Tag Archives: California

Guardian: ‘Abducted by Ice’: the haunting missing-person posters plastered across LA

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The handmade posters of immigrants have become a symbol of quiet resistance. Their creators reveal the story behind the project

“Missing son.” “Missing father.” “Missing grandmother.”

The words are written in bright red letters at the top of posters hanging on lampposts and storefronts around Los Angeles. At first glance, they appear to be from worried relatives seeking help from neighbors.

But a closer look reveals that the missing people are immigrants to the US who have been disappeared by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice). Some of the faces are familiar to anyone who has been following the news – that missing father, for instance, is Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in March without a hearing, in what the Trump administration admitted was an error. “Abducted by Ice,” the poster reads, under a picture of Ábrego García with his small son. “Did not receive constitutional protections. Currently being held in detention.”

The missing grandmother is Gladis Yolanda Chávez Pineda, a Chicago woman who was taken by Ice when she showed up for a check-in with immigration officials this month. She had arrived in the US seeking a better life for her daughter and was in the midst of applying for asylum. “Lived in the US for 10 years,” the poster states. “No criminal history.”

The missing son is Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist who fled persecution in Venezuela. On arrival in the US, he was detained, with US authorities claiming his tattoos indicated gang membership. His family and friends say that’s ridiculous. He was among hundreds of people deported to the El Salvador mega-prison known as Cecot in March. “Currently being held in a concentration camp,” the poster says.

The posters are just a few examples of a campaign of quiet resistance on the streets of Los Angeles. On Monday, a walk down Sunset Boulevard in the historic Silver Lake neighborhood meant encountering an array of flyers, artwork and spray-painted messages of support for disappeared immigrants and fury at the administration.

The “missing” posters, which have also appeared in other neighborhoods, were particularly effective. Duct-taped to telephone polls amid ads for comedy shows, guitar lessons and yard sales, they reminded passersby of the individual lives derailed by Trump’s immigration crackdown – instead of names in the news, these were families and friends who might have lived just down the road.

Humanizing people’s stories was precisely the goal, said the creators behind the posters.

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‘Abducted by Ice’: the haunting missing-person posters plastered across LA
The handmade posters of immigrants have become a symbol of quiet resistance. Their creators reveal the story behind the project

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/18/los-angeles-missing-posters-ice

The Hill: GOP senator criticizes Padilla being wrestled to floor

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North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R) on Wednesday criticized the forceful removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference last week, while also critiquing his “inappropriate” behavior.

 Tillis said the incident, which followed a handful of escalations with Democratic lawmakers, was “disgusting” during a speech on the floor.

“There were clearly people in that building that knew he was a U.S. senator. So the minute he was removed from that situation in that briefing room, then they should have treated him with respect and allowed him to disperse,” Tillis said Wednesday.

“It was disgusting to me to see somebody wrestle to the floor, anybody, but particularly a U.S. senator that’s in a federal building,” he added.

GOP senator criticizes Padilla being wrestled to floor

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5357540-thom-tillis-alex-padilla-press-conference

Raw Story: ‘Is he confused?’ Gavin Newsom schools Trump on what his troops actually do

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President Donald Trump complained Wednesday that California can’t be trusted with forest fire management — and then Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) reminded him that the people in charge of that were called away on Trump’s orders.

Trump made the comments in response to questions about whether the standoff between himself and Newsom over mass deportations could affect federal wildfire relief for the state.

“Sure, maybe,” said Trump. “The man’s incompetent. You clean the floor of your forest, and you won’t have any forest fires.”

“Clean the floor of the forest”? LOL! Should he wash the forest windows, too?

The president has made similar comments many times, at one point during his first term drawing widespread mockery and a rebuke from the Finnish government for claiming California needs to “rake” its forests to stop fires, like they supposedly do in Finland.

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“You pulled National Guard from my command — who were literally doing this work — to stand around in front of a building in LA,” wrote Newsom. “Does the President of the United States not understand what his troops do? Is he confused again? Deeply disturbing.”

‘Is he confused?’ Gavin Newsom schools Trump on what his troops actually do

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-newsom-2672396890

LA Times: Will employers be targeted for hiring undocumented workers?

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Federal authorities have arrested hundreds of potentially undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles this month, targeting day laborers at a Home Depot, factory workers at a downtown apparel company and cleaners at car washes across the city.

