um , which , you know , as we all know , ultimately ended with her murder in front of her house. Um , so.
S1: Just a few years after this , this clip here. So , um , you spoke with , you know , a number of journalists , one of them. And they each have kind of different styles and different , different takes on how they approach their job. I want to talk a little bit about Joe Black. Joe. Tricks. Joe is he's a photojournalist , and he really kind of embeds himself in his , his , uh , you know , his with his subjects and the stories he's telling. Tell us more about him and what he had to share with you.
S11: He kind of from my perspective , I personally , I just love photojournalism , but he he has a way of working that is more similar to what you would see out of the old kind of style photojournalists in the 50s and 60s where you go and you embed yourself in a place or in a subject matter and you're just there and you constantly document what's going on , trying to find that those series of great pictures. And Joe Joe would win. The migrants came through. He was living in the migrant camps. You know , we walked and we met him at one of the shelters. Uh , Movimiento Juventud dos mil. And , you know , the the the volunteers that run the shelter. They know who he is. And , you know , they immediately welcome him in. He's well known. He is able to , uh , very quickly kind of build a really good rapport with the people that are living there. You know , access is a big part of photography. You don't just want to go stick a camera in someone's face because they'll they'll act. Where do you want to see them ? In their authentic selves. And Joe's been able to , through his work I think been able to to really kind of access that kind of level of human authenticity in , in these very difficult contexts.
S1: And yet he also shared some kind of pretty personal reflections on his job. And we have a clip of that. Here's a little what he told you.
S13: My wife , she kind of told me to drop it because I got a lot of threats. She knows that if they kill me , it's because I did something right. Yeah.
S11: Yeah. Joe is , um. He has a ton of stories , and I can definitely understand why his wife would be worried about him. Especially with the kinds of situations he he puts himself in in order to tell. In order to tell those stories , you just go to his Instagram and and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about , which is , uh , Joe Black , TJ , I think is what he has.
S1: It is can I look at a link on our , on our website there too , that , um , you know , you touched on this earlier , but that the tide may be changing somewhat. You know , some of the journalists told you about I think Vicente kind of shared some optimism. Talk more about what the state of , you know , the threats facing journalists there today.
S11: Vicente was telling me that that the threats aren't explicit violence anymore. It's legal action and digital threats. So. And actually , just today , the article 19 , which is a press kind of a press freedom NGO that operates in Mexico and Central America , came out and was talking about how this one Mexico City journalist , Maria Teresa montano , who works for The Observer , which is like a Mexican Snopes. So they're fact checking what politicians say. And article 19 is saying that she is facing digital threats. People hacked her email. They hacked her access account , that her computer appeared to be compromised and that the observer website is under attack , similar to like a DDoS attack , where a denial of service attack , where they try and prevent people from being able to access this information. Um , she she was the 2023 Committee to Protect Journalists recipient for International Press Freedom award. So she's a , you know , a very well respected , well respected journalist in Mexico and in Mexico City in particular. Um , and so this is kind of a new thing , right ? Yeah.
S1: Something kind of looking into the future , how things are shifting there. So , you know , as your story shows us , this threat of violence is a real part of has been part of journalists lives in Tijuana.
S11: It has all of the things that San Diego has. Some of my favorite places to go and be are in Tijuana. I love Baja. I have always loved Baja , and I try and keep in mind that this is not me being critical of the people or the journalists , or kind of the situation there. It's more about me trying to trying to share the story and share it from the Mexicans perspective , not from me imposing my opinion or perspective on on to them. So , you know , I mean , do you want us a great city ? I highly recommend everyone go there and and go to the museum and go to Revolution. It's pedestrian only now. Revolution is pedestrian only. I didn't grow up with revolution being pedestrian only. It's amazing.
S1: I mean , yeah , in your coverage , you cover such a range of stories along the border. Last time we had you on was talking about some cross border sheep and then navigating , you know , the border. We have about a minute left. I'm just wondering , what do you hope people take away from your coverage of Tijuana , of Baja. Of the border region.
S11: That it's more than just the border wall. That Tijuana is a is a city that has so much to offer. And and as San Diegans , we are blessed to be able to to be so close to to a place like Tijuana , you know , we can go to the good and and see great Mexican art cultural center. We can see. Yeah , yeah. And then there's the Casa de Cultura. Or you can go to playas and have , have , have dinner and yeah , I have never felt , um , unsafe in , in the parts of Tijuana that I hang out in. You know , before the boring parts , you can go to the , the volunteer for a bookmobile or , or there's all kinds of great things going on in Tijuana and Baja , Rosarito and Ensenada. All of them are they're just they're fabulous cities and they're great places to be. So I'm hoping that people take that away from me. And not just this place is dangerous. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And your coverage , you know , really covers like , such a range there. And I think you capture that in your reporting. And thanks so much for , you know , speaking with him more about this one. We're going to have a link on our website and our show notes today. I've been speaking with Matthew Bowler. He's a video journalist here at KPBS. Matt thanks again.
S11: Thank you.
S1: That'll do it for the KPBS roundtable this week. I'm your host , Andrew Bracken. We'd love to hear from you. If you have show ideas or any comments for us , you can email us at roundtable at pbs.org. You can also leave us a message at (619) 452-0228. And we'll see you next time on the KPBS roundtable. Thanks so much for listening.
