July 15, 2025 • 56 mins
This week, Theo speaks with returning guest, ACLU SoCal's Kath Rogers and immigration lawyer Pasquale Lombardo about the ICE raids in Los Angeles, and how to move forward with hope and pragmatism for the undocumented and unhoused communities. Also -- Theo covers the press conference of hospitalized victim of an ICE attack, Milagra Solis Portillo, including an interview with Senator Sasha Renee Perez and speaks on the top five ways that the unhoused are being devalued at a local, state, and federal level.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Previously on We The Young House.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Phoenix continues to deal with heat desks. I mean they're
in the hundreds typically in our city. The New York
Times covered it last year extensively because we have one
of the first chief Heat officers for the city of Phoenix,
which manages this issue, and the unhoused population is one
of the most affected by it. And you're right, you know,
it is so crucial that that even just access to
(00:26):
like ac or water or any of those basic deeds.
I mean, if you're out one hundred and seventeen degree attempt,
which is are high today, you can only be out
in that so long, especially if you've got a health
condition or something else. You know, there's there's always something
else going on that makes harder. The resources are there,
but they're not always the easiest to access, and people
(00:47):
don't always know about.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So welcome to We the In House. I'm your host,
Theo Henderson. Brace yourself. We have a lot to cover
this week. As California continues to be singled out by
(01:11):
the Trump administration. ICE has employed many illegal tactics, which
in turn has caused panic, chaos, anger.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And fear.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
The aim of this episode is to lay out the
facts and to provide you with some ways to resist.
But first on House News. I was on the ground
at Glendale Memorial Hospital on Monday, July seventh, twenty twenty five,
to report on this first story, a press conference about
(01:48):
the kidnapping of Malageral Sola's Portillo by ice in Sherman
Oaks on Thursday, July three, twenty twenty five. Despite obvious
injuries that required how vialization, she was left handcuffed and
covered envolment for over eight hours without proper medical care.
She is now being treated at Glendale Memorial Hospital for
(02:11):
extensive injuries. I took time to interview Senators Sasha Renee Perez,
who quickly sprung into action to help miss Partilla.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Here's our talk. Just wanted to answer a few questions.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
How did you get involved in the situation here?
Speaker 5 (02:26):
There were members of the community that reached out from
my office directly on Friday afternoon and had informed me
about what was happening, and that's how we became aware
of this situation. And you know, we just had it
straight over here.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
That's pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Is there anything that as a citizen we should do?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Who should we really rattle the change to stop this
kind of behavior.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
You know, I think one is like people need to
speak out just as they are right now. Continuing to
show for community, I think is incredibly important.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Right.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
I think her family was not able to gain access
to see her when they first were contacting her on Thursday,
And it is because community members here reaching out to
my office that I was able to ask for her
inside kind of sure that she was able to meet
with her family, And that would not have happened if
(03:24):
residents hadn't got together and said, hey, you know, this
is an issue. You know we need sport, so you know,
it makes it difference. And I think her also knowing
that there are people out here supporting her is really important.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
I've heard directly from her family that she's very scared,
you know, and rightfully so.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So I was going to say too, because I think
it's so important. I'm so gratified to see that you
were able to spring into action.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Is this are you?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
It seems like you're willing to step in to help
people that are going through this.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Is there any way do.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You contact your office or do you have a your
web page or there are any tips if they find
themselves and not just in this hospital and other hospitals
like that.
Speaker 6 (04:05):
Yeah, I mean, folks.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Are free to contact my office, like to directly curve
my website. They can also call in and call our
office as well and my district representatives, you know, like
a curlist here. They do an excellent job of just
staying in touch with the community.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
People reach out to me through all sorts of methods
where there would be online or social media, or going
through the traditional route of the email, you know, phone calls,
and we respond all sorts of ways.
Speaker 6 (04:34):
So it's it's very important.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
To me, especially as as a Latino woman, as you know,
the granddaughter of immigrants, to be very president went.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Is there any current legislations that your guys got going
working on to try to erase it or try to
set this back to where President Biden did.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Yeah, So we actually have a policy moving that I
can't remember the bill number right now, but we do
have a bill moving through the state legislature right now
to make it so that it's very clear that hospitals
do not have to provide access not to immigration enforcement
unless they have not just a warrant, but also a
(05:17):
court order and clarifying that in law, our laws actually
don't touch upon this situation because we've never had something
like this happen. The bread and administration had previously declared
these spaces safe spaces, and so this is very new
territory for us, which is part of the reason why
we introduce the bill. You know, I can only speak
(05:38):
for myself that this is the first space like this
that I've heard of since we began working on this legislation,
and it may be the first case of this is
the state.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I actually reached up to the governor.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
I let him know about this as well, and we're
very closely monitoring this situation to see not only you know,
what happens, but to see how we can and improve
the law that we're working on so we'll get stronger.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Well, Senator, I've taken up much of your time.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Thank you for showing up and thank you for your time.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to Senator
sache Rene Prez. We will be returning back to the
press conference shortly on why it was necessary and what
the issues are at hand. But first, these type of
behaviors and punitative actions exist in tandem. The link between
(06:30):
the undocumented and the unhoused treatment is very similar. Instead
of the federal government swooping in and kidnapping, thus destroying
the lives and families of those attacked, our city and
state governments enfolds punitive legislation to target another vulnerable segment
of our society, and that is the unhoused community. So,
(06:54):
without further ado, here are weed in houses top five
punitive actions against the end house.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Let's begin Number five.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Los Angeles Municipal Ordinance forty one eighteen was amended in
twenty twenty one. At the time an impact of twenty
percent of the city, making it illegal to sit, sleep
alive near public schools, daycares, parks, or other sensitive special
enforcement zones. I've been speaking out against forty one eighteen
(07:27):
for many years. Here's an educational cartoon I did with
fellow producer Katie Fischiel with WHEDI and Howse, released all
the way back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, let's been not realed. Come forty one eighteen.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
What's forty one eighteen D It's the specific elle municipal
code that city council members are trying to.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Amend so that mon house people like you, Yes, you
would be arrested for city sleeping or lie down outside.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Who you want to leave you count?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
And here's Paula Jurass speaking in favor of forty one
to eighteen asking for.
