By Chris Jennewein

Photo: U.S. Supreme Court, by D.B. King via Wikimedia Commons

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

February 26, 2018 (San Diego) -- San Diego’s estimated 45,000 Dreamers got a reprieve from possible deportation Monday when the Supreme Court refused to hear a Trump administration challenge.

The court declined to overrule a lower court’s action that temporarily blocked ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on March 5.

The program, which allows immigrants brought to America illegally as children to live and work in the country, was terminated by President Trump last year, leaving it up to Congress to pass permanent protections.

East County News Service

February 3, 2018 (San Diego) -- University of California professor Teddy Cruz, an immigrant from Guatemala, has been awarded a $100,000 Vilcek Foundation prize for designs that make cross-border communities more inclusive and equitable. 

By Miriam Raftery

January 29, 2018 (San Diego) – Two immigrants protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program have been arrested for involvement in human smuggling in two separate incidents, The U.S. Border Patrol reports.

By Miriam Raftery

January 19, 2018 (San Diego’s East County) – A new report by humanitarian organizations  reveals that Border Patrol agents  have been systemically destroying water bottles left in desert areas for undocumented immigrants in the Arizona desert, condemning people to die of thirst.  While its unknown if this is occurring in California, this article in Britain’s The Guardian hit home for me in a visceral way, reminding me of an experience that brought me to tears.

On the 4^th of July In 2008, I rode alongwith Border Angels founder Enrique Morones. We discovered sabotage of water bottles his group had left in rugged locations--all slashed open, empty. My article, Dying to Come to America, was published in our very first edition of East County Magazine. Morones vividly described what it is like for people to die of dehydration – hallucinating, throwing off clothes and shoes. We saw the signs of this torment – a woman’s high-heeled shoe cast aside, a man’s crumpled shirt.  The heat was triple digits.

I went along to learn about experiences faced by people so desperate to come to America that they rely on water left by benevolent strangers to survive. I learned that coyotes, or human traffickers, often lie to the migrants, telling them it's just a short walk to freedom; some women dressed up to meet their husbands are unaware of the dangers. I choked up, imagining their pain. My story included photos of those slashed water bottles and graves of people--some so very young--who died crossing East County's rugged border mountains in their failed quest to find freedom.

Attorney General Becerra helps secure victory for Dreamers as court blocks implementation of Trump Administration’s rescission of DACA until a final decision is reached in the litigation

By Miriam Raftery

January 10, 2018 (Sacramento) – A California court has issued a nationwide injunction to temporarily protect Dreamers, or young people brought here as children of undocumented immigrants, or young people brought here as children of undocumented immigrants, before a Trump administration order forces them to be deported. Trump rolled back DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order issued by Barack Obama.

Congress is grappling with legislation that could permanently protect the Dreamers. But  the clock is ticking. President Trump has indicated he is open to a bill to protect the Dreamers, but only if it also includes funding for a border wall.  While Democrats and some Republicans support protection for dreamers, hard liners in the Republican Party oppose it and its unclear whether Democrats would back billions to build a border wall.

Social service agencies are required by law to provide disaster-related assistance without asking for information or documents

East County News Service

December 8, 2017 (San Diego) -- As wildfires rage in Southern California this week, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of San Diego and Imperial Counties is on alert to protect the rights of fire victims in this region.

Voters overwhelming support a Dream Act and reject more walls, agents and detention beds

East County News Service

By Vinny Lavalsiti and Matthew Ochoa, reprinted with permission from The Summit at Grossmont College

Images: property of The Summit and Grossmont College's Graphic design program

October 10, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Martha Amezcua was nine when she came to the United States, and she didn't know a lick of English, creating a hefty language barrier between her and her classmates once she enrolled in school. Her silence, because of the language barrier, led to a lot bullying.

By Chris Jennewein

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

Photo:  Crime scene tape, courtesy FBI

October 1, 2017 (San Diego) - Do headlines on Fox, Breitbart and Drudge about immigrant crime scare you? Do you want to move to safety? Then consider relocating to a big city near the Mexican border.

It turns out that San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, El Paso and San Antonio have crime rates well below the average for their size, and the two cities located right on the border have the lowest crime rates of the group.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Policia Federal Mexico via Twitter

September 20, 2017 (San Diego) – A powerful 7.1 earthquake struck Mexico City yesterday, 32 years to the day that a 1985 quake killed 9,500 people and destroyed 100,000 homes in Mexico City.  Since then, the city has made major efforts to improve earthquake safety standards.

State joined by Minnesota, Maryland, and Maine in lawsuit standing up for Dreamers

East County News Service

September 11, 2017 (Sacramento) -- Today, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, joined by the attorneys general for Minnesota, Maryland and Maine, filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals initiative (DACA). The four States filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California arguing that the Trump Administration violated the Constitution and federal laws when it rescinded DACA.

By Iveth Estrada, provided by Grossmont Community College District

Reprinted with permission from San Diego Jewish World

September 11, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Iveth Estrada didn’t know she was an undocumented immigrant until shortly before she enrolled at Cuyamaca College. She didn’t know while growing up with her family in Spring Valley. She didn’t know while competing with the varsity swim and water polo teams at Monte Vista High School.

By Miriam Raftery

September 8, 2017 (San Diego) – An 8.1 earthquake has struck Mexico off the west coast near Chiapas and Oaxaca overnight, killing at least several dozen people though that count is expected to rise dramatically.  The quake, the strongest in a century to hit Mexico, and aftershocks are triggering tsunamis, one measuring 3 foot already and potential of waves up to 10 feet tall, CNN reports:  http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/08/americas/earthquake-hits-off-the-coast-of-southern-mexico/index.html

Many more fatalities and major economic loss are expected, the U.S. Geologic Survey predicts:  https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us2000ahv0#executive

Meanwhile Mexico’s east coast is awash in heavy rains and strong winds from Hurricane Katia , a category 1 hurricane off Veracruz.  A hurricane warning is in effect for Cabo Rojo to Laguna Verde.

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Joan Creighton Little, via Facebook

Updated Sept. 10 to include comments from Rep. Duncan Hunter and candidate Josh Butner.

September 6, 2017 (San Diego) -- President Donald Trump’s Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has announced he will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that shields young people brought to the U.S. as children from deportation. But he gave Congress six months to pass legislation to change that, leaving an estimated 800,000 “dreamers” in limbo, fearful of being sent back to homelands that some don’t even remember, places where dangers caused many of their families to flee and seek safety in the U.S.

East County News Service

September 4, 2017 (El Cajon) -- Hispanic Heritage Month at the two East County colleges is celebrated from mid-September to Nov. 1 with free events that are open to the public.