A centuries-old legal remedy is now being met with challenging countertactics
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson, it’s THURSDAY, JUNE FOURTH>>>> [ IMMIGRATION LAWYERS FILING HABEAS CORPUS PETITIONS NOW HAVE A NEW CHALLENGE ON THEIR HANDS ]More on that next. But first... let’s do the headlines….########
REPUBLICAN COUNTY SUPERVISOR JIM DESMOND AND SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL MEMBER MARNI VON WILPERT WILL ADVANCE TO THE GENERAL ELECTION FOR CALIFORNIA’S 48TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
AMMAR CAMPA-NAJJAR – A LEADING DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE – CONCEDED THE RACE. HE SAID IN A STATEMENT THE LOSS MARKED THE END OF HIS POLITICAL CAREER.
DESMOND HAD THE ENDORSEMENT FROM PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. HE TOOK AN EARLY LEAD WITH 42 PERCENT OF THE VOTE – DECLARING VICTORY OVERNIGHT.
DIS48 2A (:23)
So I'm, I want to go to Washington DC to fix a few things and, and things that are of interest to me in Southern California is, you know, the cost of living and, and the young people being able to afford a house, you know, the American dream is slipping away.
We need, we, we stopped the, the border is secure now, but we need a better immigration system that allows workers and people to come into our country
DEMOCRATS WERE MORE DIVIDED THAN THEIR G-O-P OPPONENTS WITH MARNI VON WILPERT COMING IN SECOND – SHE SPOKE TO KPBS IN A CROWD OF ELECTION NIGHT SUPPORTERS
DIS48 2B (:17) I was the only Democrat running in this race who's actually beaten Republicans in a tough district before and slipped a major seat, and I've delivered too, you know, Democrats, we need more than just a message. We need to show people results. We need more to be than just anti-Trump. We have to be for a brighter future for America.
THE RACE BECAME ONE OF THE MOST WATCHED HOUSE RACES IN THE NATION
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FOUR PEOPLE HAVE NOW BEEN CHARGED IN CONNECTION TO A NEARLY 2 THOUSAND FOOT-LONG TUNNEL SPANNING FROM/ FROM OTAY MESA TO TIJUANA
THE U-S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SAYS THE TUNNEL WAS FOUND INSIDE OF A FAKE 'BUY 4 LESS' STORE POSING AS A LEGITIMATE BUSINESS...
INVESTIGATORS HAD BEEN SURVEILLING THE FAUX OR FRONT-STORE SINCE DECEMBER
THE U-S ATTORNEY'S OFFICE SAYS INVESTIGATORS SAW PEOPLE REGULARLY POSING AS EMPLOYEES IN AND AROUND THE STORE. BUT THE LACK OF CUSTOMERS GOING IN AND OUT APPEARED SUSPICIOUS
AGENTS LAST FRIDAY STOPPED A VAN AND TWO TRUCKS NEARBY THAT CONTAINED MORE THAN TWO THOUSAND POUNDS OF COCAINE
THE BUILDING WAS THEN SEARCHED, REVEALING A TUNNEL UNDERNEATH THE FLOOR OF A STORAGE ROOM … RESULTING IN FOUR PERSONS CHARGED WITH FEDERAL DRUG DISTRIBUTION
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THIS SUMMER, THE SAN DIEGO PUBLIC LIBRARY WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO PLANT A SEED AND READ WITH THEM. THEIR SUMMER READING PROGRAM KICKS OFF NOW THROUGH AUGUST FIFTEENTH
THE LIBRARY SAYS THIS YEARS THEME DIGS INTO THE CONNECTION BETWEEN STORIES, FOOD, CULTURE AND COMMUNITY...
ADDING THAT YOU CAN EARN PRIZES BY DOING THINGS OTHER THAN READING LIKE HIKING, GARDENING OR EVEN COOKING
LIBRARY DIRECTOR MISTY JONES SAYS THAT JUST LIKE A GARDEN FEEDS THE BODY, BOOKS AND IDEAS FEED THE MIND
REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR ALL READING GROUPS. THE LIBRARY SAYS ITS SUMMER READING PROGRAM LAST YEAR SURPASSED 35 THOUSAND PARTICIPANTS
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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LAST YEAR IMMIGRATION LAWYERS STARTED FILING HABEAS CORPUS PETITIONS TO PREVENT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FROM DETAINING THEIR CLIENTS INDEFINITELY. NOW, BORDER REPORTER GUSTAVO SOLIS SAYS THEY HAVE A NEW FIGHT ON THEIR HANDS.
