ICE’s Detainee Locator System is causing concern for families and attorneys
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson … it’s TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27TH>>>> [ FAMILIES AND ATTORNEY’S EXPRESS CONCERN OVER A LACK OF INFORMATION AROUND ICE’S DETAINEE LOCATOR SYSTEM ]More on that next. But first... the headlines ….#######
HEADS UP FOR SAN DIEGANS LIVING IN OUR COASTAL AREAS!
A COASTAL FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT TODAY … THROUGH THIS UPCOMING THURSDAY AFTERNOON
FORECASTERS EXPECT SIGNIFICANT FLOODING COMING FROM UNUSUALLY HIGH TIDES
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS HIGH TIDES COULD REACH ANYWHERE FROM SEVEN TO EIGHT FEET OR HIGHER
FORECASTER SAY THIS WOULD PUT TIDES AT ALMOST TWO FEET ABOVE NORMAL
N-W-S URGES RESIDENTS TO TAKE THE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT LOW LYING OR FLOOD-PRONE PROPERTIES AS SOME SHORELINE EROSION IS EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE
FOR THOSE NAVIGATING OUR COASTAL ROADS DURING THIS TIME, FORECASTERS WARN MOTORISTS NOT TO DRIVE THROUGH WATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTHS OR DRIVE AROUND BARRICADES
AND I DON’T WANT TO BE THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS .. BUT N-W-S ALSO SAYS THE UNSIGHTLY WEATHER COULD PUT A DAMPER ON UPCOMING HALLOWEEN PLANS SO MAYBE CONSIDER A WARM OR WATERPROOF COSPLAY OR COSTUME!
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INMATES IN OUR COUNTY JAILS ARE DEALING WITH A TECHNICAL GLITCH EFFECTING THEIR COMMISSARY ACCOUNTS.
COMMISSARY IS AN ONLINE PORTAL ALLOWING FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO DEPOSIT MONEY TO THOSE SERVING TIME BEHIND BARS
THE COUNTY’S SHERIFFS OFFICE SHARED NEWS OF THE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY LAST THURSDAY
THE CAUSE OF THE GLITCH IS UNKNOWN.
OFFICIALS HOPE THE SYSTEM WILL BE BACK, UP AND RUNNING BY TOMORROW
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ARE THE PARKS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY THE BEST IN THE NATION?
THE COMMISSION FOR ACCREDITATION OF PARKS AND RECREATION AGENCIES CERTAINLY SEEMS TO THINK SO …
OUR COUNTY MET ALL 154 OF ITS NATIONAL STANDARDS
THIS INCLUDES THINGS LIKE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, HIGH-QUALITY SERVICE AND STRONG MANAGEMENT
THE COMMISSION ALSO SAYS OUR COUNTY’S PARKS AND RECS DEPARTMENT IS A MODEL AGENCY IN THINGS LIKE RECREATION PLANNING, RISK MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION
OUR COUNTY’S DEPARTMENT HANDLES 159 FACILITIES ACROSS MORE THAN 60-THOUSAND ACRES OF PARKLAND AND JUST SHY OF 400 MILES OF TRAILS
THE AWARD WAS PRESENTED TO THE COUNTY OVER THE WEEKEND AT THE NATIONAL RECREATION AND PARK ASSOCIATION’S ‘BEST OF THE BEST’ CEREMONY
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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IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT IS NO LONGER LISTING DETAINED INDIVIDUALS IN ITS DATABASE.
THAT’S ACCORDING TO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
THE A-P SAYS ICE WAS ORDERED NOT TO LIST PEOPLE WITH FINAL ORDERS OF REMOVAL IN ITS DETAINEE LOCATOR SYSTEM.
REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN SAYS THIS PRACTICE IS MAKING IT HARDER FOR FAMILIES TO FIND THEIR LOVED ONES.
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ACLUICE 1(an) TRT: 0:53 SOQ
According to the Associated Press, starting on September 15th, detainees with final removal orders stopped appearing in the government’s online locator system.
The system was first put in place by the Obama administration.
Frederick Carroll is the legal director at A-C-L-U of San Diego & Imperial Counties.
“As we understand it, the administration changed their policy and as reported through people who didn't want to say on record, but people who were apparently with the administration.”
He says the administration justifies this by saying that these individuals have already received due process and have final orders of removal, so there was nothing left to do.
But that’s not true, he says.
“Even an order of removal from an immigration judge is not the final period on the case.”
