Latest news with #PatBurns
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Mailbag: The Diocese of Orange must not remain silent about ICE raids
As a Catholic and native of Orange County, I've watched my community reel from the recent surge in immigration raids across Southern California. My own family has lost income due to the disappearance of pedestrian traffic near our small business. Friends have had loved ones detained without warning. Many of us feel like our neighborhoods are being occupied. The fear is real — and it's growing. That's why I've been so heartened to see bishops in nearby dioceses step up. Bishop Rojas in San Bernardino issued a dispensation from mass for Catholics afraid to attend. In San Diego, Bishop Pham and clergy accompanied families to immigration court. These are moral acts of presence, not partisanship. Sadly, I can't say the same for the Diocese of Orange. Aside from one vague statement, our diocese has posted more about baseball games and festivals than about the terror many parishioners are enduring. Mass attendance is dropping. People are afraid. And yet, no meaningful pastoral response has come. This is not just a policy issue. This is a spiritual issue. The Church must not abandon the faithful who are hunted in its own neighborhoods. To the Diocese of Orange: if you call yourself a shepherd, now is the time to stand in front of the wolves. There is still time to act. But not much. Colin Martinez LongmoreSanta Ana It was so gratifying to read a story about a positive outcome for this young man, Cameron Rauch. ('Once lagging in school, Huntington Beach teen welds together a solid future,' July 6.) We think all kids should go to college and neglect the ones who, for various reasons, fall behind academically and reach a social dead end before they mature. This is a tribute to programs for young people that explore and develop real world skills. There will always be a need for welders, electricians, plumbers, etc., that cannot be outsourced to foreign countries or replaced by AI. Thanks again for a good news story; must be more out there. Doug PetersonIrvine It was an embarrassment to watch the Huntington Beach Fourth of July parade this year and listen to members of the City Council boast about how wonderful and patriotic our city is, what an honor it is to represent its residents on the Council. Really? Are you aware that Mayor Pat Burns has mouthed profanities, such as 'Another f—ing cow,' when referring to a recent female speaker at a Council meeting and saying 'pieces of s**t,' when referring to three former members of the City Council? Most of these profanities were done on a hot mic situation. If you don't believe me, just Google this and the proof will come up. You can listen for yourself on YouTube. During the City Council meeting on July 1, many impassioned speakers called for the censorship, removal or resignation of Pat Burns, but nothing is done. When the rest of the members sit alongside him and do nothing in response, they are condoning his actions by their silence and are complicit with his actions. I know many of the council members have children. How would they feel if their child or daughter was singled out with such a statement? Would they then take action? I was in healthcare management for more than 35 years, and if one of my staff exhibited behavior such as this, he or she would have been written up or immediately fired. Why do we have to tolerate this disrespect from a council member, now mayor, who swore to represent the residents of our city according to a code of ethics? When will enough be enough? Our beautiful city deserves so much more. Kathleen BungeHuntington Beach
Los Angeles Times
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Immigration raids targeting workers spark dissent even in Trump-friendly Orange County
As protests broke out in cities across Southern California over President Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement sweeps, the mood in Huntington Beach was celebratory. 'Make America Great Again' and 'Trump 2024' banners waved at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway as the president's supporters turned out at a protest last month. One sign held up by a teen encouraged attendees to 'support your local ICE raid.' It wasn't a surprise in the conservative beach town where leaders had months earlier declared Huntington Beach a nonsanctuary city. At the time, the city filed a lawsuit against the state over its law limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, arguing that illegal immigration was to blame for a rise in crime. 'Huntington Beach will not sit idly by and allow the obstructionist sanctuary state law to put our 200,000 residents at risk of harm from those who seek to commit violent crimes on U.S. soil,' Mayor Pat Burns said at the time. Elsewhere in Orange County, particularly in cities with higher immigrant populations, the conversation about the raids has been much more muted. Republicans who voted for Trump and support his efforts to deport those who have committed crimes expressed hesitation about the sweeps that have targeted workers and longtime residents. A group of Republican legislators in California, including two who represent Orange County, sent a letter to Trump last week urging him to direct United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security to focus their enforcement operations on criminals and 'avoid the kinds of sweeping raids that instill fear and disrupt the workplace.' 