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USA Today
18-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
I've been marching for immigrants' rights since I was a child. I won't stop now.
I've been marching for immigrants' rights since I was a child. I won't stop now. | Opinion Los Angeles holds the moral consciousness of a divided nation. As the demonstrations continue and spread to other cities, let us be clear-eyed on who and what we are fighting for. Show Caption Hide Caption Protesters defy curfew order from LA mayor, police make mass arrests In an effort to curb vandalism and looting, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced a curfew for parts of downtown Los Angeles. Recent ICE raids in Los Angeles are unprecedented in their cruelty, targeting vulnerable immigrant communities. The deployment of the National Guard and Marines in response to peaceful protests against the raids is highly unusual. The handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla for questioning the administration's immigration policies highlights the escalating tension. Increased funding for immigration enforcement and potential changes to the census raise concerns about the future of immigrant rights. I was 6 years old when I first marched for immigrant rights in downtown Los Angeles. It was 1994, and then-California Gov. Pete Wilson was seeking reelection. To hold onto power, he championed the passage of Proposition 187, a ballot initiative that sought to deny social services to undocumented individuals and made the immigrant community his political scapegoat. Marching alongside immigrant families, I learned at an early age what it meant to petition one's government. Prop. 187 passed but was later ruled unconstitutional by the courts. What resulted thereafter was one of the greatest demonstrations of Latino civic engagement in American history that transformed the state's political makeup still felt to this day. ICE raids in Los Angeles show a new level of cruelty More than 30 years later, I was back on the streets of my city advocating once again for immigrants. Since early June, I have joined seniors, children, priests and others peacefully calling for an end to the latest indiscriminate raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Opinion: My hometown of LA has right to be angry as Trump sends in the Marines While raids of our immigrant communities are regrettably nothing new, what has transpired recently is unprecedented in its cruelty. We must call on the American public to ask itself what it will do while the demonstrations run their purpose and course. The examples are striking: When nearly 1 in 10 of our county's residents are undocumented, chances are we know someone without legal status because they attend our schools, work in our small businesses and contribute to our state and local tax base. We can begin by mobilizing financial resources to the immigrant-serving organizations supporting impacted families. There is a tremendous need to provide legal services, as many detained immigrants are already facing deportation without representation and due process. The president's recent call to expand deportations, especially in Los Angeles, underscores the importance of these resources. There is also an urgent need to closely monitor the developments of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, President Donald Trump's signature tax cut initiative. One of the provisions in the bill is to significantly increase resources for immigration enforcement, including an additional $75 billion over four years for immigrant detention and deportation. Opinion: From massive protests to a puny parade, America really let Donald Trump down President Trump is moving too far on immigration Public opinion polling is quickly making clear, especially among nearly two-thirds of Latinos, that Trump is moving too far on immigration. And 86% of Latino voters want a humane approach to immigration policy that includes a pathway to citizenship. Then there are the actions on the horizon that will decide if the events in Los Angeles can translate into long-term political change. At stake during the 2026 midterm elections and beyond is the control of the U.S. House of Representatives, key U.S. Senate races in Georgia and Texas, and governorships in places like Arizona and Nevada. Our votes can decide the leaders who hold these offices, and whether they will support or oppose the immigration policies of the remaining years of this president's administration. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. A political tilt may appear inevitable given the current political climate, but it is not guaranteed. Latino outreach and the case for voter participation remain a perennial challenge in American politics. During the 2024 presidential election, for example, 45% of Latinos reported no contact from any political party. Finally, preparations for the next decennial census, a constitutionally mandated process that aims to count all people in our nation regardless of their status, are already underway, and we must stay vigilant. Lawmakers are already attempting to add a citizenship question to the next census. If successful, immigrants will be dissuaded from participating for fear of being targeted, and the resulting undercount will cause us to lose our rights to political representation and federal resources for our communities. Los Angeles holds the moral consciousness of a divided nation. As the demonstrations continue and spread to other cities, let us be clear-eyed on who and what we are fighting for: dignity for the least among us and the defense of our democracy for all. What we choose to do now for them, as I did as a 6-year-old boy, will impact us and our country for generations to come. Christian Arana is the vice president of Civic Power and Policy at the Latino Community Foundation in Los Angeles.