But the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents aren’t going after the business owners who may have illegally hired these workers.

President Trump’s crackdown on immigration has spared small and large U.S. employers that rely on thousands of undocumented employees, even though hiring undocumented workers can be a criminal offense.

“There are some instances of criminal prosecutions of people for knowingly hiring unauthorized workers, but it is extremely rare,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law. “There’s not an appetite for that kind of enforcement.”

Instead, the recent raids have affected rank and file workers, most of whom were detained suddenly and face deportation.

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A federal program called E-Verify makes it easy for employers to validate the status of potential hires and ensure they aren’t unknowingly employing someone without proper authorization. But the program is widely underused, especially in California, where only about 16% of employers are enrolled.

Participation in the program is voluntary for everyone except federal contractors and other businesses that receive money from the government, Reisz said. The program is largely ignored because many companies are dependent on undocumented laborers and don’t want to be forced to reject their services.

Employers told The Times last year that requiring the use of E-Verify would devastate their businesses, unless other overhauls to immigration policy allowed them access to more workers.

Lots more in the article, click one of these links to read it:

Will employers be targeted for hiring undocumented workers?
Immigration raids in Los Angeles have affected rank and file employees, not the business owners who hired them. Here’s what experts say about who ICE targets and why.

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-06-18/immigration-raids-employer-employee

Newsweek: Support for ICE flips

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Public opinion on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has undergone a dramatic shift, as new polling has revealed a reversal in support for the agency.

The polling comes after President Donald Trump sent 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to reported violence against law enforcement, specifically ICE agents carrying out deportation raids in the city amid protests of White House immigration policies.

Trump faced criticism over the decision to send in troops, as nationwide protests taking place over the weekend were attended by an estimated 4 to 6 million people, and polls show that public opinion about ICE may be shifting.

According to the latest YouGov/Economist poll, conducted between June 13 and June 16 among 1,512 adults, ICE’s net favorability rating currently stands at a net -5 points, with 42 percent holding a favorable opinion, and 47 percent holding an unfavorable opinion.

That is down from a week ago, when a survey by the same pollsters put ICE’s net favorability at +2 points, with 45 percent holding a favorable opinion, and 43 percent holding an unfavorable opinion.

Both polls had a margin of error of between plus or minus 3.3 and 3.5 percentage points.

Support for ICE flips
President Donald Trump’s recent approval ratings on immigration issues have also dropped.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-donald-trump-approval-rating-polls-immigration-2087184

2paragraphs: Gavin Newsom Calls Trump “A Truly Disturbed Person” After “Hatred” Comment

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At the White House, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter: “Will your recent dust-ups with Governor Newsom impact additional wildfire relief out there? They’ve requested 40 billion.”

The President of the United States replied, “Yeah, maybe,” and said of California Governor Gavin Newsom, “The man’s incompetent. He shouldn’t have fires like that.”

This buffoon is our president?

Gavin Newsom Calls Trump “A Truly Disturbed Person” After “Hatred” Comment
At the White House, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter: “Will your recent dust-ups with Governor Newsom impact additional wildfire relief out there? They’ve requested 40 billion.”
Gavin Newsom Calls Trump “A Truly Disturbed Person” After “Hatred” Comment

Associated Press: California senators demand Trump immigration officials stop using Medicaid data

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California’s two U.S. senators demanded on Wednesday that the Trump administration stop using personal data of millions of Medicaid enrollees — including their immigration status — as part of its sweeping deportation campaign.

In a letter to top administration officials, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla expressed alarm over an Associated Press report last week that detailed how deportation officials had obtained the sensitive data over the objections of career health officials. They wrote that health officials needed to stop sharing the information and that the Department of Homeland Security should “destroy any and all such data” it had obtained.

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The AP reported that CMS transferred the data last week to DHS officials. Internal CMS records obtained by the AP showed the Medicaid agency fought the request, arguing that sharing the data would violate rules and federal law. Trump appointees overruled them, giving CMS a 54-minute deadline to share the information with DHS, according to emails obtained by AP.

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“We are deeply troubled that this administration intends to use individuals’ private health information for the unrelated purpose of possible enforcement actions targeting lawful noncitizens and mixed status families,” the senators wrote.