'The fear is driving vital workers out of critical industries, taking California's affordability crisis and making it even worse for our constituents,' wrote the legislators, including Assemblymembers Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) and Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel). They called on Trump to modernize the country's immigration process to give undocumented immigrants with long-standing local ties a path toward legal status. Jo Reitkopp, a Republican political organizer from Orange, supports Trump's immigration policy, saying that she believes the country has become safer since he began fulfilling his campaign promise to rid the country of criminals. But her own family's history has softened her opinion about the raids, despite her stance that deportations should continue. Her father, an undocumented immigrant from Sicily, was deported to Italy in the 1950s after he'd met Reitkopp's mother. He later returned to America using a pathway for immigrants to gain legal status, she said. 'I do have a lot of compassion for the people who don't know their home country or came when they were 5,' she said. 'I don't understand why they never became citizens. If they would've, they wouldn't have been deported.' Although Trump has repeatedly said his administration is focusing deportation efforts on criminals, data show that the majority of those arrested in early June in the Los Angeles area were men who had never been charged with a crime. In the early days of the enforcement action — between June 1 and 10 — about 69% of those arrested in the Los Angeles region had no criminal conviction and 58% had never been charged with a crime, according to a Times data analysis. Reitkopp said it's 'sad' when raids sweep up individuals who haven't committed crimes. But the federal government's offer for undocumented immigrants to self-deport and possibly have a chance to return is a silver lining, she added. 'It's a bad scenario, but [Trump] is giving them an opportunity,' she said. Trump's plans for deportations that he outlined during his campaign aren't particularly popular among many Orange County voters. Only a third of Orange County residents who responded to a UC Irvine poll published in January agreed with Trump on the issue. Nearly 60% of residents polled preferred that undocumented individuals have an option to obtain legal status. Although almost half of white respondents supported deportations, nearly three-quarters of Latino respondents preferred an option for legal status, the poll shows. Orange County is home to roughly 236,000 undocumented immigrants, the majority of whom were born in Mexico, Central America and Asia, according to data published in 2019 from the Migration Policy Institute. Data at the time show that 33% of those undocumented individuals had been in the United States for at least 20 years and that 67% were employed. Jeffrey Ball, president and CEO of the Orange County Business Council, said he agrees with California lawmakers calling for immigration enforcement to be focused on criminals rather than broader sweeps. While businesses so far haven't reported significant impacts, Ball said when people don't feel safe working 'it's not the type of positive environment you want from a business standpoint.' 'This immigrant population is an important part of our workforce,' he said. 'We are still in a labor shortage in this region and so to the extent you have people leaving the region out of fear or not feeling comfortable going to work it further exacerbates some of the problems we have related to the efficiency and reliability of the workforce.' Christopher Granucci, an independent, acknowledged that although illegal immigration has become a problem for many in Southern California, he's troubled by the indiscriminate nature of the deportations. 'We have millions and millions of people who came in, but I think they need to be laser-focused on the real criminals,' Granucci said. 'I think for those criminals, everyone in the country agrees that they should be kicked out.' As a teacher, Granucci has seen students whose parents aren't legal residents or are on a path to obtaining residency. 'If they could be more strategic about who is being removed, that would be so much better,' Granucci said. 'Right now, everyone is freaked out. Students are freaked out and parents are freaked out because of it.' In areas of Little Saigon — which encompasses parts of Westminster, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove and Santa Ana — news of the raids has hit the community harder than ever before. There are many undocumented Vietnamese residents who call the largest ethnic enclave outside of Vietnam home. But many weren't concerned about facing deportations for years, activists say, because of a 2008 agreement between the United States and Vietnam that allowed most Vietnamese immigrants who entered the United States before 1995 — mainly refugees who fled violence following the Vietnam War — to stay in the country. An updated memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Vietnam in 2020 created a process for deporting such immigrants. 'What we're seeing is the people who are immigrants themselves that support Trump's deportation agenda only support it until it affects them,' said Tracy La, executive director of VietRISE. 