Speaker 8 (08:09):
A five hundred foot perimeter is not terribly large, but
it is a step in the right direction to ensure
the safety of our children.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Moving on to number four, Lorda, Governor Rond De Santis
passes the thirteen sixty five bill criminalizing unhoused people. Beginning
in October twenty twenty four. There are currently twenty five thousand,
nine hundred and fifty nine unhoused Lordians who are affected
by this bill.
Speaker 9 (08:40):
Signing House built thirteen sixty five into law today at
a South Beach Greek restaurant, Governor Ron de Santis joined
by Miami Beach Mayor Stephen Minor and state lawmakers.
Speaker 10 (08:49):
These homeless camps overwhelm just the quality of life too often.
It's like people in other states and other cities around
that are not doing well. It's like they let the
inmates run the asylum.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That doesn't work. For number three, we head back to California.
In June twenty twenty five, Governor Gavin Newsom orders an
encampment ban.
Speaker 11 (09:11):
In his own words, it is time to take back
the streets, it's time to take back the sidewalks. It's
time to take these encampments and provide alternatives.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And the state is giving you more resources than.
Speaker 11 (09:25):
Ever and it's time, I think, to just end the
excuses and call the question.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
It's about accountability.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Number two.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
As of July twenty twenty two and Tennessee, it is
a felony with a six year prison sentence to be
unhoused and sleeping on public land. Here's a quote from
local nimbe Rebecca Lowe, who states that unhoused people are
engaging in open air drug markets.
Speaker 9 (09:52):
And I actually personally know three people who've passed away
in the last four months. It is not like any
other tent city or homeless encampment. We have a full
blown open air drug market.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And before we get to number one, here are some
honorable mentions. Here is in themb Art gallery spraying water
an unhoused woman in Los Angeles. An unhoused woman gets
slapped at a taco bell in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
There you go, right there, that was a slap.
Speaker 8 (10:28):
The victim, believed to be homeless, is being looked for
by volunteers.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Taco Bell has yet to issue public statement.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
In Lancaster, California, the mayor calls for the death of
unhoused people by saying he will give all unhoused people Freefitnesel.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
I want to do is I want to give them
all the fen and all they want.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's what I want and at number one.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Earlier this year, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie passed the
law to arrest unhoused people if they turn now shelter
offers three times.
Speaker 12 (11:02):
Well, in a couple of the parks that you're mentioning,
those parks have now been reclaimed for the neighborhood. We
are sending a message that we're not going to tolerate
people dealing drugs or doing drugs or sleeping on our
streets anymore.
Speaker 8 (11:15):
Of course, the question is, you know, is that a
wackable situation where they're.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Just moving somewhere else.
Speaker 12 (11:19):
Well, it's funny people always say, well, if they move
somewhere else, you know, has it improved. Well, it's improved
for that neighborhood. And we're going to be relentless for
the next three and a half years on this topic.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And that's our top five.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
With all that in mind, let us return to the
press conference in Glendale regarding the ICE kidnapping. A malageral,
soulless partial one outrage speaker was a nurse from Glendal
Memorial Hospital, upset with the collaboration between the hospital and Ice.
To further intimidate Miss Portillo, here are her comments.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
We don't need to be worrying about vice agents roaming
around or sitting intimidating our patients. They're here to heal,
and we vehemably oppose the Trump administration rolled back of
it being a safe place to heal. Every patient has
a right to the care that they need and deserve,
and as nurses, we're going to stand up and fight
(12:15):
for that night, and I'm going to keep his grief.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
I'm going to say, you take on one of us,
you take on all of us. Who take on one
of us.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
We take care of all patients here. Whoever walks in
our room, I would take your President Trump if he
walked in like a walk because that's what we do.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
We're nurses. We're here to give.
Speaker 8 (12:36):
The care that people need, regardless that they're colored, their
place of origin, or anything else. So I'm standing in solidarity.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
And that's on the House news.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
When we come back, I'll speak with returning gets Kat
Rogers of the soaku A CEO you and California immigration
lawyer Pascual Lombardo. Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm THEO Henderson.
(13:15):
Let's now listen to what returning guests calv Rogers at
first time guests Pascual Lombardo have to say about the
current situation.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Here's our talk.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I have two guests that are here to address the
situations that's been going on currently. If you have been
living on another planet, allow me to reintroduce you to
the reality of what's he's going on in planet Earth.
We're in trumpet times, and trumpet times is usually with
an aggressive, steel fists kind of government ice. The Immigrant
(13:52):
Law Enforcement Agency has been descended on Los Angeles and
as to date of this date, there has been a
lot of aggressive actions from reaching out, taking vendors and
leaving their food and their products there. There has been
increased military presence. Like in a past couple of days
at the home depot where the day laborers and other
(14:14):
workers are, there has been workers that were working with
the eating fires and they are reluctant to come back
to clean because of the aggressiveness, the increased pace of
aggressiveness that's been taking place with ICE I recently was
mentioning before I started to show about now they're trying
to slither their way into other places of business, such
(14:37):
as houseless shelters, daycare centers, but most importantly into apartment complexes.
They're slithering their way in, knocking on the door or
acting aggressively to snatch people, and it is causing a
resounding fear and anxiety and to me, for me, I
feel it's incumbentible on me to combat that with the recenter.
(14:59):
Every one, we still live in America. We have rights.
This is not some totalitarian no matter how much Trumping
tries to make it so. There are things to do
and to boast of that claim. I'm asking my friend
Calf Rogers with the ACLU, I'm our new guest Pascal,
to talk to us a little bit about their experience.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Thank you all for joining us.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Thank you, and I will start if you don't mind,
Calf with you and tell us a little bit about
who you are, and I will take it next to Pascal.