New York Post
13-06-2025
- Health
- New York Post
California lawmakers to back proposal to freeze health care access for some migrants
California lawmakers will vote Friday on a budget proposal to freeze enrollment in a state-funded health care program for immigrants without legal status to help close a $12 billion deficit. Their plan is a scaled-back version of a proposal Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced in May. California, with the largest state budget in the country, is facing a deficit for the third year in a row. This year's budget shortfall has forced Democratic leaders to start cutting back on several liberal policy priorities, including to the landmark health care expansion for low-income adult immigrants without legal status. 8 Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at a press conference. JOHN G MABANGLO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The vote comes as tensions escalate in Los Angeles over President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown across Southern California. As protesters took to the streets and, at times, clashed with law enforcement in dayslong demonstrations, Trump said protests had turned violent and activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders. The demonstrations have largely been peaceful. California has sued the federal government to stop the deployment. The decision to freeze Medicaid enrollment highlights Democratic state leaders' struggle to protect progressive priorities against budget challenges. Illinois and Minnesota, also led by Democratic governors, are on track to end health care access to low-income adults without legal status after facing budget shortfalls. 8 Supporters of proposals to expand California's government-funded health care benefits to undocumented immigrants gather at the Capitol for the Immigrants Day of Action on May 20, 2019. AP 8 Protestors holding signs advocating for guaranteed healthcare in California. AP 8 Protestors holding signs against Proposition 187. TNS It is not the state's final spending plan. Newsom and legislative leaders are still negotiating solutions before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Lawmakers must pass a balanced budget by Sunday or else they would forfeit their salaries. Democratic state leaders are also bracing for potential federal cuts to health care programs and other broad economic uncertainty such as federal tariff policies that could force them to make even deeper cuts. Republican lawmakers say the Legislature's budget doesn't do enough to rein in costs ahead of future deficits. 'We have a structural deficit of ongoing programs continuing to increase at a greater rate than revenues are increasing,' state Sen. Roger Niello said. 'So far, there's nothing seen to reverse that.' Freezing access and adding premiums The state has more than 1.6 million people without legal status enrolled in its health care program this fiscal year, according to the budget. 8 Republican lawmakers say the Legislature's budget doesn't do enough to rein in costs ahead of future deficits. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images 8 Newsom and legislative leaders are still negotiating solutions before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. AP Under Newsom's plan, low-income adults without legal status would no longer be eligible to apply for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, starting in 2026. Those who are already enrolled wouldn't be kicked off their plans but would have to start paying a $100 monthly premium in 2027. State officials said the plan would help curb future spending and save $5.4 billion by fiscal year 2028-2029. Lawmakers mostly agreed on the plan to halt enrollment for adults without legal status, but their proposal also includes a provision to allow people to reenroll within six months if they lose coverage for missing payment. The monthly premium would also lower by roughly a third to $30 and would only apply to adults between 19 and 59 under the Legislature's plan. The proposal would save roughly $3.8 billion by fiscal year 2027-2028. The proposals would likely result in people losing coverage because they can't afford the premiums and send more people into emergency rooms, advocates said. 'This is no way to respond to concerns about the health and safety of communities that power our economy and contribute billions in state taxes,' said Masih Fouladi, Executive Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. 8 Under Newsom's plan, low-income adults without legal status would no longer be eligible to apply for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. AP 8 According to advocates, the proposals would likely result in people losing coverage because they can't afford the premiums and send more people into emergency rooms. AP Democrats divided California was among one of the first states to extend free health care benefits to all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status, an ambitious plan touted by Newsom to help the nation's most populous state inch closer to a goal of universal health care. But the cost ran billions more than the administration had anticipated and is projected to keep growing. California provides free health care to more than a third of its 39 million people. Several Democrats said the Medicaid enrollment freeze does not align with California values, adding the Legislature is breaking promises to taxpayers. 'People have already a decreased amount of trust in government and when we continue to go back on our words, it makes it even harder,' State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, a Democrat, said of the proposal at a hearing this week. Democratic state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson defended the budget proposal, saying that the plan is not cutting benefits to people who are already enrolled as Legislature also avoided more devastating cuts in social services. Lawmakers rejected the governor's plan to cut funding for a program providing in-home domestic and personal care services for some low-income residents and Californians with disabilities. They also rejected a proposal that would have cut funding for Planned Parenthood's budget by a third. 'No one who is currently covered will lose their health care coverage,' she said.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Chabria: First they came for the immigrants. Then they took down our Latino senator
