East County News Service

February 20, 2025 (San Diego’s East County) -- Activists from Fallbrook, Escondido, Julian, and Ramona will gather at Congressman Darrell Issa’s office on February 21, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. to demand an in-person town hall meeting. The protest will take place at 210 W. Crest Street, Escondido, California. 

The rally, organized by Indivisible North County San Diego, aims to address critical issues facing the community, including the urgent need for transparency and accountability from elected officials. Issa, San Diego County's only Republican Congressional member, has been a staunch supporters of President Donald Trump to date.

Activists will call on Congressman Issa to engage directly with his constituents and to stand firm against the illegal dismantling of federal agencies orchestrated by Elon Musk.  

“Congressman Issa has a responsibility to represent the voices of his constituents, and that includes holding town hall meetings where we can express our concerns,” said Pam Albergo, a spokesperson for Indivisible North County San Diego. “We are here to demand that he stands up against the reckless actions that undermine our government and its agencies.”

East County News Service

February 20, 2025 (New York) – The Electronic Frontier Foundation and a coalition of privacy defenders filed a lawsuit in New York on February 11 asking a federal court to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of millions of Americans that is stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and to delete any data that has been collected or removed thus far. The lawsuit also names OPM, and asks the court to block OPM from further sharing data with DOGE.

View video of this incident, via Lemon Grove Media on Facebook

By Miriam Raftery

February 19, 2025 (Lemon Grove) – During last night’s Lemon Grove City Council meeting, former Councilmember Liana LeBaron urged members to agendize a discussion on 70 tiny homes for the homeless slated to be built on Troy Street. County Supervisors approved building the project in Lemon Grove before holding any public discussion, angering many residents.

Issue prompts drive to recall Councilman Phil Ortiz

By Alex Schorr and Miriam Raftery

View video

Photo, left:  Resolution opponents hold up sign denouncing hate and likening ICE roundups to “Gestapo” tactics

February 14, 2025 (El Cajon) – El Cajon’s City Council on Tuesday passed a controversial resolution allowing the city’s police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and hand over any undocumented who has been convicted of a violent crime, as well as immigrants merely accused of a crime.  The measure was introduced by Mayor Bill Wells, with backing of Councilmember Phil Ortiz and amendments by Councilman Steve Goble.

The meeting was contentious, sparked by numerous emotional outbursts, threats to recall Councilmember Ortiz for supporting the resolution, and playing of phone threats made against Councilmembers who voted against the measure previously.

Just two weeks ago, the Council rejected a similar proposal by a 3-2 vote, but reversed that action on Wednesday after Councilmember Goble switched sides.

East County News Service

Photo: Palisades Fire, courtesy of Lakeside Fire Dept. which helped battle the catastrophic wildfire in Los Angeles County in January

February 11, 2025 (Washington D.C.) -- As Southern California recovers from devastating wildfires, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, has introduced a package of three bipartisan bills to bolster fire resilience and proactive mitigation efforts.

The package includes the Wildfire Emergency Act, to support forest restoration, wildfire mitigation, and energy resilience; the Fire-Safe Electrical Corridors Act, to authorize the removal of trees or other vegetation within existing electrical utility corridors; and the Disaster Mitigation and Tax Parity Act, to further incentivize homeowners to proactively protect their homes from disasters.

Major funding for schools nationwide is at stake

By G.A. McNeeley

February 10, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – The Trump administration has begun drafting an executive order that would begin the process of eliminating the Department of Education, CNN reports. This order would instruct the Secretary of Education to create a plan to diminish the department through executive action. Since Congressional approval is required to eliminate any agency created by Congressional action, Trump also plans to push Congress to pass legislation that would abolish the department.

In an Oval Office press briefing, Trump stated, “I believe strongly in school choice, but in addition to that, I want the states to run schools.” He added that he wants his Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon to “put herself out of a job.”