Speaker 6 (15:34):
Yeah, thanks so much to you It's always good to
be with you. And we've known each other for many
years and worked alongside one another for housing justice. Yeah,
I am Cath Rogers. I work at a SLU of
Southern California. I'm on what's called Our Dignity for all
projects in Southern California, and most of the clients who
I have the honor of representing are unhoused. I also
(15:56):
work on policy efforts and budget advocacy effort to advance
housing justice and economic justice. Really good to be back
on the show.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Thank you again. It's like I say, it's always a pleasure. Pascal.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Eric, thank you, thank you for the invitation. And my
name is My name is Pascual Lombardo. I'm an immigration attorney.
I've been an immigration attorney most of my career, which
is about almost forty four years. Most of that time
i've done immigration with some representation of migrant farm workers
as well in the Midwest, but most of it's been
(16:30):
about immigration, and I just want to say I'm also
a child of immigrants. My parents were telling immigrants in
the fifties from the East Coast, and while they didn't
face the kind of discrimination Latinos and Middle Eastern an
African immigrants face in this country. I saw a lot
of patronizing behavior towards my parents, and it kind of
(16:51):
sensitized me to what immigrants spoke through in this country.
So I've been doing this really since nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Oh that's that's a minute.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I wanted to start off just with the state of
my mind right now, what's been going on. I mentioned
earlier before the show began, how we lived right now
seemed like in a cliffhanger type of environment. When I
was growing up, my parents love, particularly my mother loved
watching shows like Dallas, Falcon Crest, Guiding like and they
(17:25):
were big hit TVs. This was before social media, of course,
this was before tweeting and all of that. They would
like seven or eight, you know, my mother would be
on the phone with a neighbor or a friend or
family member gossa being about what's going on in the
show or what happened on the show, and the big
thing at that time, if I remember it was as
(17:46):
a kid, it was like Dallas was a big show,
and I think the antagonist was JR.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Ewing, and JR. Ewing got shot and.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It was a big It was a of course, it
doesn't seem that big thing now, but it was a big,
big deal then because he was no one knew it
was a major who done it? And it went through
a whole big cliffhanger anyway, the whole season, I think
the whole summer, everyone was trying to figure out who
was there, who hated the guy more, was it the
family that shot him, or is he going to survive?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
And all of those things.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And I even had a T shirt for it, that's
how big the phenomenon was. And so to that end,
I was like, if you want to do this kind
of kafasque reality, this is kind of what's going on now.
It's like, who's going to be shooting Jr? Now in
different directions. So with that said, what has been your observations,
CAP on what's going on in your neck of the woods.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Well, yeah, I think that's that's what I said. We
are in a cliffhanger moment for sure, and I think
there's just so much uncertainty and fear, rightfully so, because
you know, we see these cruel federal agents, you know,
invading places of worship, people's homes, you know, where people hunger, gate,
where people work. You know, it's like nothing is sacred anymore.
(19:03):
So it's it's really frightening in terms of just kind
of some big picture perspective. You know, I think it's
important to remember that, you know, there are people fighting back.
You know, a few weeks ago there were five million
people who took to the streets at the No King's protests.
So I think that was some inspiring show of solidarity
(19:24):
and support among you know, just everyday Americans. So I
think that's really what we need to remember is just
that the the power of the people is always going
to be greater than the people of power, and you know,
we need people to rise up. We also, of course
need lawsuits. You know, there are a lot of those.
Two The ACLU, I think, has filed something like sixty
six lawsuits against the federal administration since Trump took office,
(19:47):
So there's that too, and most of them have been successful.
I think seventy five percent or so have been successful
in stopping the federal administration's actions. So we just need
to remember that resistance is effective. We need to all
get an we need to all resist and all you know,
fight for justice.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well said I was going to say too, just a
quick sight note, because I noticed the intensity and because
how violent these these these actions are. They're even going
into houseless shelters or going on sweeps and looking for
undocumented on house people and targeting them as well, which
also spikes up anxiety too. Is one thing to be
(20:28):
dealing with being on house and dealing with the forty
one eighteen's and the Grant's past rulings and the things
of that nature. But to add a new element of
more verbal and physical way of trying to remove you
or erase you adds a new dimension of horrors for
unhoused people as well. But to that end, many of
the people that are speaking out, now what's been like.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
For example, I'll give you Governor Newsom.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Governor Newsom has taken on as like a pushback against
Trump in many respects, and he rightly so should speak
out because he snatched the National Guard authority from him
and brought them without his say so, and he's been
pushing back and staying things in the spotlight. But this
is the same one that has voted for punitative measures
(21:15):
against un house people that are displaced and are undocumented
or not undocumented are facing those kind of realities, and
I would be remiss not to mention the interconnectedness to it.
The four self evictions, the deportations, the violence, that state
or government are in tandem with each other. It is
(21:38):
not an accident. But we must keep in mind that
is conversation as well.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
But I digress.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think the new some
unfortunately has you know, I think he has his sights
on election, you know, for the next presidential election, and
so yeah, I mean we need leaders with real courage.
That's what we need in this moment, absolutely, and we
haven't seen that from him.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Thank you, Pasco. What's your observation, what have you seen?
Speaker 4 (22:06):
It's been a really crazy, frightening time. I've never in
my career seen ICE be so reckless, so aggressive, so,
you know, willing to trample people's rights left and right,
and they're on a mission. Their marching orders are in
la well all over the country. Let's arrest three thousand
(22:29):
people a day, you know, three thousand people immigrants a day.