HABEASBOND (GAS) 4:54 SOQ
Last month, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered an immigration judge to hold a bond hearing for a man who had been detained by ICE for months.
It was a win for the man’s lawyer Stacy Tolchin. She has filed dozens of Habeas Corpus petitions- a centuries-old legal remedy meant to protect people from being unlawfully imprisoned by the federal government.
The next step was to go back to immigration court for the bond hearing. But that’s when Tolchin’s victory turned sour. The immigration judge issued a $50,000 bond. For a man with no criminal record.
STACY 00:11:23:11 “And in immigration, you have to pay the full bond. You don’t pay 10 percent. People don’t have $50,000 to pay. For someone whose lived in the U.S. for over 25 years with a family whose eligible for relief.”
Tolchin has practiced immigration law since 2001. She’s seen high bonds before, but only in rare circumstances.
STACY 00:16:23:02 “I had a $50,000 bond when there was an Interpol red warrant for a foreign arrest for murder. That was a $50,000 bond case. So that tells you where we are now.”
This case is part of a broader pattern in recent months … of high bond amounts or bonds being denied altogether.
STACY 00:10:52:12 “immigration judges are now routinely denying bond or release from custody for people that would have easily gotten bond before because they are not a danger to others or a flight risk.”
Immigration lawyers say it is the latest tactic by the Trump administration to meet its deportation quotas while having little regard for due process. It started in 2025, when it became clear that people were languishing in ICE detention centers when they could have been released under bond or parole programs.
That’s when lawyers turned to Habeas Corpus petitions.
As of last November, lawyers had filed a little more than 3,000 petitions across the country. They’ve now filed more than 50,000.
And they seem to be working.
IMG_7435 00:03:04:09 “The vast majority of our Habeas petitions have been successful. I think in our office we’ve had above a 90 percent success rate.
Megan Day is a lawyer with the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.
CONT…The federal judges are seeing pretty much across the board that the government is violating the law and even the government attorneys are conceding to a lot of our arguments.
But Day say a growing number of those victories have turned out to be short lived.
IMG_7435 00:04:22:54 “It’s frustrating to have to go to one part of the government to tell another government agency what they should be doing – and like I said, it just takes a lot of our time, effort and resources that we could have been perhaps taking on more bond cases or working on people’s immigration relief applications
In a statement the Department of Justice agency overseeing immigration courts said the Trump administration is complying with court orders and fully enforcing immigration law. They called the allegations from immigration lawyers “baseless” attacks.
Cassandra Lopez is a lawyer with Al Otro Lado, a San Diego immigrant rights organization. She says one of her bond hearings was decided in less than 10 minutes.
It came down to whether her client was a flight risk. Lopez says in immigration courts, the judges normally put the burden of proof on the lawyers representing ICE. That’s not what happened in this case.
IMG_4788 00:05:48:17 “The immigration judge didn’t hold the government to any burden. Didn’t ask the government any questions and really put the burden on the immigrant – the individual – and denied bond based on risk of flight. The hearing lasted it was like a 9-minute hearing I think 8 or 9 minutes.”
Lopez says this matters because being in custody makes it harder for people to afford lawyers and participate in their defense. She has seen clients wh o are detained indefinitely lose hope, abandon their case and self deport. And she knows that’s the government’s goal.
IMG_4788 00:11:29:12 “That’s why the government is using immigration detention. It’s not because these people are a danger or a flight risk. These people want to stay in the United States. They want to do everything they can to fight their case and get legal status in the United States. They would pretty much do anything to stay here.”
Stacy Tolchin believes these bond hearings undermine the legitimacy of immigration courts.
STACY 00:17:06:16 “We’re just really concerned that this really is a sham court at this point and it’s become an agent of the Trump administration.”
Having represented dozens of immigrants in detention centers, Tolchin has seen the human toll. Clients who do not have serious criminal records have lost jobs and apartments. Their families suffer without a parent or primary earner. Even when they’re released, they struggle to put their life back together.
STACY 00:04:03:05 “For me, really impactful just seeing so many people that have not been able to go back to their jobs, their kids haven’t been able to go back to school. The human toll of this is probably the most important thing people need to understand.”
Which is why she continues to fight.