East County News Service

February 6, 2025 (Sacramento, CA) --  Today, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) introduced Senate Bill 286, which will close what he calls a “dangerous loophole” in California’s Elderly Parole program that allows violent sex offenders and murderers as young as age 50 to be released early. Click here to read the bill’s fact sheet.

“Releasing violent rapists under the so-called ‘elderly parole’ is not only an insult to victims but a grave danger to Californians,” Jones states in a press release.. “Survivors of violent sex crimes and the families of murder victims should never have to live in fear that their attacker could walk free long before serving their full sentence. But under current law, the system is rigged in favor of criminals, forcing the Board of Parole Hearings to justify why these offenders shouldn’t be released. That’s completely backward. The law should protect law-abiding Californians, not violent criminals.”

Update: An earlier version of this article contained information added by our editor stating that the vote violated California's Brown Act. The City has disputed this and indicated that a public vote was held.  Our earlier report was based on a text from a Councilmember indicating that the vote was "anonymous" after ECM's editor asked whether the vote was unanimous. An anonymous vote during a public meeting would be illegal. Please see correction note below this article for  full details.

By Jessica Brodkin Webb

Miriam Raftery contributed to this report.

February 5, 2025 (Lemon Grove) –Lemon Grove’s City Council last night appointed Yadira Altamirano to fill the seat left vacant after Allyson Snow was elected as Mayor in 2024. She was previously appointed to finish City Council Member Matt Mendoza’s term from late 2019 through December 2020.

By Michael Howard

February 3, 2025 (La Mesa, CA) - The La Mesa City Council, during its Tuesday January 28, 2025 meeting, voted unanimously to increase city fees by 24.7%.

"Some fee schedules are increasing higher than normal,” Assistant to the City Manager Lyn Dedmon admitted to the Council members when the increases were presented for their vote.

City “user fees,” which are the fees charged to the users of certain city provided services, are not meant to be a source of revenue, per the city’s policy.  Rather, the purpose of the fees are to recover the costs of providing the services that the city provides. 

City services range from building permits to city-owned community pool swim passes, along with countless other engineering, planning, public works, and community services in between.

According to a report commissioned by the city to study the fee schedule, La Mesa only recovered  59% of the cost it takes to provide its services in fiscal year 2023-2024. Total costs were $7,626,128, but the city collected only $4,469.581.

By Miriam Raftery

View video of full Council hearing (Immigration agenda item begins at 37 minutes.)

January 29, 2025 – Emotions ran high during yesterday’s El Cajon City Council meeting, where a packed chamber heard testimony from 88 members of the public over a proposed over immigration enforcement resolution, followed by a heated Council debate that divided the all-Republican members during a hearing that ran over five hours.

The measure introduced by Mayor Wells, a revision from a version heard two weeks ago, aims to authorize El Cajon police to comply with federal immigration enforcement officials within the limits of state law and the Constitution for the purpose of removing violent criminals.

But the action comes on the same day that the White House Press Secretary indicated that the Trump administration views all undocumented immigrants as “criminals” even though crossing the border itself is a misdemeanor on the first offense, not a felony or violent crime.

Sweeps by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have begun nationwide, picking up many immigrants with no criminal record—including an El Cajon man with no criminal record who was awaiting his asylum hearing when arrested  this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at his home in front of his five-year-old daughter, Councilman Michelle Metschel revealed in an impassioned speech.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: Opponents of resolution rallied Monday in El Cajon; CBS 8 video screenshot

Read the revised resolution on pages 57-59 from City Council agenda attachments

January 28, 2025 (El Cajon) – A crowd of about 75people opposed to mass deportations held a rally outside El Cajon’s City Hall yesterday to speak out against Mayor Bill Wells’ proposed resolution for the city to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The City Council will hold a hearing today at 3 p.m. on the controversial measure.

Changes have been made since the last meeting, adding praise for the city’s “vibrant and diverse immigrant communities” but also declaring the city’s intent to “comply with federal immigration law to the legal extent permissible under SB 54 and other applicable laws to remove violent criminals from our community.” SB 54 is a state law which prohibits cities from turning anyone over to federal immigration authorities unless they have been convicted in court of committed certain serious felony crimes, such as murder or rape. 