And Stephen Miller, the point person for integration in the
Trump administration, who's a horrible person. He would do well
in the Gestapo. I always think of it as in
the Gestopo. His marching orders are go out and get
these people. And that's what we're seeing. They're not doing
(22:52):
these targeted arrests. You know, they claim to be going
after quote unquote criminals, and I'm not even accepting that,
but that's what they claim to be doing, right, And
they're going after anybody, and they're going they see somebody
who's not white. Principally they're going after Latinos, but it's
not exclusively Latinos. I think you were talking about an
(23:14):
Iranian woman, yes, before we went on air.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Here a Haitian woman too, Yeah, Aitian woman.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
But you know, anybody who's not white, and you know,
particularly any brownskin person, they will go and they will
arrest them. They don't hear what their status is. They'll
ask questions later. I think you mentioned home depot. You know,
near where I live in East Hollywood, there was a
home depot that was there was a raid. I don't know,
a couple of weeks ago. There was another raid apparently yesterday.
(23:43):
I didn't even know that. I found out from a
day laborer who told me that. And like I said,
they can't just look at someone on the street and say, oh,
that brownskin person is an undocumented immigrant. They don't know
if he's a citizen or she is as a citizen
or a resident, or a student, visa holder or a
(24:03):
dock up person. They aren't going after anybody and then
they ask questions later. That's what I'm seeing, and I'm
seeing people who are terrified. I've never seen immigrants in
my career be so scared. It's horrifying. And also it
reminds me the other day I was driving I live
(24:26):
not far from downtown off Sunset Boulevard, the east side
of town, and I was driving down Sunset and there
were so few cars on the street, and it reminded
me of the beginning days of the epidemic of COVID
when Sunset was desolate. And it's like what you were
saying before we got started. People aren't going to work,
(24:48):
people aren't going shopping, people are afraid to go on
the street. There's also fear in the courts. People are
being arrested when they actually show up and do what
they're supposed to do and to courters. So it's a
horrible time. Horrible, not unprecedented. There's been bad times in
the history of the United States and with immigration policy.
(25:10):
In the twenties there was a red scare, and in
the thirties there was a massive deportation, so many, many,
many US citizens were deported in Mexico. But this is bad.
This is as bad as it's been in my career,
you know.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I wanted to bring another connective link to the situation too.
A few episodes ago, I had did a story and
I wanted to show a similarity and I was so
outraged at the time. And this was before ICE had
picked up its momentum. There was a community, an unhouse community, elderly,
mostly elderly, unhused community out in Elmonte, and they decided
(25:47):
to sweep them. And I'm going to give you the
backdrop and show you how at the time there was
not too much of an urgency. But when I went
out there personally, I went out there, it was during
the heat wave the place, and I have existing health
issues and disabilities. It was the most difficult place. I
(26:09):
would not have tried to live there because I've been
unhoused before and I would not have tried to live there.
But this place had uneven terrain and they were deep
into the woods. And the law enforcement had taken to
this area and was pushing them out. Now, what makes
that even much worse is the fact that these people were.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
My parents and grandparents' age. These were not like my age.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
These were not people were able to move on a
dime of move quickly, to move along, like when you
see them coming sweeping people, you know. And they were
giving them shorter ejection times because usually when they sweep
on house people, they usually give ten to fifteen minutes
at the most, maybe thirty minutes to amble your stuff
out or get your assistance and whatever. They were discouraging recordings,
(27:00):
were discouraging people from helping them. They said that they
gave offered shelter, they offered services, and that's they always
say excuses. But the thing is they were pushing the
elderly community to move fast in one hundred and something
degree heat, which it infuriated me so much that I
really spent time on that episode because it really ticked
(27:20):
me off. It was because so much was going on
at that time, but I wanted people to understand the
fear that was going on, the distress and the unreasonableness
of it. And this was on the wings of the
grant's past ruling, but also what was not shown and
it portended. I wish I had, you know, had connected
(27:42):
the dots sooner. Many of the elderly and the un
housed community would sneak back to the areas that they
were in, but at night they had our law enforcement,
our sheriffs, our police officers would go down and hunt
them down, to go and try to arrest them or
what do they call them, trespass them or evict them,
(28:02):
whatever it is that they do to start the arrest
and to seize their properties and things like that to
discourage them from moving back. Now that sounds familiar to
what's going on now, and I want our listeners that
are understandably and justifiably upset about what's going on with
the immigration and the ICE conversation, but also understand this
(28:24):
is not something that we have not seen before. If
you understand how they've attacked the vulnerable communities like the
young house, if they're doing this to us in a
local area, our own local law enforcement, which also I'm
going to bring another question up later, but that is
indicative of what they believe of poor and vulnerable people
(28:45):
and how it's so easy to get fear to sweep
up people, and it's so easy to justify their actions.
The reason that this time is unhelps. People are service
resistant and I've hear some boot liquors, I mean, or
people say, you know, if you came in here regularly,
then then you wouldn't have you wouldn't have these problems,
or you are criminals. There there's only half for the criminals,
(29:07):
and it's so easy to create craft a narrative to
justify injustice. I always say, if you can demonize the people,
then you can criminalize them. So my next question is
is there things that our communities can do legally to
protect ourselves, like our rights, certain things like that.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I'll hand that off to.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
Kath Sure, and I'll tag team this with pusual because
Pusqual is really the expert on immigrants rights. Okay, I'll
kind of give an overview of if you see a
civil rights violation, what to do, and then I'll pass
it to Puswal for immigrants rights perfect and also what
to do if you counter LA enforcement. So one thing
that we can all do to show up in solidarity
(29:47):
if you see civil rights violations is to be an
effective bystander. Right, so you see something, document it. And
the effective way to do that is if you see
you know, an officer, an ice agent, you see you know,
police using excessive force violating people's rights, you know, you
can make a powerful impact because your presence alone can
(30:08):
sometimes deter civil rights violations. Just being watched, knowing that
there's someone with a camera right there can sometimes stop
civil rights violation. But if you get that footage, that
can be really helpful to somebody, either in a criminal
case or in a civil case afterwards. So my recommendation
is if you you know, if you see something, get
out your phone camera right away. Aim it at the officers,
(30:29):
not at the individual. You know, if you're at an
encampment rate, for example, don't aim your camera at on
housed books. I would aim the camera, you know, directly
at the officers and then collect information about what happened.
