Communities respond to ICE arrests near San Diego schools

Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s Monday, August 25th.

M-T-S is facing a budget deficit and they’re asking you what to do about it.

More on that next. But first... the headlines….

The San Diego Police Department says it’s going to improve its online complaint process.

The Commission on Police Practices made 14 recommendations to the department aiming to make it easier for the public to file and follow complaints.

The department accepted most of the recommendations.

Among them, it says it will ensure all evidence is analyzed and that investigators have no conflicts of interest with the subjects of complaints.

The Commission on Police Practices says it will monitor implementation of the changes and continue to advocate for stronger reforms.

This November California voters will decide whether the state should implement a redrawn Congressional district map that could result in fewer Republicans sent to Congress.

State lawmakers agreed last week to Governor Gavin Newsom's redistricting plan engineered to counter a similar move by the state of Texas.

The Texas state legislature approved its new map that could flip five Democratic Texas seats to Republicans.

California’s new map, if approved, would put five current Republican seats at risk — including the one held by San Diego Republican Darrel Issa.

A new poll finds support for the redistricting plan among a slight majority of San Diego voters.

The SurveyUSA poll was conducted last week on behalf of the Union-Tribune and 10 News.

Just over half the voters surveyed said they supported the plan while 37% were opposed.

The poll also found support for Newsom among San Diego County voters with about fifty percent approval and 41% disapproval.

From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.

Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

SAN DIEGO'S METROPOLITAN TRANSIT SYSTEM IS FACING A DEFICIT OF $120 MILLION IN THE COMING YEARS. METRO REPORTER ANDREW B OWEN SAYS THE AGENCY IS LOOKING TO THE PUBLIC FOR GUIDANCE ON WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

AB: MTS ridership growth since the pandemic is the second highest in the nation. Passenger trips were up 7% last year. But that achievement has come at a cost. The agency has kept its fares and service levels more or less the same amid sky-high inflation. Without new revenue in the coming years, it could be forced to cut its budget by 25%.SC: We want to see what it is we could do better as a transit network.AB: Sharon Cooney is CEO of MTS. The agency has launched an outreach campaign called MTS On Track. It asks San Diegans how they would want MTS to spend new revenue, say from the state or a local ballot measure. Cooney says if that revenue doesn't materialize, the service cuts required to balance the budget would hurt transit riders and non-riders alike.SC: One of the great things about transit is it's there for everybody. Even if you don't use it on a regular basis, you might use it to go to a game or a medical appointment, school. You have children, they need it. This is a time when we really need to start focusing our efforts on avoiding that fiscal cliff.AB: MTS is collecting comments online at participate.sdmts.com. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.

IMMIGRATION AUTHORITIES HAVE MADE AT LEAST 4 ARRESTS NEAR SAN DIEGO COUNTY SCHOOLS IN RECENT WEEKS. THE AGGRESSIVE CRACKDOWN BY THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS CAUSING CONCERN AMONG PARENTS AS THE SCHOOL YEAR GETS UNDERWAY.

GUSTAVO SOLIS COVERS THE BORDER AND IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT FOR KPBS. HE SPOKE WITH REPORTER KATIE ANASTAS.

So, Gustavo, these arrests are getting a lot of attention, in part because they're happening near schools. What is the Trump administration doing here?

Well, we're seeing it like this is part of mass deportation. This is what it looks like. This is we are seeing on the ground what the Trump administration has been talking about since the election. Mass arrest, targeting a lot of people in a lot of different parts of town.

Ice says they're not targeting schools. But these arrests keep happening.

Yeah, exactly. And that's been a source of frustration among people on the ground and even myself trying to describe what is going on. Ice is very aggressively pushing back against the narrative that they're not targeting schools. They're not arresting people in schools. But what we are seeing is that they are arresting people right outside of school, a couple blocks away or across the street And that is what's causing a lot of concern in the community.

And one recent arrest took place near an Encinitas elementary school. Can you describe the scene for us and tell us what happened?

In this case Ice agents with ATF agents pulled over a man two blocks away from an elementary school. And as Anita's. He was not dropping his kid off. He was on his way to work. But when he was arrested, he had enough time to call a friend who called his wife. His wife happened to be dropping their daughter off at school nearby.

