El Magonista Newsletter | OCTOBER 18, 2022 | Vol. 10, No. 38

A federal judge in Texas on Friday said he would, for now, allow nearly 600,000 immigrant “Dreamers” enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to continue renewing their two-year protections from deportation and work permits while the court case over the Obama-era policy proceeds.

At the same time, U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen said he would continue to prohibit the federal government from approving new DACA requests, a block he first issued in July 2021, when he agreed with arguments presented by Republican-led states and declared the program illegal.

Friday’s order was in response to a ruling earlier this month from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which also found that the Obama administration did not have the legal authority to create DACA in 2012. The appeals court tasked Hanen with reviewing the legality of the Biden administration’s attempt to codify DACA into a federal regulation.

The regulations, set to take effect on Oct. 31, will replace a 2012 Department of Homeland Security memo that Texas and other Republican-controlled states have argued was not the proper way to create DACA.

After holding a hearing with attorneys in the case earlier on Friday, Hanen issued a two-page order saying his July 2021 ruling against DACA — and his decision to leave the program intact for current beneficiaries — would also apply to the new regulations. Hanen said both the Biden administration and the Republican-led states challenging DACA agreed with this... READ MORE

The jaw-dropping audio of some of Los Angeles’s most influential political figures brokering power and slinging racist gossip has rocked the city, the second largest in the nation. Even President Biden has weighed in.

On Wednesday, protesters shut down a City Council meeting for the second day in a row with calls for resignations; the attorney general announced plans to investigate; and Nury Martinez — a San Fernando Valley councilwoman who had already relinquished her council presidency and taken a leave of absence — resigned entirely from elected office. Earlier this week, the head of one of Southern California’s most powerful labor organizations stepped down.

If you’re not in Los Angeles or are just tuning in, you may be wondering: How did we get here? Here are five things to know:

1. About half of the four million or so residents in Los Angeles are Latino. But Latinos hold only four of the 15 City Council seats.

By comparison, white Angelenos, a declining population, make up about 28 percent of the city’s residents and hold six Council seats. Black Angelenos hold three, despite having less than 9 percent of the population. Only Asian Americans, with about 12 percent of the city’s residents, have representation proportionate with their population, with two Council seats... READ MORE

It’s a well-known fact that today the political map in California is decidedly non-competitive at the statewide level, lopsidedly Deep Blue in the vast majority of the state legislative and about 40 U.S. congressional districts, and Deep Red in about 10 or so.

I live in one of perhaps only two remaining competitive – or “purple” – U.S. congressional districts in the state - the Central Valley’s district 21, which includes portions of Kern, Kings, Tulare, and Fresno counties. As of 2022, it is the most Democratic district to be represented by a Republican in the country.

That Republican is David Valadao, one of the ten Republican representatives that voted to impeach president Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021 failed insurrection, and the sole one remaining standing for this November congressional elections.

The main reason why this mostly-rural Central Valley district is so Democratic, say in contrast to Kevin McCarthy’s contiguous district 23 where non-Hispanic Whites make the largest group (47.3%), district 21 is 73.4 % Latino and 17.4% non-Hispanic White. This translates into 59% vote-eligible Latinos and 29% vote-eligible NH Whites, still a considerable majority... READ MORE

The more you listen to it, the worse it gets.

I’m talking about the leaked audio of an October 2021 conversation among three members of the Los Angeles City Council and a prominent labor leader. Their ostensible purpose was to strategize about drawing council districts in a way that would give more power to Latinos.

“If you’re going to talk about Latino districts, what kind of districts are you trying to create?” City Council President Nury Martinez said to Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, in audio posted on Reddit a month ago and which the Times obtained. “Because you’re taking away our assets. You’re just going to create poor Latino districts with nothing?”

It’s a fair question, especially in a city where Latinos are about half of the population but occupy fewer than a third of council seats.

But instead of taking responsibility for the underwhelming state of Latino political power, they just whined and whined about their predicament and blamed everyone else — especially Black people.