Collect the officer's name, get you know, any witness information.
That's one of the biggest things that I see as
people forget to get witness information. There might be you know,
(30:50):
ten people who saw the civil rights violation take place.
But if you don't have people's names and contact information,
you know, all those witnesses go home. You know, forget
about what happened, so you really need to collect their
contact information right there on the spot. So that's one
way that you can be really effective. And just remember
you have the right to photograph and film police when
you're in public. They can't take away your camera, they
(31:12):
can't delete your photos and videos. If police ask to
see your camera, say I don't consent to a search.
So that's one way that you can be a really
effective bystander to help when you see a civil rights violation.
And I'm going to turn it over to my friend
Pascual to talk more about know your rights and what
you can actually do when encountered by law enforcement or ice.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Nice thanks kath Well. In terms of immigrants, it's important
for immigrants and I think a lot of people know
this now. There's been a lot of community education around
these issues since these It's always gone on, but it's
really intensified since these ice rates have started, and people
now understand they have a right to remain silent, you know,
(31:56):
when the ice is going around knocking on doors. Were
met talking about that going into apartment buildings. People have
a right to not open their doors, right they have
to show a warrant, a federal warrant, not an ICE
warrant to enter the home.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
What's the difference between an ICE warrant and a federal warrant?
And how can we identify understand that because I wouldn't
know the difference.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
It has to be signed by a judge. It to say, okay,
you know, a federal judge and not an ICE warrant
by an ICE agent. And then you can ask. You
can ask the person if they're insisting on coming in,
you can ask them to slide if they do have
a warrant, to slide it under the door or put
it up next to a window. Normally they don't have warrants.
(32:40):
They don't go and get warrants to do something, but
they try to intimidate people. People they are Inuicier responses
as always, well, it's a law enforcement person, I better
open the door. I'm going to get in trouble, right
Or if they open the door a little bit to
speak to the officer, they're just going to push their
way in and then lie about it later. That's that's
(33:00):
just a fact. That's what's going to happen. So people
have to understand they're in their own home unless there's
a warrant, they have a right to not open the door.
One question that came up is what about an unhoused
person and an ICE. If an ice asient is approaching
a tent, is there a right to not you know,
unzip the entrance to the tent. Is it like being
(33:22):
in a home? And maybe Kath can talk about that later.
But if people are on the street, likewise ICE approaches them,
you know, the standard for them approaching somebody and just
initiating a conversation, I think it's like reasonable suspicion that
there's a person is here unlawfully. It's a very low,
low standard. So they can approach people and start talking.
(33:44):
But that person that they're approaching has a right to
remain silent. They don't have to give their name, they
don't have to give their immigration status. And again, like
I was saying, these I sells, they don't know if
somebody is a US citizen or a docoholder or a
Green card holder. They don't know by the color of
their skin that they're undocumented. So people have a right
(34:06):
to remain silent. And I mean, I want to be
realistic about this too. They have a right to remain silent.
But with the tactics that they're using now, they're not
going to listen to that. And most of the time
they are not going to listen, they'll still arrest somebody.
If anything, they might get more aggressive if somebody possibly
tries to assert their rights, but they should assert their rights,
(34:29):
make a record of it, and they really shouldn't. They
would have no probable cause to arrest somebody if it
was just based on what they look like. They should
maintain their silence, and perhaps later if they end up
getting into immigration proceedings, their lawyer can file emotion to
suppress any statements that they actually were coerced into making. Right,
(34:51):
And it's similar to a criminal proceeding. If someone is
arrested and they find some kind of control substance as
a result of coersion and an arrest without a warrant,
evidence could be suppressed. It's the same thing with immigrants,
right if they make statements after being coursed, after the
(35:13):
person has repeatedly tried to maintain their silence. It's not
as easy as in criminal court, but still there's an
argument that you can suppress any statements that person made
and to get proceedings dismissed. So the bullet point is
you have a right to remain silent.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
We'll be back with.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
More from Cat and Pestqual after the break. Welcome back.
This is theo Henderson with Weed and Howes. Here's the
rest of my interview with Kath and Pesqual. Here's another
thing too, because I've been watching some of some YouTube
videos of know your rights and things like that, and
(35:54):
I noticed that the people would ask jump off the
bat am I un arrest or are you detaining me?
Or one of my favorite is I don't talk to cops,
I don't talk to police and try to leave.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Is that's still applicable for the immigrant.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Community as well, you know, like one of the guys
they think were targeting is that you're just trying to
fish or find something, some kind of justification to hold me.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I don't want to be held. I got to go
and tried to leave.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Of course that cost other issues, but I wanted to
know if that's a possibility for the community to do
as well.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Well. Yeah, unless they're under if they're not under arrest,
they have a right to walk away, you know. The
predat is I mean, just to be realistic in this
climate that's not going to work. Most of the time,
these people would just run after in the Ice officers
would just run after him, cackle, and that they have
to even though there are any evidence of the status
of the person. Okay, so I want to be realistic
(36:47):
about that. It's not I don't want to be like
talking about legal rights you know that are illusory, that
they're there, but ice tramples on those rights. At this point,
I just want to to say, and you probably are
familiar with this too, a lot of the nonprofits have
distributed a small card with these rights, the right to
(37:07):
remains silence, not to open the door unless there's a warrant,
not to sign anything. If I asked you to sign something,
as often it could be to agree to deportation. They're
red cards, and people are calling them. You've seen these
right and people in the immigrant community now I've never
heard they say, oh, yeah, I have a red card
or red card. It really thousands of these have been
(37:28):
distributed all over the community and it's great to see it.
