By Suzanne Potter, California News Service

August 7, 2019 (Pasadena) - Thousands of Californians joined protests across the state to take a stand against white supremacy after the mass shooting in El Paso. 

Last weekend, a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart store in that border city, shortly after posting a racist, anti-Latino essay online. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of California Missions Foundation

July 25, 2019 (San Diego) -- Soldados de Cuera, Native Californians and a Franciscan father depicting Saint Junípero Serra, came together on a hill high above San Diego  on July 16, at the original site of the first Mission and Presidio type garrison in Alta California – to commemorate what many call the Founding of California, exactly 250 years ago Tuesday. View video of the historic reenactment. 

The City of San Diego uses the date July 16, 1769 as its official birthdate, and  along with the rest of California, it celebrated its 250^th birthday. Not only was Alta California’s first Mission and Presidio founded on this date, but also came the official recognition of the adjacent ocean port and the seeds of a united California under the Spanish, and later Mexican and U.S. flags.

By Miriam Raftery

July 5, 2019 (San Diego’s East County) –Called in by family members or others to search for immigrants who have gone missing after crossing the border, volunteer with the nonprofit Aguilas del Desierto (Eagles of the Desert) brave triple digit heat, rattlesnakes and other perils in a desperate effort to save lives. 

Hear our exclusive interview with Vicente Rodriguez and Henri Migala, originally aired on KNSJ radio earlier this year, at the audio link and scroll down for highlights.

According to the Border Patrol, 7,000 migrants are known to have died crossing the border since the wall began. The toll is likely much higher, since it doesn’t include those missing and never found.

By Chris Jennewein

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the home of a suspected undocumented immigrant. Courtesy ICE

June 18, 2019 (San Diego's East County) - President Trump tweeted Monday night that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers will begin deporting millions of undocumented immigrants next week.

The cryptic tweet at 9:20 p.m. California time did not elaborate further, and the White House did not provide clarification on Tuesday morning.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Chris Stone, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Network

May 21, 2019 (San Diego)--With detention facilities in Texas overflowing with some 8,000 migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., the Trump administration has begun shipping migrants to San Diego.  Three flights a week, each carrying 120 to 135 migrants, will be arriving in San Diego, where they will be processed by U.S. Customs and Immigration officials. The first plane load has arrived, with flights slated to continue indefinitely.  

East County News Service

May 10, 2019 (Escondido) - Música En La Plaza is a free community series that will take place from 7- 10 p.m. the last Friday of each month. The series will bring live music, dancing, tacos and tequila to the California Center for the Arts.

By Ken Stone

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

April 2, 2019 (San Diego) - Federal Judge Dana Sabraw, who ordered the government to reunite families separated at the border in the wake of the Trump administration “zero-tolerance” policies, will be honored with the Outstanding Jurist Award at the San Diego County Bar Association's annual luncheon in May.

Source:  Smart Border Coalition

March 7, 2019 (San Diego) - Today the binational San Diego-Tijuana Smart Border CoalitionTM opens access to its new, free public website, designed with entirely new content to help improve the user experience at the region’s legal border crossings: www.smartbordercoalition.com.

By Miriam Raftery

Illustration by Duke Windsor*

February 24, 2019 (San Diego) – Following revelations that the Trump administration failed to inform a federal judge that it had begun separating migrant children from their parents back in 2017, a federal judge in San Diego sent strong signals Thursday that he is prepared to expand his June 2018 reunification order to mandate reunions of more families who came to the U.S. seeking freedom from persecution.

Judge Dana Sabraw’s original order required unification only of children who were in government custody at the time, taken from migrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. But on Thursday, Judge Sabraw made clear, “No one but a few in the government knew that these separations had been going on nine or 10 months before, and that hundreds if not thousands were” being separated. He added, “The court didn’t know that and plaintiff didn’t know that, and I don’t think government counsel knew that.”

East County Supervisors Jacob and Desmond split on vote

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Courthouse building, courtesy of San Diego County

January 30, 2019 (San Diego) -- A temporary shelter for migrants will be set up in downtown San Diego at the old county courthouse slated for demolition – not at Camp Barrett, a former youth detention center in East County that was among several sites considered.

By a four to one vote, Supervisors voted to allow Jewish Family Services to lease the courthouse building for one dollar through December 31st.  The nonprofit group will reimburse the county for costs to open the migrant shelter and maintain the property near Balba Park on Sixth Avenue, and advised Supervisors that it has already secured funds.

By Chris Jennewein

Reprinted with permission from Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo:  Jewish Family Service CEO Michael Hopkins speaks to the press after the Board of Supervisors vote. Photo by Chris Jennewein

January 8, 2019 (San Diego) - The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to help a coalition of local nonprofit groups assist asylum seekers by providing temporary shelter on county property.

“Now it falls to us to say, as leaders, what can we do? We have the obligation to help,” said newly elected Supervisor Nathan Fletcher at his first board meeting.

By Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED

CALmatters is an independent public interest journalism venture covering California state politics and government.

Photo:  "I felt like I needed to speak up... and represent all the children whose parents have TPS and could be sent back," said Crista Ramos, 14. The Bay Area teen is suing the federal government. Photo for CALmatters by Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED

January 3, 2019 (San Diego) - High school freshman Crista Ramos used to be mostly preoccupied with school, friends, and soccer practice with her team, the Richmond Lionesses.

All that changed in January when the Trump administration announced plans to end the humanitarian protections that allow her mother and about 260,000 other immigrants from El Salvador to lawfully live and work in the United States.

By Miriam Raftery

December 20,2018 (San Diego) – Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen today announced that Central American migrants seeking asylum in the U.S. must wait in Mexico until their hearing dates, except for unaccompanied minors. But the action is likely to be challenged in court—and thus far, federal courts have consistently ruled against the Trump administration efforts to restrict the rights of asylum seekers.