Things were looking tense in Los Angeles on Thursday even before federal agents took down U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. We had the Marines, slightly trained in domestic crowd control, heading out to do crowd control. We had ICE raids, sweeping up a man from a church. Or maybe it was ICE — the armed and masked agents refused to say where they were from. But then the situation went further south, which to be honest, I thought would take at least until Monday. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was in town to cosplay at being an ICE agent herself. You know she loves to dress up. Padilla, who was in the same building to meet with a general, went to a news conference she was hosting and tried to ask her a question. Bad idea. Federal agents manhandled him out of the room, shoved him down onto his knees and handcuffed him. The FBI has confirmed to my colleagues that he was not arrested, but that's little comfort. While officers may not have known Padilla was a U.S. senator when they started going after him, they certainly did by the time the cuffs were snapping. Padilla was heard saying, 'Hands off, hands off. I'm Sen. Alex Padilla," as the officers pushed him back. The hands remained on. Shortly after the video of this frightening episode hit social media, Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X, "If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you." Indeed. After the news conference, Noem offered a sorry-not-sorry. "I wish that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk," she told reporters. "His approach, you know, was something that I don't think was appropriate at all, but the conversation was great, and we're going to continue to communicate.' It was great! Send in the Marines! When asked why she had ordered the removal of Padilla, Noem deferred to law enforcement. 'I'll let the law enforcement speak to how this situation was handled, but I will say that it's people need to identify themselves before they start lunging at these moments during press conference," she said. "Lunging." It is starting to feel like being brown in America is a crime. Brown man allegedly lunging is the new Black man driving — scary enough that any response is justified. Sen. Adam Schiff, our other California senator, came to his colleague's defense, demanding an investigation. "Anyone who looks at it — anyone — anyone who looks at this, it will turn your stomach," he said. "To look at this video and see what happened reeks — reeks — of totalitarianism. This is not what democracies do." Political pundit Mike Madrid pointed out how personal this issue of immigration is to Padilla. Padilla is the son of Mexican immigrants, Santos and Lupe Padilla. He went into politics in 1995 because of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, the California measure that knocked all undocumented people off of many public services, including schools. He's been a champion of immigrant communities ever since. "Hard to describe how angered and passionate Senator Alex Padilla is — I've known him for 25 years and never seen anything like this," Madrid wrote online. "He's a living example of how Latinos feel right now." And not just Latinos — all Americans who care about democracy. We are about to have approximately 3,000 hours of debate on whether Padilla deserved what he got because he was not invited to the press conference. The right wing is going to parse the video looking for that lunge and saying Padilla was aggressive. The left will say he has a right to ask questions, even a duty because he is an elected representative whose constituents are being detained and disappeared, even ones who are U.S. citizens. I'll say I genuinely do not care if you are pro-Trump or pro-Padilla. If you care about our Constitution, about due process, about civil rights, watching a U.S. senator forced onto his knees for asking questions should be a terrifying wake-up call. It turns out that it's true: After they come for the vulnerable, they do indeed come for the rest. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
First they came for the immigrants. Then they took down our Latino senator
Things were looking tense in Los Angeles on Thursday even before federal agents took down U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla. We had the Marines, slightly trained in domestic crowd control, heading out to do crowd control. We had ICE raids, sweeping up a man from a church. Or maybe it was ICE — the armed and masked agents refused to say where they were from. But then the situation went further south, which to be honest, I thought would take at least until Monday. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was in town to cosplay at being an ICE agent herself. You know she loves to dress up. Padilla, who was in the same building to meet with a general, went to a news conference she was hosting and tried to ask her a question. Bad idea. Federal agents manhandled him out of the room, shoved him down onto his knees and handcuffed him. The FBI has confirmed to my colleagues that he was not arrested, but that's little comfort. While officers may not have known Padilla was a U.S. senator when they started going after him, they certainly did by the time the cuffs were snapping. Padilla was heard saying, 'Hands off, hands off. I'm Sen. Alex Padilla,' as the officers pushed him back. The hands remained on. Shortly after the video of this frightening episode hit social media, Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X, 'If they can handcuff a U.S. Senator for asking a question, imagine what they will do to you.' Indeed. After the news conference, Noem offered a sorry-not-sorry. 'I wish that he would have reached out and identified himself and let us know who he was and that he wanted to talk,' she told reporters. 'His approach, you know, was something that I don't think was appropriate at all, but the conversation was great, and we're going to continue to communicate.' It was great! Send in the Marines! When asked why she had ordered the removal of Padilla, Noem deferred to law enforcement. 'I'll let the law enforcement speak to how this situation was handled, but I will say that it's people need to identify themselves before they start lunging at these moments during press conference,' she said. 'Lunging.' It is starting to feel like being brown in America is a crime. Brown man allegedly lunging is the new Black man driving — scary enough that any response is justified. Sen. Adam Schiff, our other California senator, came to his colleague's defense, demanding an investigation. 'Anyone who looks at it — anyone — anyone who looks at this, it will turn your stomach,' he said. 'To look at this video and see what happened reeks — reeks — of totalitarianism. This is not what democracies do.' Political pundit Mike Madrid pointed out how personal this issue of immigration is to Padilla. Padilla is the son of Mexican immigrants, Santos and Lupe Padilla. He went into politics in 1995 because of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, the California measure that knocked all undocumented people off of many public services, including schools. He's been a champion of immigrant communities ever since. 'Hard to describe how angered and passionate Senator Alex Padilla is — I've known him for 25 years and never seen anything like this,' Madrid wrote online. 'He's a living example of how Latinos feel right now.' And not just Latinos — all Americans who care about democracy. We are about to have approximately 3,000 hours of debate on whether Padilla deserved what he got because he was not invited to the press conference. The right wing is going to parse the video looking for that lunge and saying Padilla was aggressive. The left will say he has a right to ask questions, even a duty because he is an elected representative whose constituents are being detained and disappeared, even ones who are U.S. citizens. I'll say I genuinely do not care if you are pro-Trump or pro-Padilla. If you care about our Constitution, about due process, about civil rights, watching a U.S. senator forced onto his knees for asking questions should be a terrifying wake-up call. It turns out that it's true: After they come for the vulnerable, they do indeed come for the rest.
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Symbol of pride or provocation? Why Mexican flag flew high at Ls Angeles protests
Protester waving Mexican flag - Image Credit: AP Image In Los Angeles, the protesters burned the self-driving taxis, hurled stones at police, and even carried the Mexican flag while protesting against the ICE's raid. In almost every frame, the protesters were seen with the Mexican flag, which has become a prominent visual element, visible in various media coverage, from news broadcasts to social media platforms, with its distinctive red, white, and green colours appearing against backgrounds of protest scenes. Why protesters carrying Mexican flag? The flag serves as a symbol of opposition to President Donald Trump's deportation policies for some individuals, while others interpret it as evidence supporting their concerns about immigration, as illustrated by the National Review's comparison to the "Confederate banner of the LA riots." The current use of the flag recalls similar demonstrations from 30 years prior, when protesters displayed it during opposition to Proposition 187, a measure aimed at restricting undocumented Californians' access to public services. This period marked a significant development in Latino political influence in California, fostering future leaders like former Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, Plitico reported. Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, references similar flag displays during 2006 protests against George W. Bush's immigration enforcement legislation. She explains, "When you attack the undocumented community, when you attack the immigrant community, there is a sense that — I mean, it's a reality — the majority of the folks are Mexican." Flag represents both American and Mexican American identity Regarding the flag's significance, Salas elaborates that it represents both American and Mexican American identity, challenging the notion of accepting Mexican culture whilst rejecting its people. The flag serves as a statement of cultural pride and resistance against discrimination. For younger protesters, many of whom are US citizens, the flag represents solidarity with their parents and previous generations. It demonstrates their refusal to deny their heritage despite societal pressures. California's substantial Mexican-American population, comprising 30% of residents (approximately 12 million people), includes recent immigrants and established multi-generational families, all contributing to a strong cultural connection with Mexico.