'Trump isn't just going after undocumented Latino immigrants — he's going after Vietnamese, other Southeast Asians, Chinese, Indian and many other communities. That's something that I think a lot of people who supported it have been grappling with.' In Fountain Valley, a city with a large Vietnamese American population where 32% of residents identify as being foreign-born, Mayor Ted Bui hasn't seen much public pushback for the raids. Many of the Vietnamese Americans who live there value law and order, and see the raids as federal law enforcement simply carrying out their duties, he said. He feels the same, he said. Bui's family fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, first heading to France, where his grandfather was a citizen. He later came to the United States to study under a student visa. He fell in love with the graciousness he felt among Americans and went through the process to become a citizen, he said. 'What are we saying if we allow people to break the law?' Bui said. 'If we allow people to break the law, then why have laws in the first place? There would be no meaning behind it, and we'd be a country of chaos.' Three decades ago, Orange County was the birthplace of Proposition 187, a statewide ballot initiative that would have denied schooling, nonemergency healthcare and other public services to immigrants living in the country illegally. The measure, which passed 59% to 41% in 1994, would have also required teachers to tell authorities about any children they suspected of being in the country illegally. But the act never took effect after being blocked by federal judges. Anti-illegal immigration sentiment in Orange County still ran deep into the early 2000s. In Costa Mesa, then-Mayor Allan Mansoor presented a plan in 2005 to train city police officers to enforce immigration law. As the demographics of Orange County continued to change — transitioning from a reliable Republican stronghold to a politically competitive locale — immigration became a more nuanced issue even in Republican circles. In the 2024 presidential election, Kamala Harris won Orange County, but by a much tighter margin than either Hillary Clinton in 2016 or Joe Biden in 2020, cementing the county's position as a suburban battleground. In Santa Ana, a Latino immigrant hub in the center of Orange County, immigration sweeps sparked days of protests downtown. City officials have demanded that National Guard troops at the federal courthouse leave and have been working on ways to help those swept up and their families. Santa Ana City Councilmember Thai Viet Phan, a Democrat, said even those who agree with Trump about better border protection are unnerved by raids outside Home Depots and at car washes. 'People have a lot of sympathy,' Phan said. 'People voted for Trump based on a variety of things, principally the economy. But I don't think they anticipated it would be like this.'
CBS News
26-06-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Huntington Beach's e-bike program seeks to educate riders, drop staggering amount of accidents
Huntington Beach city leaders on Wednesday announced the nation's first police-led student e-bike safety program, which they say is a direct response to a staggering number of crashes involving young riders in recent years. During a news conference, they disclosed that in the last three years police have seen e-bike-related crashes have more than doubled, jumping from 72 in 2022 to 147 in 2024. Projections suggest that this year could surpass 160, which would be a 120% increase since their study began. "This is a public safety issue we can't afford to ignore," said a statement from Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns. "We're seeing too many kids injured in preventable crashes. This program is about giving them the tools to ride safely and confidently." The decision comes in light of a troubling trend based on data from the Children's Hospital Orange County, which shows that youth e-bike trauma cases have increased more than 1,500% since 2019. "We're seeing more serious head injuries because kids are riding at high speeds with no helmet and no training," said Amy Frias, CHOC/Rady Children's Health Community Safety Educator and Safe Kids OC Coordinator. "It's a dangerous combination, and the numbers we're seeing in the trauma center are only part of the story." Huntington Beach leads all of the county in "micromobility-related trauma" admissions in riders under 18, and since 2023 Huntington Beach police have responded to more than 1,300 nuisance calls related to e-bikes. The program was developed by the Huntington Beach Police Department and aims to improve rider safety through education and hands-on training. The course is entirely free and includes instruction from officers on emergency braking, obstacle navigations, reaction-time awareness and helmet use. Parents are required to attend the classes with their children, which hopes to create a shared learning experience focused on safety on the road and at home, police said. "We've seen the data. We've taken the calls. Now we're taking action," said Police Chief Eric Parra in a statement. "This is about education, not punishment. We're giving families a real opportunity to build safer habits - and we hope other cities will follow our lead." Each session will run just over an hour, placing an emphasis on replicating real-world scenarios at different and increasingly challenging speeds. So far, two dozen officers with 10 different Southern California agencies have completed the 40-hour Peace Officer Standards and Training-certified course, which was developed by HBPD Sergeant Mike Thomas.