People are really kind of standing up for themselves and
defending themselves and not just being coerced.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So which brings another question. Kath a while ago, I
knew if they were recording outfee since and inappropriate coercion
kind of tactics. Is there somewhere that they can send
this information to let the world know or let legal
counsel know in order to help them, because you know
(37:58):
the ones that are being started, which I also want
to be realistic too, it is not the same as
you're going to jail down and down Central Station, Downtown
Men's jail.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
They're not sending them there.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
They're sending them to outposts or places that they have strategically,
and they're not giving the same processing systems and rights
that if a LAPD was to arrest you, you know
you're going to be booked, your information is going to
be posted somewhere, and you're going to be able to
as a chain where they are. And that is not
what's going on with with ICE. You can be snatched,
(38:31):
and let's even be even more frank, if you're unhoused,
and you know the difficulty even with local law enforcement
tearing up and throwing it with your IDs and your
personal papers, and the ICE comes up on you and
snatches you, the chances of finding you or getting you know,
locating you is even much more steeper.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
So, you know, I just wanted to point that out.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Is there a spot where they could dump an audio
or videos, you know, in a place where a CEO you.
Speaker 6 (39:00):
Could do so you ceiling, you used to have a
central repository. It doesn't anymore. So it's going to depend
on the person's situation. But I'll just give an example,
because sometimes an example is the most helpful. Last Monday,
I was walking at night in my neighborhood and I
saw an unhoused man who was being searched by the police.
(39:22):
And you know, the police cars were there. The police
were out of the car and they were doing a
pat down search. But I saw them going into his pockets, right,
which is crossing the line from a pat down search.
You know, that's that's crossing the line from a stop
and frisk into like an actual search. So I got
on my cell phone camera real quick start recording, and
you know, I just said something like, you know, I
see that you don't have consent for that search, right,
(39:43):
And so I documented for maybe four to five minutes,
get the whole encounter focused on the officers, right. And
after that video, I sent a copy of that video
to the public. Defender's office, because I figured that anyone
who is charged with the misdemeanor or felony is going
to have a public defender. So I send it to
(40:04):
the public defenders here where I live in San Diego,
and they said they're going to send it to the
appropriate point of contact for you know, the man's attorney.
So it depends on the person, but you really want
to try to get it to the person who's impacted
and their attorney. That's really where you want to get
the footage. And just to piggyback really quickly on that,
you were just talking about some catchphrases that people can
(40:25):
sort of memorize. I think that there's a few that
are really helpful. You were talking about asking am I
free to go? I think that's a really helpful one,
and I think that applies to anyone, right, you know,
in the immigration context and police contexts, because that tells
you what kind of encounter you're having. You know, if
police are detaining you, you want to know that, right,
(40:47):
and if you're free to go, you want to know
that so you can just walk away. So that's a
good one to remember. It's just am I free to go? Also,
I don't want to answer any questions, or I'm exercising
my right to remain silent, whatever you want to say
to indicate I am remaining silent. It's better to actually
state that than staying silent, because then you're making a record, right,
So if you put that on the record, I don't
(41:08):
want to answer your questions, I'm remaining silent. That's a
really good way to make the record. Also, if you're
in custody and you're being asked questions, say I want
a lawyer. That invokes your sixth Amendment right, and it's
supposed to stop the questioning. So law enforcement is supposed
to stop questioning you at that point. And then if
there's any kind of search, doesn't matter what kind, search
(41:28):
of your tent, a search of your bag, a search
of your car, anything like that. I do not consent
to a search. And you can say it again and
again and again, I do not consent to a search.
It may not stop the search because, as Pusquo was saying,
you know, we know that people's rights are violated all
the time, but it helps build a record because the
thing is a lot of times police will say, oh,
(41:50):
I had consent for that oh, I asked to see
the bag and they handed it to me. So they
agreed to show me their bag. You're making a record.
No I don't consent to this, and that's going to
be helpful later on. It'll protect your rights later, even
if it doesn't stop the search.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
Yah. Can I ask a question, Rre. You know, if
if that is happening, is a video taken by a
bystander or a legal observer, could they have be good
evidence in court of the person exercising their constitutional rights
to remain silent?
Speaker 6 (42:20):
I think so, yeah, absolutely, Like for example, the video
I was talking about from last Monday, you know, the
man in question was clearly detained, he was in handcuffs.
He was saying what are you doing? You know, stop that,
you know to the officer. So he was clearly not consenting.
He didn't use those exact words, he didn't say I
don't consent, but you know it was clear that there
was no consent there, right, and so video would indicate
(42:42):
that and especially we want to make a record.
Speaker 4 (42:44):
Yeah, And it could also be like like you know,
National Lawyers Go has legal observers going to a lot
of these ice demonstrations and they could be videoing, they
could be taking notes about what happened and later they
could be witnesses as well.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Perfect which also up bring up quickly about in LG
has legal observers, they're usually coming to the staging areas
or trying to anticipate where ICE is going to be
to stop or basically watch what's going on. And that's
another too, if you don't know what National lawyers guilt.
If I'm correct, that's a group of lawyers that are
(43:22):
out fighting injustice as well as this situation warrant and
they have other tactics and tools to look into as well.
But to quickly segue into one of the things that
what's been going on, we've already established that this is
an unprecedented time. There's a lot of anxiety and a
lot of fears and things. They're going after unhoused people
(43:45):
and shelters. In fact, in San Diego's they arrested to
unhoused people when they're going into the shelters. I think
it was in a parking lot of somewhere else. So
seems like this is going to be part for the course.
Is there anything else that unhoused people can do? I
know we have the red cards, and that's another possibility too.
(44:05):
But is there any other kind of things that they
could do to protect themselves, like, for example, the tent situation,
they're at a tent, someone speaks to them, you know,
like the local cops would try and they don't come
out because if they don't want to be with cops
and let's they try to get swept. You know, they
you know, they don't try not to come out. But
(44:25):
you know that does that still hold weight or hold
water in the same situation.