When you have an elected Latina official use words to describe Black people — children, no less — as changuitos (“little monkeys”) and negritos(“darkies”) while no one else in the room pushes back, it shows the rot, pettiness and paranoia that infests L.A.'s Latino political class. The four waded in grievance politics straight out of Sam Yorty’s City Hall.

This wasn’t a case of your rancho libertarian cousins from Corona drunkenly mouthing off during a backyard carne asada, or small-town politics in southeast L.A. County or the San Gabriel Valley. These are some of the most powerful politicians in Southern California — and some of the most prominent Latino politicos in the United States... READ MORE

Dear Henry,
 
In response to the bipartisan group that has warned pro-deferred action advocates that “pushing President Barack Obama to halt deportations could kill the broader effort” of immigration reform, I’d like to denounce the position taken by the Bipartisan Policy Center's Immigration Task Force that you co-chair, and challenge you to a debate as soon as possible.
 
Henry, lets debate Mano-a-mano anytime and anyplace, or virtually via internet.
 
Nothing personal, just the facts that separate our point of view.
 
I am one of those pro-deferred action advocates and have co-authored 2 opinion editorials that propose for President Obama to grant deferred action or temporary protective status to all 11 million undocumented immigrants now, given that Congress will fail to approve a sensible and inclusive immigration reform in 2013.
 
In fact, as we expressed on our July 26, 2013 Op-Ed (“Time for Obama to give ‘help’, not ‘hope’ on immigration reform promise”*), “deferred action is not amnesty, while Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a long-established administrative function of the Homeland Security Administration. President Obama would temporarily protect the undocumented immigrant until Congress responsibly legislates sensible comprehensive immigration reform, and force Republican legislators to recognize the economic benefits and the political consequences of their continued demonization of immigrants”.
 
This is exactly the reason why President Obama should grant temporary protection to all eligible undocumented immigrants, and authorize a registration process for all those that would benefit from a legalization process.

Thus, I challenge you to a debate because I am deeply disappointed and disturbed that someone of your stature, and other Latinos like Eliseo Medina and Hilda Solis... READ MORE

By Julia Mueller | OCT. 5, 2022 | TheHill.com | Photo by Greg Nash

A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that immigrants enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program can renew their “Dreamer” status but that new applicants are blocked as Biden administration revisions of the program are sent back to a lower court for review.  

“Today, DACA recipients can breathe a sigh of relief, but the urgency remains to pass a permanent solution that brings stability to the lives of DACA recipients,” said Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.).  

DACA, which was created in 2012 by former President Obama’s administration, is aimed at protecting Dreamers, who brought into the U.S. as children, from deportation. 

A federal district judge in Texas last year declared that the Department of Homeland Security violated procedural rules when they created DACA.

The Biden administration appealed, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled to uphold the lower court’s decision but sent it back for review due to a new rule put forth by the administration, effective Oct. 31. 

DACA has been jeopardized by a number of legal challenges, causing supportive lawmakers to seek a legislative solution to protect Dreamers... READ MORE

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, Oct. 6. I’m Hamed Aleaziz. I cover immigration policy and just joined the paper this summer. I live in Sonoma County. 

Before coming to The Times, I was at BuzzFeed News, where I covered immigration and the Department of Homeland Security. That neatly segued to my new role, where I focus on the DHS and other agencies and examine how immigrants are coping with issues such as the shifting policies of different presidential administrations. 

For example, in August, we detailed how the Biden administration was making sweeping changes at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after former President Trump’s tenure and how that was affecting immigrants in California. (Read more here: “The Biden administration remade ICE after Trump: But will it last?”)

More recently, I read in our sister paper the San Diego Union Tribune about how San Diego’s Office of Immigrant Affairs was leading an effort to write welcome notes in 15 languages to newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers. The office was established in July. I reached out to Rita Fernandez, head of the office, to talk about the work they do and the state of immigration in her city. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

What’s next and what do you hope to do for immigrants in San Diego... READ MORE

Behind closed doors, they sound like former President Trump.