He says this practice makes it hard for people to file for habeas corpus relief because habeas lawsuits must be filed with the court where the person is located. AN/KPBS
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FOR DECADES, THE SMALL WATERFRONT TOWN OF IMPERIAL BEACH HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR ITS ACTIVIST SPIRIT. IT’S THE SOUTHERN MOST CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMUNITY AND THE NEXT MAYOR WILL INHERIT ONGOING ISSUES SURROUNDING THE TIJUANA RIVER SEWAGE CRISIS
KPBS REPORTER KORI SUZUKI RECENTLY ATTENDED AN ELECTION FORUM TO GET A SENSE WHERE THE MAYORAL CANDIDATES STAND COMPARED TO THEIR PREDECESORS.
IBMAYOR (4:57) SOQ
____________________
SOT: Forum AMBI
For the first half of the evening, the election forum is pretty light-hearted.
It’s mid-September. The forum is for the City Council races in Imperial Beach. The moderator starts out with small-town issues. She asks the candidates what they think about a new dog beach… and about their action plans for addressing the summer bug infestation.
SOT: 20260917_ibdebate_candidate forum pt 2 / 23:15
CG: Moderator, League of Women Voters (Donna Bartlett-May)
Next question, what would be the best practices that you would utilize to combat the ongoing mosquito problem? [laughing, applause]
But as the night goes on, the discussion turns to the public health crisis facing Imperial Beach. The sewage flowing across the border from Tijuana, polluting the water, the beaches and the air.
SOT: 20260917_ibdebate_candidate forum pt 2 / 58:01
CG: Karl Bradley, Mayoral Candidate
Our previous two mayors were warriors on the issue of transboundary pollution. They stood on the rooftops and made this a national issue.
That’s Karl Bradley. He’s a retired school district administrator running for mayor. It’s a little hard to hear… but Bradley says he doesn’t think the city’s current mayor is taking the right approach.
VIDEO: TK
AUDIO: 20260908_ibmayor_karl bradley / 33:09
The mayor has stated that he likes to work behind the scenes, but what I've seen is inaction. So, I would do proactive things to inform my community to pressure our representation to fund these projects
Mitch McKay is the city’s current mayor. He sees things differently. McKay says it’s time for a more diplomatic strategy.
SOT: 20260915_ibtalk_mitch mckay / 28:00
CG: Mitch McKay, Imperial Beach Mayor
If you come in you know guns ablaze in and pitchforks torches and you know, you know, human nature just doesn't work that way.
This year’s mayoral election is a big one in Imperial Beach. McKay, an independent, is running against two Democratic challengers… Bradley, the former-administrator, and fellow City Councilmember Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez.
With the November election just around the corner, the race has become partly about the city’s activist roots … and whether it’s time to try something different.
SOT: 20261019_ibmayor_serge dedina / 7:45
CG: Serge Dedina, former Imperial Beach Mayor
There's a long tradition here of each that started with Mayor Brian Bilbray, who was a mayor back when I was a kid in the 70s
Serge Dedina is a former mayor of Imperial Beach. And the executive director of an ocean conservation group, Wildcoast. He says there’s a deep legacy of environmental activism here — most recently around the sewage crisis.
Dedina says the mayor can play a really important role. They may not have jurisdiction over national borders or federal waterways. What they can do is speak to its effect on peoples’ lives… to beach closures, emergency room visits and toxic fumes.
SOT: 20261019_ibmayor_serge dedina / 20:32
Anybody can assume as much power as they want. I assume that I was essentially the ambassador of Imperial Beach to Mexico. And I met with the president of Mexico along with [...] then Mayor Kevin Faulkner. And I met with the governor of Baja California. I met with um our president or met went to the White House. Met with our governors. So, there's no limit to what a small town, feisty, beach town mayor can do.
After Dedina, the next mayor was Paloma Aguirre. She also believes in shouting from the rooftops.
Aguirre led a delegation of local mayors to Washington D.C. and brought lawmakers to tour the Tijuana River Valley. Last year, she won a race for county supervisor… and has made the issue a regional priority.
McKay was appointed to serve the rest of her term. And he argues that he’s been just as persistent.
He’s held his own private meetings with federal and state officials… and says he’d keep pressing for action behind the scenes.
SOT: 20260915_ibtalk_mitch mckay / 27:02
I've been criticized locally for not being out here in the park with a bullhorn and you know screaming and yelling and I said you know that's just I I'm more pragmatic that's not my style.
Leyba-Gonzalez is the third candidate in the race. He’s also been more reserved. At the September forum, he said he’d focus on supporting the county’s efforts.