Wife decided to go over to the scene and try to plead. Beg these officers not to take her husband away. And it was actually filmed by a bystander, though. We'll play a clip and you can hear the man's their young daughter crying out for their father as they try to say goodbye.

And what's been the community reaction to this arrest?

In every case, the school districts have put out a statement to parents and students trying to reassure them that schools remain a safe place. Elected officials two in Chula Vista and Encinitas quickly condemned the enforcement actions. 

And what's been ICE's response to that criticism?

Ice in their statements to us and other media outlets, they've been pretty unapologetic about their tactics. They criticize actually, the woman they criticized her for going to the scene and pleading them to stop, suggesting that she put her daughter in harm's way by showing up to law enforcement activity.

In the framing of the federal government, which they echo. They're keeping Americans safe. Which I should note. Statistics show that they are increasingly arresting people without criminal record. So that framing is coming under increased question.

And we've seen districts put policies in place prohibiting Ice from coming onto campuses without warrants. But these arrests that we've seen in the last few weeks have been happening near schools, not on school campuses. And earlier this week, you reported on some community groups organizing their own kind of neighborhood patrols. Can you tell me about those?

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. There's two groups, Union del barrio and the Association of Raza Educators. They spend a lot of the summer training teachers on how to spot Ice vehicles. What to do with. They find them. And the way these patrols work is they drive around near schools, and if they see a vehicle and if they confirm that it is Ice enforcement, they will document it. They will record it if they can, and share it on social media so people can avoid the area. In the last administration under President Joe Biden, he had this policy. It was unofficially called the Safe Places policy that said, schools, hospitals and churches cannot be used for immigration enforcement. Those were kind of like no go zones. One of the first things President Trump did in January was rescind that policy and allowed this type of enforcement to happen.Now, to be clear, Ice maintains they're not targeting schools. They're not going in schools. But based on what the president signed in January, they they can.

That was reporter Gustavo Solis speaking with Katie Anastas.

THE MOST VISIBLE PART OF THE SECOND DONALD TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN HAS BEEN ITS EFFECT ON IMMIGRANTS ALREADY IN THE UNITED STATES. IN THE SECOND PART OF HIS REPORT ON THE AFGHAN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITY, KPBS MILITARY AND VETERANS REPORTER ANDREW DYER TAKES A CLOSER LOOK AT THE POLICY’S IMPACT ON AFGHANS OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY AND WHY EXPERTS SAY MANY FORMER U.S. ALLIES ARE CAUGHT IN AN AUTHORITARIAN TRAP.

“They're just being abandoned.”

During the Biden Administration, Jessica Bradley Rushing worked as a deputy director in the  State Department’s office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, or CARE.

The office helped screen tens of thousands of former U.S. allies in Afghanistan and their families for eligibility for relocation to the United States.

All that ended on Donald Trump’s first day back in office. An executive order suspended refugee processing and travel.

I know people literally personally whose cases were right at the finish line on January 20th. Yeah. And now their families are stuck in Afghanistan, and they don't know when or if they'll ever be reunited.

Mohammed Rahimi was an attorney in Afghanistan who worked with U.S. forces. 10 years ago he immigrated to the U.S. and became a citizen.

Now, he works with the Afghan immigrant community.

So these people came to the country in a rush system. Some of them left their wives behind. Some of them left their husbands behind. Some of them left their kids behind.

In June the administration imposed a travel ban for a host of Asian and African countries, including Afghanistan.

With only a narrow exception for some Special Immigrant Visas, no one from Afghanistan can come to the United States.

So now, the majority of these Afghans who came to the United States but left part of their families in Afghanistan, they are hopeless. They are voiceless and they're unsupported. 

Trump said last month the U.S. would honor its promises to its Afghan allies.

We asked the White House about those approved to travel or caught in the middle of the process. A senior official says Special Immigrant Visa processing is ongoing but did not say what will be done for tens of thousands more Afghans who should be eligible to relocate.

Bradley Rushing says today there are about 270,000 Afghan allies still in Afghanistan  living in fear of the Taliban.

People who have at least, at least deserve a shot at having their case processed. Not all of those cases will get approved, right? Yeah, but they at least deserve a shot to go through the process. 

A State Department spokesperson says the policy changes are part of the department’s new “America First” foreign policy.

UC San Diego professor Barbara Walter says to understand why this is happening to Afghans, you have to understand what’s driving it.