Speaker 6 (44:30):
So in the tent situation, there's not a whole lot
of case law, but some courts have said, you know,
there's a right of privacy in your tent, So I
would certainly argue in court, and I think we should
all continue to argue in court, so we do build
up case law on this point. Okay, But you know,
if I were in a tent and there was an
ICE agent outside, I would ask for a warrant and
(44:52):
I would also state I do not consent to a search,
and you know, you state those things over and over again,
preserve your record. We know, like PSCUAL said, you know,
ICE is violating people's rights, so it may not stop it.
But certainly ask for it because it can build a
record and protect your rights elsewhere. And then also I
think just being in solidarity with one another. We know
(45:14):
that unhoused folks help one another way more than any
city or government or service provider ever does. So, you know,
I think exercise your best judgment about how to stay safe,
how to stay out of ICE's view. You know, it's
the extent you can. I know people are going to
extreme measures right now just to stay away from ice,
which is so sad, you know, But people know how
(45:35):
to keep themselves safe, people relying on each other and
building community to keep each other safe. Also, service providers
can do more to keep people safe if they are
in a shelter. For example, shelters can indicate which areas
are open to the public and which are not. And
then we need service providers to really pull the line
too and not let ice in without a warrant into
(45:57):
non public areas in a shelter.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
That's an excellent point.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
But also what can mutual aid groups do to help,
Like you know, I'm part of a mutual aid group,
and if they are listening in what service things like
for example, they were doing the power up when a
lot of the protests was going on, and what can
they do to shepherd allowing some of the un housed
to be a prize and find out how to make
(46:23):
sure that they're safe as well.
Speaker 6 (46:25):
I think a couple of things. So some of the
mutual aid groups that I work with pass out red cards,
and I think that's just a basic thing that you know,
everybody can do. You know, if you're doing mutual aid,
include red cards for everybody. Also, I think talking with
unhoused folks and asking what folks are already doing, because
I feel like information sharing between unhoused folks. There's so
(46:48):
many creative ideas in the community, and people know how
to keep one another safe. And so I think really
like developing ideas collaboratively with the with unhoused community members
is a really good idea. And then also mutual aid
providers can probably make sure that their local service providers
like shelters are doing the right things, are protecting their
clients from ice, because that's really, you know, something where
(47:12):
service providers needs to step up and demand a warrant,
you know, keep non public areas, keep ice out of
those areas, to protect unhoused clients at their at their shelters.
Speaker 4 (47:25):
Another thing that I think on house people can do
if they have access to a cell phone. There's different
groups that are actually tracking these ice raids in the community.
Like one is Un del Badio in La What is
again like Union del Badio you know, Union of the
(47:47):
Neighborhood or Union of the People. There's another group called
La Taco. They're actually like videotaping ice aggressions, ice raids
as they're happening, and people who have that app they
can find out if ICE is in their neighborhood or
close to their neighborhood. The other day, I was at
u Haul I needed to get some workers to help
(48:10):
me with a move and I was it was near
the home Depot center and I said, oh, that's where
the raid took place the other day, and he said yeah.
And then they also they arrested somebody in a lunch
truck as well. And then he says to me, right now,
there's an action going on in Ninth Street downtown LA.
And I said, how do you know that? And he
like took out his phone and went to the un
(48:33):
Bodio app and he showed me as it was happening
the raid that was going on. This is amazing and
I think there's a number of organizations doing this. It's incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
That's good to know.
Speaker 4 (48:46):
And the other thing I did that day and I
think more people should do this. I don't know if
anybody's doing this in an organized way, but I had
to get some stuff at U haul and I started
talking to some workers. There are a couple that I
recognized a move from a couple of years ago, and
I just like, did anno your rights thing with people
(49:06):
right on the spot. And I think other people have
done this, but I don't know if anybody is doing
in an organized way going to these communities.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
That's the next thing too, because there's been again, there's
so much that has been going on with the raids
and the spontaneity of sweeps because while the raids are
going on and house people are being swept and places
where they used to be are not where they are.
And then also because of the nature of how what's
going on with the raid on house people have trying
(49:37):
to fade into the background. For example, where I'm nearby,
there used to be a whole hosted tents during the day.
They're not They waited like middle of the night, come back,
it's like fifteen to twenty tenths. Then they disappear because
it's changing up the timing and the rhythm of how
the things used to be. Where they could be staying
(49:59):
there or they could be by they're not. They're adjusting
to the ever changing environment. The young House are really
trying to stay ahead, but also trying to stay ahead,
not only from ice, but trying to stay ahead from
law enforcement and Governor Newsom's forced encampment resolution policies and
punitative ideas too. While this is going on, I always
(50:20):
have to redirect or bring it back to This has
been going on with un the House people for some time,
and you know, we have had postings and conversations about
sweeps and things, but it's now taken to a more
of an accelerated rate with the major populace of people
that are in different stages of walks of life that
(50:40):
are undocumented and documented. Because you don't have to be undocumented.
You can be walking down the street behinding your own
business and they say papers and you just like, what
the hell, and you can be just snatched and whether
you're a citizen or not.
Speaker 4 (50:52):
So the other thing That's that's really outrageous, is that
a lot of these these ICE officers, if that's in
fact what they are, they're masked. You can't even you know,
you don't know their identity, you don't know if they're
really ICE officers, And there's I can't prove this, but
I know the LA Times has talked about this, that
there may be people who are like crowd boys masquerading
(51:13):
as ICE, you know, or other individuals who are anti immigrant.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Or human trafficking.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
I've heard the stories that they are not part of
all enforcement at all. They're trying human trafficking people because
this is the hysteria that's going on right now.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
And also there's been talk that some of these people
might be bounty hunters hired by ICE to represent I
wouldn't doubt that. I really wouldn't doubt that. I don't
know if it's accurate or not, if anybody's proven it,
I certainly wouldn't doubt it. Especially with Trump and Stephen
Miller in control. They have no shame. I mean, they
(51:49):
have no respect for the law, and they have no shame.