Los Angeles Times
25-06-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach introduces police-led e-bike training program
The rise of e-bikes has brought an exciting new way to get around, but not without consequences. Huntington Beach had 147 reported e-bike crashes in 2024, more than double the amount reported two years prior. Mayor Pat Burns said he saw another close call just recently. 'I saw several kids blow right through a red light, clueless to how close they came to getting slaughtered by the oncoming cars,' he said. 'They're getting more daring with their wheelies, putting their front wheels up and going fast.' The Huntington Beach Police Department has addressed the issue by instituting a police-led student e-bike safety program. The free course, which held a session and associated news conference Wednesday morning at Spring View Middle School in Huntington Beach, is intended for youth e-bike riders. The 70-minute sessions are designed to replicate real-world scenarios at increasingly challenging speeds, offering lessons on emergency braking, obstacle navigation, reaction-time awareness and helmet use. Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Mike Thomas developed the curriculum based on a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified 40-hour training and leads the course, along with his colleagues on the force. It is believed to be the first such police-led training course to be instituted in the state. Though Surf City is the first to start such a program, 24 police officers from 10 agencies statewide have already completed the POST e-bike safety instructor training. Police Chief Eric Parra said the program is valuable for children as well as parents, who are required to attend the course as well. He said more kids are also running from the police, which can turn a simpler citation into a court case. In September 2023, the Huntington Beach City Council voted to amend the city's municipal code to give police more leeway to crack down on dangerous riders. 'You can tell kids how to act and how to behave and how to ride,' Parra said. 'But when you show them physically how 20 miles an hour is so much different than 10, then they start to realize, 'Not only did they tell me, but I see it.' Then it becomes effective. Experiential learning is the only way to go.' Amy Frias, Children's Hospital of Orange County community educator, shared at Wednesday's news conference that CHOC has seen a huge increase in e-bike related trauma visits since 2019. Many involve untrained and underage riders, and more than half of them are not wearing a helmet, Frias said. 'E-bike injuries we are looking at are more like severe car crashes,' Frias said. 'We're talking concussions, we're talking fractures. We had an [orthopedic doctor] that did a big paper on the patella, the top of the knee, that was shattered. These are not things that we normally see in kids, these types of injuries. They're severe, they take a long time to heal and it's just very scary.' Officials said that the Huntington Beach Union High School District is reviewing the program for potential district-wide adoption this fall. If approved, it could become a mandatory requirement for students who ride e-bikes to school. Cindy Ortega attended Wednesday's training with her son, Vincent, who is going into the seventh grade at Mesa View Middle School in Huntington Beach. She said she had no idea how dangerous e-bikes were, or how fast they could actually go. 'When you're going alongside cars, it's pretty scary,' she said. 'If he wants to take [his bike] to school, it's important that he knows what to be aware of, how to maneuver and stop at the right time.' Vincent, 11, said he had seen many riders even younger than himself. 'We just need everybody to follow the rules and not try to be all cool, thinking that they can do all of these wheelies in front of cars,' he said. More e-bike safety events will be scheduled throughout the summer, including three additional public training sessions on Friday back at Spring View. Vendors and partners will provide safety materials, helmet fittings and e-bike raffle giveaways.