California senators demand Trump immigration officials stop using Medicaid data
The Trump administration’s decision to provide deportation officials with personal data — including the immigration status — on millions of Medicaid enrollees prompted two California U.S. senators on Wednesday to demand that the data sharing “cease” and for Homeland Security officials to “destroy” t

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-medicaid-trump-deportation-padilla-schiff-california-a7a701026de1f954cfbdf545a7d91cb8

Latin Times: ‘It’s Going Overboard. It’s Too Much’: Some California Republicans Are Reacting To Trump’s Immigration Tactics

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Dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County told the Washington Post that even though they wanted the president to enforce immigration laws, it has gone “too far.”

Following days of protests in Los Angeles over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids, dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County are saying they wanted President Donald Trump to enforce immigration law, but that now it has gone too far.

The Washington Post recently spoke with four dozen people in the Antelope Valley, a closely divided region in the state about an hour north of Los Angeles, about their views on the administration’s handling of immigration. Some of them said they felt deceived over ICE seemingly targeting all migrants, not just criminals, as Trump promised on the campaign trail.

“It’s going overboard. It’s too much,” said Jesus Martinez, a 36-year-old aerospace worker, who initially supported the president’s decision to send the military to shut down immigration protests in his home state. A former Democrat, Martinez said he supported Trump in 2020 and sat out the 2024 election.

“They said only criminals, and now they’re saying, ‘well, they did come in illegally so they are criminals,'” he added. “Hispanics or Latinos that voted for Trump, they didn’t think he was going to go after kids.”

Others further explained that while they supported increased deportations for migrants with criminal records, they opposed the scope of mass deportation and ICE raids, and to a lesser extent, sending troops to crack down on protesters.

‘It’s Going Overboard. It’s Too Much’: Some California Republicans Are Reacting To Trump’s Immigration Tactics
Dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County told the Washington Post that even though they wanted the president to enforce immigration laws, it has gone “too far.”

https://www.latintimes.com/its-going-overboard-its-too-much-some-california-republicans-are-reacting-trumps-585245

Newsweek: ICE detains green card-holder returning from visit to son in US Air Force

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Victor Avila, a 66-year-old green card holder who has lived in the United States since he was a teenager, was detained in May by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at San Francisco International Airport after returning from a trip to visit his son, a U.S. Air Force servicemember stationed in Japan, according to local reports and a GoFundMe page.

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Avila was detained May 7 at San Francisco International Airport after returning from Japan. The 66-year-old has been a legal permanent resident since 1967, when he immigrated to the United States from Mexico. He was returning from the trip with his wife, who had not been detained.

According to a GoFundMe page, his wife, four children and six grandchildren are all U.S. citizens, including his son, who serves in the U.S. Air Force.

A longtime resident of San Diego, Avila has worked as a legal assistant at the workers’ compensation law firm Kiwan & Chambers APC for over a decade.

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Avila’s daughter, Carina Mejia, told local outlet ABC 10 News that her father was pulled over in 2009 and arrested for a DUI and drug possession misdemeanor. He served his time and paid the fines for the misdemeanors. She said he has been able to renew his green card two times since that arrest.

ICE detains green card-holder returning from visit to son in US Air Force
Victor Avila, a green card holder for more than 50 years, was arrested after returning from a visit to his son, a U.S. Air Force servicemember stationed in Japan.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detains-green-card-holder-returning-visit-son-us-air-force-2087397

News Nation: LA’s undocumented immigrants try to avoid ICE

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  • ICE has been targeting stores where day laborers congregate
  • The raids in LA sparked protests in the city
  • Workers have stayed home out of fear of being detained

Raiding stores like Home Depot has become a common strategy for ICE, with stores across Southern California reporting raids.

One Cuban immigrant who asked to remain anonymous told NewsNation he’s seen men get snatched up in parking lots.

“[It’s like] you’re catching animals, it’s like they’re not considering these people to be human because you take their freedom and they have committed no crime,” he said. “Some of them don’t even hear their Fifth Amendment right, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can be used against you in law.”

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Immigrants who spoke to NewsNation said they are not criminals, they’re just honest people looking for work, trying to feed their families and support themselves.

LA’s undocumented immigrants try to avoid ICE

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/la-immigrants-avoid-ice