SOT: 20260917_ibdebate_candidate forum pt 2 / 46:58
CG: Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez, Imperial Beach City Councilmember
I support the the tax measure and I feel that we need to gravitate towards solutions [...] Building infrastructure on our end to treat this sewage is the route to go.
So far, Leyba-Gonzalez hasn’t outlined many specific action plans of his own.
Bradley is pitching himself as someone who would bring that activist spirit back to city hall.
He says he would ask the city attorney to file official records requests with the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission. And demand to sit in on construction meetings in the U.S. and Tijuana.
VIDEO: TK
AUDIO: 20260908_ibmayor_karl bradley / 30:18
My job is to publicize this, make sure it continues to be a national issue, make sure that people in Washington D.C., people in Sacramento, [...] to keep keep their feet to the fire on this issue.
Back at that September candidate forum, Supervisor Aguirre is there to listen. Afterwards, she says she wants to see a mayor who tackles the crisis head-on… like investing in small businesses.
SOT: 20260917_ibdebate_paloma aguirre.MOV / 00:01:21
CG: Paloma Aguirre, Former-Imperial Beach Mayor
As an IB resident. I want my next mayor to be vocal, aggressive, pursuing solutions, because this is not just an existential crisis to this town, but to the entire county.
Still, as much as they disagree, Aguirre says she did see some important similarities too.
No matter who voters choose, she says, voters will get someone who loves IB… and wants the best for their little beach town.
Kori Suzuki, KPBS News
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ELECTION DAY IS JUST OVER A WEEK AWAY. SO K-P-B-S IS REVISITING SOME OF OUR BALLOT BREAKDOWN CONVERSATIONS TO HELP VOTERS MAKE SENSE OF WHAT’S ON THE BALLOT.
STARTING WITH MIDDAY EDITION HOST JADE HINDMON’S CONVERSATION WITH PUBLIC MATTERS REPORTER KEVIN TREVELLYAN ON MEASURE A.
MEASURES (midday) TRT 3:55 last words “problem directly”
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Currently, supervisors serve two four-year terms and this would extend that to three four-year terms. So, uh a sizable difference there. Um, it would also do a couple different charter reforms that are kind of framed as ethics and accountability measures.
[32:36]
Um, for example, it would create a new independent ethics commission and that would apply, you know, not only to supervisors but other county-elected officials like uh the sheriff or the attorney general. Um it would create a new budget analyst position that's also being kind of pitched as independent and that would, you know, uh that person would cover kind of the fiscal impacts of different policies that the board might consider like the trade-offs of, you know, one policy versus another. Mhm.
[33:03]
And then also a program auditor to kind of see how those programs are doing once they're uh operationalized. Um Yeah other factors that would require more uh public disclosure of county spending and then it would also also give the supervisors more power to hire and fire like county leadership. Think of departments like emergency response or public health, the folks who are in charge of those departments. So the upshot is basically that it would give the supervisors more power. Okay.
Okay, so walk me through it here. The argument for even increasing term limits for county supervisors, what do supporters say? Basically what they're saying is that county government has grown really dramatically over the last couple decades. You know the they're spending $8.6 billion dollars per year in the annual budget. They're serving 3.3 million residents.
[36:07]
And so they're pitching this as a way to modernize county government and really make it more responsive to taxpayers, more responsive to the people people who, you know, are paying their salaries more accountable, see how money's being sent spent, see how programs are working. That was my conversation with Kevin Trevellan, KPBS's public matters reporter. Now, we're turning to San Diego County Measure B. KPBS Roundtable host and producer Andrew Bracken spoke with KPBS environment reporter Tammy Murga to learn more about it. You know, walk us through how Measure B would work. Where would this funding go exactly?
[41:21]
Yes, so it's a citizen-led proposal. And if voters approve it, the uh The county would impose a half-cent sales tax increase and that really means that the county sales tax would jump from 7.75% to 8.25%. And it would really only need a majority to pass.
[41:41]
The funds would that would be generated would go toward health care, child care, food security, public safety issues and local solutions to the ongoing Tijuana River sewage crisis. And any sense of like how that funding would actually break down? Yeah, so it's estimated that the the the sales tax would generate about up to $450 million a year and 60% of that would go toward health care, child care, food security and other services for families.
[42:11]
22.5% would go toward fixes for the sewage crisis and about 17.5% for public safety like wildfire prevention and other emergency responses. What um what types of solutions could this measure support for the the sewage crisis?