Gustavo Solis, KPBS News.
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IT LOOKS LIKE THE RACE FOR STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION WILL COME DOWN TO A PAIR OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIANS… ONE FROM SAN DIEGO.
DEMOCRAT RICHARD BARRERA IS CURRENTLY THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR THE SAN DIEGO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT.
THE LATEST RETURNS SHOW HIM IN SECOND PLACE, BEHIND REPUBLICAN SONJA SHAW.
SHE IS THE SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT FOR CHINO VALLEY UNIFIED.
BARRERA SAYS HIS RECORD IN SAN DIEGO MEANS HE’S THE BEST CHOICE FOR THE JOB.
STSUPT 1A :16
"AND ALL OF THAT EXPERIENCE OF A COMMUNITY THAT REALLY HAS COME TOGETHER AND SAID, WE BELIEVE IN OUR YOUNG PEOPLE AND WE'RE GOING TO PRIORITIZE OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS, HAS LED TO THE STRONGEST STUDENT OUTCOMES OF ANY LARGE URBAN DISTRICT IN THE NATION.”
WHOEVER WINS IN NOVEMBER WILL REPLACE OUTGOING STATE SUPERINTENDENT TONY THURMOND, WHO UNSUCCESSFULLY RAN FOR GOVERNOR.
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RESULTS ARE STILL COMING IN FOR CALIFORNIA’S PRIMARY ELECTION WITH HOTLY CONTESTED RACES UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT.
VOICE OF SAN DIEGO C-E-O SCOTT LEWIS SPOKE WITH ANCHOR DEBBIE CRUZ TO BREAK DOWN SOME OF THE KEY LOCAL RACES.
HE’S BEEN KEEPING AN EYE ON SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2, WHICH INCLUDES CLAIREMONT, OCEAN BEACH AND POINT LOMA.
ELEXRECAP ME (vosd) TRT: (3:55) SOQ: “local leader of republicans.”
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What issues will be at play in that district heading into November? Well, it's it's a coastal district that's always been concerned about development, about housing and both the candidates, Richard Bailey and Nicole Crosby have expressed a lot of concern about Midway Rising, about development. So, I think there's going to be a more anti-development or sort of hostile-ish uh approach to development. They both uh hated the trash fee.
[00:42]
They both wanted to get rid of Balboa Park fees. Those are now less of an issue with the compromise the city struck with the opponents of them. Um but it'll be really interesting to see how they handle Midway Rising. There was a big independent campaign saying Richard Bailey opposed and would stop Midway Rising. When I asked him about it, he said, "No, no, no." I'll just try to make it a little better maybe. And so I wonder how the district will react to their approaches to that question.
[01:07]
Once the council contest that's still up in the air is the race for District 8, which covers San Diego's border with Mexico. Scott, what do you think will be a deciding factor here? Well, so Antonio Martinez is in the runoff. It looks like the question is will it be Gerardo Ramirez or Venus Molina with him. Gerardo Ramirez got the support just like Nicole Cruz Crosby in District 2 of the Municipal Employees Association, the largest union of city employees.
[01:35]
And they're really good at picking people it looks like in these races. Uh Nicole Crosby did really well and now it looks like Gerardo Ramirez as well. Uh they're both very similar. Uh Gerardo has a little bit more support from police, uh from he has this sort of tough love approach he wants to do for homelessness. Uh they both want to try to uh they all want to try to fix the Tijuana sewage crisis. So, I don't know that there's a lot of difference in in policy, but there is going to be a lot of difference in spending.
[02:02]
The Municipal Employees Association, there's a group trying to build a landfill in South Bay that came in really strong in support of Gerardo Ramirez. And so we'll see whether that money really can change the race. There was also one valid measure for the city of San Diego measure A. It would have text second homes left vacant for most of the year, but opposition came out strong. What was driving that?
[02:26]
The um a million dollars came in from the realtors. So, state and local realtors spent a lot of money to stop this. I'm I'm not entirely sure what was so motivating for them. But when you're doing a tax, people are already suspicious of taxes, even if it's on somebody who doesn't live here or doesn't feel like they're from here or whatever.
[02:48]
And uh and even in a situation like this where it might free up homes, the anti-tax fervent sort of feeling along with the spending just really turn people against it. So, um, yeah, it wasn't the right time it looked like. Republican Carl Demaio further solidified himself in local conservative politics.