Los Angeles Times
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Mailbag: Groans, ‘shameful disrespect' by Huntington Beach City Council causing public harm
I am simply amazed that the Huntington Beach City Council continues to demand that they be treated with respect and reverence by the public. Mayor Pat Burns has repeatedly responded to public comments with profanity, groans and illegal admonitions intending to intimidate and stifle public input. Public comment time has been constrained unreasonably to one minute, with sign ups for public comments cut off 30 minutes before the meetings. Invocations — stated on agendas to be not supportive of any particular religion — are always given 'in Jesus name,' ignoring the thousands of residents who are not of a Christian faith. Most egregiously, all seven council members have in the past two years demeaned, degraded and defamed the city's librarians with false allegations that they are pedophiles and groomers, when in fact, not one incidence of such behavior has ever been established. Several senior librarians have left Huntington Beach employment, escaping further abuse, and being welcomed by neighboring cities. The public has suffered considerably from the resulting lack of public service. The above are merely examples of the shameful disrespect regularly shown by the Huntington Beach City Council toward city residents and employees. How dare they demand our respect. Linda Sapiro MoonHuntington Beach Huntington Beach voters have spoken, and it wasn't even close. Measures A & B passed by a 2:1 margin. This result was not a surprise. The Huntington Beach Public Libraries are a cherished local institution, while the idea of political appointees with the power to ban books and corporate outsourcing of public services are broadly rejected by most communities across America. Yet for months, the will of H.B. residents was ignored. It took a grassroots petition drive, a costly special election and a landslide result to finally force the City Council to face reality. That reality check came with a steep price of nearly $1 million, and this is money the city can't afford amid looming budget shortfalls. Unfortunately, this wasn't a one-time thing. Since assuming the majority in December 2022, this City Council has ended limits on political contribution, needlessly changed our city charter, disbanded numerous resident-led commissions/boards, gutted H.B.'s 1996 Declaration of Policy on Human Dignity, eliminated resident choice regarding electricity, sidelined the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council and supported an endless array of pointless lawsuits while failing to fight a frivolous lawsuit that ended in a multi-million dollar giveaway of public funds to a political ally. This isn't governance but rather reckless, ideologically driven mismanagement. The overwhelming passage of Measures A and B should serve as a wake-up call — not just for this City Council, but for all H.B. residents. Huntington Beach deserves competent, accountable leadership. It is well past time to turn the page on extremism and restore common sense to our local government. Steve ShepherdHuntington Beach It's been a rough month so far for MAGA nation in Huntington Beach, a kind of a June swoon. The right-wing City Council spent over a million dollars on a special election to thwart two community led initiatives (Measures A and B) to protect our public library system and were rewarded by a sound thumping at the ballot box. This, from a city suffering a significant budget deficit which the City Council helped create through mismanagement and catering to special interests. The 'No Kings' protest rally in Huntington Beach was very successful, much to the chagrin of the MAGAs who also saw their icon, Donald Trump, embarrassed at his birthday bash and military parade on Flag Day. It fizzled while coastal protest rallies in Orange County sizzled. The mayor of Huntington Beach, Pat Burns, was slapped down by the ACLU for his rough handling of residents in public comments at City Council meetings, a mini-'No Kings' moment. The entire City Council has been lambasted for its lack of leadership and failure to represent the community in its decision-making. No graduation ceremony for this lot! A letter in the Los Angeles Times stated that residents in Surf City were 'mortified' at being identified with the partisan extremists who have made our town a 'Republican stronghold.' All in all, a poor start to the summer for MAGA nation here. Tim GeddesHuntington Beach Andrew Turner's coverage of last Saturday's 'No Kings' protests in Laguna was lively and spot on! However, he sold Newport Beach's turn out short. It was not 'hundreds more' that gathered on both sides of the street. NBPD estimated 'several thousand' at PCH and MacArthur to protest Trump and his cruel immigration round ups. Maybe this MAGA support is eroding with the prospect of having to plant their own 'Victory Gardens' and wash their own Maseratis and homes once the hard-working immigrants have all been rounded up and sent packing. Hope so! Melissa Lawler McLeodLaguna Beach