Riffing about racist violence; denigrating entire groups based on where they come from and their darker skin; and plotting to hold onto power in spite of voters are all trademark behaviors of the MAGA mogul. Yet leaked audio revealed this week that Los Angeles City Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin De León are all guilty of participating in unhinged conversations of that nature in private.

These three prove that L.A. needs a new generation of Latinos at its helm — one that can rewrite the zero-sum rules imposed on us by white supremacy. Younger progressive leaders — such as Eunisses Hernandez, a vocal criminal justice reformer who defeated Cedillo this year and will replace him in December — are ready to do that difficult work.

The conversation on the leaked recording has been devastating for Angelenos who saw these leaders as allies, role models or heroes. Even if you’ve long known about the toxic legacy of anti-Blackness and anti-Indigeneity among Latinos, especially among older generations, the revelation still hurts.

Martinez resigned from the council on Wednesday. Until all three councilmembers have resigned, they preclude the possibility of healing for Los Angeles. They represent a mind-set their communities have fought to leave behind... READ MORE

WASHINGTON —  U.S. Senate Democrats said Tuesday that they remained hopeful Congress could create a legal pathway to citizenship before the end of the year for the more than 600,000 undocumented people enrolled in a program that is at risk of being deemed illegal by a lower court.

Immigration rights advocates held a press call including Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois and Robert Menendez of New Jersey to stress the need for legislative action, following a recent 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that upheld a lower court decision in the Southern District of Texas. 

That decision determined the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to be unlawful—though current recipients are not yet affected—and blocked the government from accepting new applications.

“The writing is on the wall,” said Greisa Martinez, who leads United We Dream Action, the largest youth immigration advocacy group.

Martinez, who is a DACA recipient herself, told Durbin and Menendez that Congress needs to move quickly, because “we are closer than we have ever been to the possible end of DACA... READ MORE

Most of Long Beach’s coronavirus metrics, including case count and hospitalizations, declined this week, though city health officials said people should still take the virus seriously and get the updated boosters — which will be available to most residents next week.

“Although our case rates are lower, COVID-19 is still in our community and we need to remain vigilant,” City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis said in a Friday, Oct. 14 statement. “The Health Department continues to encourage everyone who is eligible to receive an updated booster while also continuing to follow common sense prevention measures.”

The recently updated vaccines, otherwise known as bivalent boosters, specifically protect against the omicron coronavirus variant and its subvariants, including BA.4 and BA.5 — which make up the majority of Long Beach’s cases, Davis said previously. Long Beach announced on Friday evening that it will provide the bivalent boosters to everyone who is at least 5 years old beginning Wednesday, Oct. 19.

Long Beach reported 248 new coronavirus cases this week, as of Thursday, Oct. 13, down slightly from 362 the week before. The total number of cases since the pandemic began, according to city data, was 152,052 as of Thursday.

The data is through Thursday, but the city posted the latest information to its COVID-19 dashboard on Friday.

The city’s daily case rate was 4.7 per 100,000 people this week, down from 5.9 the week before, the data shows. The seven-day case rate, meanwhile, sat at 66.7 per 100,000.

The positivity rate was 5%, as of Thursday... READ MORE

MEXICO CITY — It would be easy to think of Museo Kaluz as the very expensive hobby of an extraordinarily rich man. After all, the downtown Mexico City museum was founded, and is funded, by Antonio del Valle Ruiz, who ranks No. 7 on Forbes magazine’s list of wealthiest Mexicans.

But focusing on the benefactor might distract from the benefit Museo Kaluz has provided since it opened in 2020, serving as a public showplace for the 1,800-piece art collection Mr. del Valle spent five decades assembling. The billionaire’s tastes fall on the more traditional side. The holdings are nearly all paintings and overwhelmingly figurative and include well-known names like José María Velasco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco.

A tour through the three-story museum, located along the city’s beloved Alameda Central park, reveals the collection’s intimate portrait galleries, brimming with faces of Mexicans rich, poor, white, brown, aristocratic and Indigenous, and documenting the country’s diversity... READ MORE