[03:14]
Demaio was already set to advance to the November election, but what sort of success did he see last night? So, he's had this war going on with people in the Republican Party. He wants to he he he is the kind of de facto leader of the local Republican Party. A lot Lot of people tried to fight him about that. He prevailed. He He supported a slate of candidates.
[03:36]
The Republican representative Daryl Issa, Senator Brian Jones, Joel Anderson, they all supported a different slate and they really went to war against each other. And Demaio won every single race including the Treasurer Tax Collector race that Joel Anderson was running. He's no longer He's not going to make the run off. Joel Anderson's not and candidate that called the miles supported is the county supervisor candidate that Carl supported is going forward as is the state Senate candidate.
[04:04]
So all of the races that they really fought him on the Republican Party even said you know even chastise him for pretending to run a Republican voter guy that was official. All these things didn't matter Demaio is the de-facto local leader of Republicans.
TAG: THAT WAS SCOTT LEWIS FROM VOICE OF SAN DIEGO SPEAKING WITH ANCHOR DEBBIE CRUZ. YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR NON-PROFIT NEWS PARTNERSHIP PUBLIC MATTERS AT KPBS-DOT-ORG-SLASH PUBLIC MATTERS.
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SAN DIEGO IS EXPLORING SELLING ITS COLORADO RIVER WATER TO OTHER STATES THAT NEED IT.
REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS SAYS DESALINATED SEAWATER IS MAKING IT POSSIBLE.
WATERMOU1 1:14 SOQ
Water officials signed a memorandum of understanding that kicks off efforts to sell Colorado River water across state lines.
Drought, heat and a record low snowpack have reduced the river’s supply to about 36% of capacity.
Nick Serrano chairs the San Diego County Water Authority board. He says this represents…
SERRANO
A willingness to ask whether local investments in water reliability, like desalination, like recycling, like pure water, can play a broader role in helping support water security in other communities.
The Carlsbad Desalination Plant takes water from the ocean and turns it into drinking water. About 10% of the region’s water comes from the plant.
Dan Denham is the general manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. He says using more desalinated water would allow San Diego to leave some of its Colorado River water in the Lake Mead reservoir.
DENHAM
And so there's two options with that water. Nevada can take it through their intake at Lake Mead, or it can travel south through the Central Arizona Project into the communities of Phoenix, Tucson, etc.
The next step is for water officials to negotiate things like the price of the water and how much would be available. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
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IN A CLAIREMONT NEIGHBORHOOD, SEVERAL MILES FROM THE OCEAN, ONE WOMAN HAS BROUGHT AN UNDERSEA EXPERIENCE - TO HER BACKYARD.
REPORTER JOHN CARROLL VISITED RECENTLY TO SEE WHAT IT’S LIKE TO GO UNDER THE WAVES, WHILE REMAINING ON DRY LAND.
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UNDERSEA GARDEN 1 1:07 SOQ
CAROL KENT’S FRONT GARDEN IS A STANDOUT, WITH SUCCULENTS GALORE AND ROCK FORMATIONS THAT HINT AT WHAT’S BEHIND THE HOUSE.
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IN KENT’S SPACIOUS BACKYARD ON THE EDGE OF STEVENSON CANYON, YOU FIND A CAREFULLY TENDED SCENE… EVOCATIVE IN EVERY DIRECTION WITH WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE UNDER THE SEA… LIKE ONE CREATION, A COMBO OF TWO PLANTS THAT LOOK LIKE A FAMILIAR CREATURE OFF THE COAST OF SAN DIEGO!
“This is Spanish moss that I didn't think would grow in San Diego, but I mist it about twice a week and it does.”
IMAGINATION IS KEY THROUGHOUT THIS OCEANIC LANDSCAPE.
“And this is a ghostie, so they're 2 different plants that together make kind of a jellyfish.”
KENT IS NOW WINDING DOWN HER UNDERSEA GARDENING ACHIEVEMENT. SHE SAYS IT’S TOO MUCH WORK AND AN OLD SURFING INJURY MEANS TENDING IT IS PAINFUL. BUT SHE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PICTURES, VIDEO AND WARM MEMORIES OF HER MARINE MASTERPIECE. JC, KPBS NEWS.
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That’s it for the podcast today. This podcast is edited by Brooke Ruth. This podcast is hosted and produced by me, Lawrence K. Jackson. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Thanks for listening and have a great day/weekend.