Trump and the MAGA movement, is really underneath, in part, a white Christian nationalist movement. And when they say American First, one of the things that's included in that is that America remains dominated by white, Christian and men as well.

Walter is an expert in violent extremism. Her book “How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them,” explores threats to American democracy.

She says a political backlash to shifting demographics in the U.S. is a major threat to democracy. White people will be a minority of the population within 30 years, and Walter says, Trump knows it.

One of the things he absolutely has to do to stop that is, to prevent any nonwhite non Christian immigrants from coming to this country. And of course, that would include Afghanistan. 

She says the recent arrest of immigrants at routine court hearings, including that of a former Afghan interpreter in San Diego, are designed to strike fear in immigrant communities.

If an immigrant misses their court date, they immediately become deportable. But if they come to court, they risk arrest — even if they are in the country legally.

this whole thing of trying to criminalize these legal Afghan refugees trying to, you know, force others who otherwise would fulfill the terms to break them. I mean, that's a classic tactic of authoritarians. it's weaponizing government against its citizens, when in fact, in a democracy, that's it. Government should be doing the exact opposite.

Shawn VanDiver is co-founder of nonprofit #AfghanEvac. He says until January Operation Enduring Welcome was working but now the U.S. is failing its Afghan allies.

Enduring Welcome is, by miles and miles, the safest, most secure legal immigration program in our country's history. We built it that way on purpose.

Bradley Rushing left the State Department and now works with VanDiver at AfghanEvac.

These are people who risked their lives on a daily basis because they believed in the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, and we know who they are

The State Department officials in charge of Afghanistan policy and refugees declined requests for interviews.

Reuters reported last week the Trump Administration is considering admitting as many as 40,000 refugees with about 10,000 slots for Afghans and the rest reserved for white South Africans.

Andrew Dyer, KPBS News

A BIG WIN FOR THE DEVELOPERS OF A CONTROVERSIAL NORTH COUNTY HOUSING PROJECT.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSIONERS APPROVED HARMONY GROVE VILLAGE SOUTH TODAY (FRIDAY).

NORTH COUNTY REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN SAYS RESIDENTS ARE DISAPPOINTED WITH THE OUTCOME.

“yes … let the record shows that this item passes.”

There was some grumbling from the crowds after the commission unanimously approved the 453-home development.

Residents worry it will make it harder to evacuate during a wildfire. 

JP Theberge with the Elfin Forest Harmony Grove Town Council … says the last time a fire broke out in the area … it took more than an hour to evacuate.

“The experts that we've hired and that we've consulted with .. he said that it would take seven hours to get people down a one and a half mile road to safety. Seven hours!”

In a statement … Harmony Grove Village South managing partner David Kovach told KPBS that’s a baseless scare tactic that’s quote…

"been disproved time and again by fire, law enforcement and evacuation experts, County government, and the California appellate court.”

The proposed development includes single and multi-family homes.

The project now heads to the Board of Supervisors for approval. Alexander Nguyen, KPBS News.

THE OWNERS OF A DECAYING SAN DIEGO LANDMARK MUST LIST IT FOR SALE BY THIS SATURDAY.

REPORTER JACOB AERE SAYS THE NEARLY 100-YEAR-OLD CALIFORNIA THEATRE HAS BEEN SHUTTERED SINCE 1990 DUE TO STRUCTURAL SAFETY CONCERNS.

In its heyday the California Theatre was known as the "cathedral of the motion picture.” Today the building sits fenced off, with boarded up windows, covered in graffiti.

 A legal settlement was announced last week between the owners and the City Attorney’s Office. 

“What is sitting there now is not acceptable and we are not going to continue to let that sit.”

Heather Ferbert is San Diego city attorney. She says Caydon Property Group has until the end of 2026 to finalize the sale of the property.

 If that doesn't happen, they will have 90 days to obtain permits to demolish it.

“There may be ways to apply and mitigate historic resource requirements and still demolish the building. We've seen it happen in other instances as well, it can be done."

If the owners fail to comply, they could face up to $1 million in civil penalties. They did not immediately respond for comment. Jacob Aere, KPBS News.

That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Lawrence K. Jackson. Thanks for listening and subscribing by doing so you are supporting public media and I thank you for that. Have a great day!