But President Donald Trump has declared a border emergency and  ordered immigration officials to conduct broad sweeps in immigrant communities. In recent days, people including citizens have been stopped,  asked for documents to prove citizenship, and many have been detained. Trump has stated his goal is to deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.—going far beyond the small percentage convicted of felonies.

By Jessica Brodkin Webb

January 27, 2025 (Lemon Grove) -- Lemon Grove Mayor Alysson Snow called the Jan. 21 City Council meeting “very light,” yet there was time enough for staunch resident pushback against a historically controversial tiny homes project which was not on the agenda. 

Impact has left refugee aid groups locally and nationally in shock

By Miriam Raftery

Photo via Pentagon:  Troops evacuating Afghans after fall of Kabul

January 26, 2025 (San Diego) – Following an executive order issued by Donald Trump to suspend refugee resettlement,  the Trump administration has cancelled all flights for over 10,000 refugees already approved to resettle in the United States. According to Associated Press. This includes over 1,660 Afghans who helped America’s military as well as relatives of active-duty U.S. military personnel, Reuters reports.

The impacts hit hard in San Diego County, which in recent years has resettled more refugees from around the world than any other county in the U.S. including refugees from Africa, Asia, war-torn Middle-Eastern countries such as Iraq and Syria, Ukraine and other European nations, Haitian refugees fleeing natural disasters, and many more.

“This executive order is a step backwards for America,” the International Rescue Committee states on its website, urging the Trump administration to reverse the order. 

The Trump administration has taken down entirely the State Department's page on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

“A society is always eager to cover misdeeds with a cloak of forgetfulness, but no society can fully repress an ugly past when the ravages persist to the public. America owes a debt of justice which it has only begun to pay.” – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a press conference in 1964; public domain image via Wikipedia

January 22, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – While the nation honored slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, President Donald Trump ironically issued sweeping executive orders to revoke not only Biden-era diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) guidelines for all federal agencies, but also roll back actions to protect minorities dating back to the 1960s, such as affirmative action, USA Today reports.

The actions drew swift condemnation from Bernice King, MLK’s daughter.  She posted on social media, “This is what my father described in his book, ‘Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?’, as #WhiteBacklash. That’s when any work and progress in the areas of racial justice and equity are met with assertions that no change is needed; with insistence that programs purposed for preventing pervasive, historically anti-Black policies and practices are harmful and unneeded; and with lies and distortion to convince people to curtail the work and progress.”

She noted that her father’s “dream encompassed eradicating racism, including in healthcare, policing, banking, and education,adding,”We have not done that. So don’t attribute canceling #DEI to wanting to honor #MLK.”

By Miriam Raftery

January 21, 2025 (Washington D.C.) – Hours after being sworn into office in the Capitol Rotunda, President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order protecting all of the nearly 1,600 people accused or convicted of crimes stemming from the Capitol attack four years earlier.  On January 6, 2021, the violent mob assaulted and injured 140 police officers, forcing terrified lawmakers to flee or hide while the mob tried to halt the peaceful transfer of power.

Trump’s order issued a blanket pardon for nearly all of the insurrectionists, erasing their felony records and freeing all who were serving prison sentences, even those convicted of attacking police officers or armed with weapons including firearms, stun guns, flagpoles, fire extinguishers, bike racks, batons, a metal whip, office furniture, pepper spray, bear spray, a tomahawk ax, a hatchet, a hockey stick, knuckle gloves, a baseball bat, a massive “Trump” billboard, “Trump” flags, a pitchfork, pieces of lumber, crutches and even an explosive device.

 In addition, he commuted sentences for 14 members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, including the groups’ leaders,  Stewart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, who were serving 18- and 22- year sentences for their roles in organizing the attacks. Both men are now free.

Trump also directed his Attorney General to drop all remaining charges against individuals accused of crimes related to the January 6 Capitol attack, but whose cases had not yet gone to trial.