[43:36]
The language in the filing document isn't super specific. It's pretty broad actually. actually. Um, it mentions that most of the 22.5% or about 360 million would go toward uh infrastructure and and engineering projects to stop the sewage flows and the rest toward uh addressing emergency health impacts. So that's, you know, pretty general.
[43:57]
But, you know, over time we've really seen that uh the most direct ways that a lot of people are talking about now would be used um a supporter say to fund um a county run treatment plant. And so supporters say that, you know, they're tired of waiting for Mexico and the federal government to end the crisis and that these funds would give the county control over the problem directly.
TAG: THAT WAS REPORTER TAMMY MURGA WITH HOST ANDREW BRACKEN. YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TOP MEASURES ON YOUR BALLOT BY VISITING OUR K-P-B-S’S VOTER HUB AT K-P-B-S DOT ORG SLASH VOTER HUB.
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ACTIVISTS IN NATIONAL CITY AND SOUTHEAST SAN DIEGO WON A VICTORY IN THE STATE BUDGET THIS YEAR.
METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN SAYS THEY'RE FIGHTING TO TURN A FREEWAY EXIT INTO A NEIGHBORHOOD.
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RECONNECT 1 (ab) 1:08 soq
AB: I’m standing on a big patch of land next to Interstate 805 with Janice Luna Reynoso.
JLR: We are at Maat Matayum, where the people come together on the land, translated from Kumeyaay.
AB: Towering above us are the 43rd Street on and off ramps. Two and a half years ago, Caltrans announced these 57 acres were selected for a new grant program. It's aimed at reconnecting communities that were divided by freeways. Luna Reynoso's nonprofit, Mundo Gardens, has been painting murals here and hosting workshops to reimagine the space with affordable housing and parkland.
JLR: We have people honking when we're standing here, and when we're painting and we're doing events. Because they're used to seeing this area blighted. So there's a little bit of hope that goes a long way.
AB: The state originally pledged $50 million to its statewide Reconnecting Communities program. But that funding was never included in the state budget… until this year. The state gave $4.5 million to support community outreach, planning and technical studies in San Diego. Actually redeveloping the 43rd Street ramps is still many years away. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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A CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY SUPPORTED MIDWAY RISING. IT’S A PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT WHICH WOULD BRING HOUSING, A NEW ARENA AND MORE AT THE SPORTS ARENA SITE. BUT THEY ADDED A PROVISION THAT COULD TANGLE UP THE 4-YEAR OLD NEGOTIATIONS.
OUR PARTNER SCOTT LEWIS AT VOICE OF SAN DIEGO, EXPLAINS IN THIS WEEK’S “WHY IT MATTERS” SEGMENT.
NETNEW (vosd) TRT (1:10) SOQ "why it matters"
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Midway Rising won the bid to redevelop the city’s 50 acres of land at Sports Arena because it promised the most affordable housing.
Now, as the final deal they negotiated with the city goes to the City Council, questions have come up about that housing.
City staff revealed to me they were concerned the developers could use Midway as a so-called receiver site for affordable housing.
That means that if a developer doing a project somewhere else in the city is already required to build affordable housing, they could just pay Midway Rising to build it there.
At the City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee last week, Councilmember Stephen Whitburn echoed those concerns.
—(((SOT)))---
I don’t want …
… from around the city
The Committee unanimously supported Midway Rising. But added an amendment: Developers of other projects around the city could not just pay Midway Rising to build their affordable housing.
Neither the Midway Rising team nor Mayor Todd Gloria commented on that. It does not seem like they’re pleased. But could it threaten the deal?
We’ll see. For Voice of San Diego I’m Scott Lewis and that’s why it matters.
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WARMER TEMPERATURES HELPED MOSQUITOES GET AN EARLIER START IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY THIS YEAR. OFFICIALS EXPECT ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE INTO NOVEMBER IF THE WEATHER STAYS WARM.
COUNTY CREWS ARE TREATING MOSQUITO BREEDING SITES AND SPRAYING ADULT MOSQUITOES IN AREAS WITH HIGH WEST NILE VIRUS ACTIVITY. ALLISON BRAY IS WITH COUNTY VECTOR CONTROL.
MOSQUITOES 2A :09
So our hope is we interrupt that cycle, our goal would be to see less West Nile virus activity, though that's never guaranteed.
BRAY SAYS OFFICIALS LOOK FOR A DROP IN MOSQUITO TRAP COUNTS AFTER TREATMENT.
THE NEXT AERIAL TREATMENT IS SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY
<<<SHOW CLOSE>>>
That’s it for today’s pod. The podcast today was edited by Laura Castañeda and is hosted and produced by myself, 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.
