By Miriam Raftery

Photo: screenshot of aerial video by ECM news partner 10 News shows military troops with razor wire at a staging site in the South Bay, as troops prepare to deploy to fortify U.S. - Mexico Border and aid in Trump crackdown on border crossings.

January 26, 2025 (San Diego) – A tough crackdown on immigrants has begun, after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at the Southern Border. On Thursday, 1,500 active-duty military troops have been deployed to patrol the borders in San Diego and San Antonio, Texas, with the first soldiers arriving Thursday. 10 News shot footage showing troops, including hundreds from Camp Pendleton, arriving at staging area in Imperial Beach along with concertina razor wire, tents, and military trucks.

Yet according to Associated Press, data doesn’t back up Trump’s contention of an “invasion” of immigrants.  In fact,  AP reports, “arrests for illegal border crossings plummeted more than 80% to about 47,000 in December from an all-time high of 250,000 the same period a year earlier. Arrests fell by about half when Mexican authorities increased enforcement within their own borders a year ago and by about half again when former President Joe Biden introduced severe asylum restrictions in June.”

Immigration sweeps have also begun across the nation, striking fear into immigrant communities as Border Patrol agents in some areas reportedly demanded documentation of everyone stopped, including citizens. Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Fox News that ICE arrested over 308 “serious criminals” in the first 24 hours after Trump took office.

One day later, Newsweek reports, Trump’s Acting Secretary of Homeland Security  Benjamine Huffman lifted a long-standing ban, now allowing ICE to target immigrants in sensitive locations including schools, churches and hospitals.

In addition to fortifying the border to block crossings by migrants, including many seeking asylum and fleeing violence or persecution, Trump's administration has disabled the app which formerly allowed asylum-seekers to apply online without crossing the border, effectively blocking all asylum efforts, NPR reports. 

By Miriam Raftery

Photo,left, courtesy of the ACLU

October 17, 2023 (San Diego) – The U.S.Justice Department has reached a settlement in a San Diego-based class action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of immigrant families separated at the international border by the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance immigration policy.

The settlement is subject to a judge’s approval.

“The practice of separating families at the southwest border was shameful,” Attorney Merrick Garland said in a statement. ”This agreement will facilitate the reunification of separated families and provide them with critical services to aid in their recovery.”

Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a press release, “The ACLU has settled hundreds of lawsuits in our 103-year history, but none more important than this one. To America’s enduring shame, we tore children from the arms of their families to enact a xenophobic agenda. This settlement closes the darkest chapter of the Trump administration, but as welcomed as it is, the damage inflicted on these families will forever be tragic and irreversible.”

By Chris Stone

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

Photo:  Many women and children from Mexico and Central America waited to see if they would be the next people allowed to enter the U.S. Photo by Chris Stone

June 24, 2018 (San Diego) - Natash waited in line Saturday morning to present herself to U.S. immigration officials at the PedWest Port of Entry, believing that America is the “best place where human rights are respected.