Speaker 3 (51:52):
Absolutely absolutely, I think I've covered what I wanted to cover.
Is there anything that I'm missing that you guys want
to bring out or bring up.
Speaker 4 (51:59):
I mean, I'm not sure this could involvement on a
house person who is in immigration proceedings. I mean, what
I mentioned before is people are going in they may
have an immigration court hearing, and they're showing up in court,
and if they're been in the United States for less
than two years, they can be what's called expedited removal.
(52:21):
They can be like expelled. Generally, you get a right
to a hearing before you're actually deported from the country,
but if you've been here less than two years, the
government has a right to actually expel you without a hearing.
And the only thing you could do that is say,
f your persecution. They'd have to give you an interview
to determine if it's a credible fear. If it is,
(52:43):
you can apply for asylum. But otherwise they can just
expel you. So people who are going into court, they
may be applying for asylum and some other form of relief.
And if there's been there less than two years, it's
communicated to ICE by the ICE attorneys, the government attorneys,
(53:04):
and the attorney will move to dismiss the case. And
that sounds good. People are walking out thinking all the
case was dismissed. Well, right outside the court room, ICE
is there and they're arresting people, putting them in custody
and starting this procedure. And the same thing with a
lot of people who were actually brought into the country
(53:25):
allowed legally parolled in from the border to apply for asylum.
People are going to court and again the ICE attorneys
are moving to dismiss their cases, detaining them. And those
people who were permitted to come in under what's called parole,
they're not even entitled to a bond to be released
(53:49):
while their proceedings go through the court. So if they
want to perceive with their asylum case, they can do it,
but they're going to be detained. It's another manner of
career people to just give up and leave. So some
really outrageous things are going on.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well, thank you for bringing out to I S. I
have no idea, kay, you know, I.
Speaker 6 (54:10):
Just thank you for you. It's always good to be
with you, you know, in these trying times. And just
appreciate the information you get out to folks, and continue
to be in solidarity with one another, you know, move
forward and protect one another.
Speaker 4 (54:24):
Yeah, and support one another. I mean, I know a
lot of people immigrants that I've talked to, they were like,
so happy to see you know, millions of people are
on the United States protesting on that No King's Day.
People I've talked to, they were like, well, most people
are supporting us. It's you know, as opposed to just
(54:45):
living in fear all the time. And I think we
should encourage people as individuals too, and just remind them,
you know, don't believe what is is telling you. You know,
you're good people. They're the ignorant ones. They're the racist ones.
You're just working trying to survive, and you're a good person,
and don't forget that. Stay strong.
Speaker 3 (55:04):
Oh thank you both for taking the time to come
in and talk with me today. And on that note,
I hope you learned as much as I did.
Speaker 6 (55:12):
Thank you, Thanks so much, Deo.
Speaker 1 (55:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Thank you so much to Cafin Pasqual for that time.
You can learn more about their work at the links
in the description. And thank you for joining us for
another informative episode of Weedian House.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
Hope you get something out of this.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
In the face of injustice, it is always important to resist.
Speaker 1 (55:42):
If you have a story you'd like to.
Speaker 3 (55:44):
Share, Please reach out to me at Wiedianhouse at gmail
dot com or Widianhouse on Instagram. Until next time, maybe again,
Meet in the Light of Understanding. Weedian House is a
production of by Heart Radio. It is written, hosted, and
created by me Theo Henderson, our producers Jamie Loftus, Hailey Fager,
(56:08):
Katie Fischer, and Lyra Smith.
Speaker 1 (56:11):
Our editor is Adam Watt, our.
Speaker 3 (56:14):
Engineer is Joel Jerome, and our local art is also
by Katie Fischer.
Speaker 1 (56:20):
Thank you for listening.
Previously on We The Young House.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Phoenix continues to deal with heat desks. I mean they're
in the hundreds typically in our city. The New York
Times covered it last year extensively because we have one
of the first chief Heat officers for the city of Phoenix,
which manages this issue, and the unhoused population is one
of the most affected by it. And you're right, you know,
it is so crucial that that even just access to
(00:26):
like ac or water or any of those basic deeds.
I mean, if you're out one hundred and seventeen degree attempt,
which is are high today, you can only be out
in that so long, especially if you've got a health
condition or something else. You know, there's there's always something
else going on that makes harder. The resources are there,
but they're not always the easiest to access, and people
(00:47):
don't always know about.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
So welcome to We the In House. I'm your host,
Theo Henderson. Brace yourself. We have a lot to cover
this week. As California continues to be singled out by
(01:11):
the Trump administration. ICE has employed many illegal tactics, which
in turn has caused panic, chaos, anger.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
And fear.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
The aim of this episode is to lay out the
facts and to provide you with some ways to resist.
But first on House News. I was on the ground
at Glendale Memorial Hospital on Monday, July seventh, twenty twenty five,
to report on this first story, a press conference about
(01:48):
the kidnapping of Malageral Sola's Portillo by ice in Sherman
Oaks on Thursday, July three, twenty twenty five. Despite obvious
injuries that required how vialization, she was left handcuffed and
covered envolment for over eight hours without proper medical care.
She is now being treated at Glendale Memorial Hospital for
(02:11):
extensive injuries. I took time to interview Senators Sasha Renee Perez,
who quickly sprung into action to help miss Partilla.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Here's our talk. Just wanted to answer a few questions.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
How did you get involved in the situation here?
Speaker 5 (02:26):
There were members of the community that reached out from
my office directly on Friday afternoon and had informed me
about what was happening, and that's how we became aware
of this situation. And you know, we just had it
straight over here.
Speaker 6 (02:41):
That's pretty much it.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Is there anything that as a citizen we should do?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Who should we really rattle the change to stop this
kind of behavior.
Speaker 5 (02:53):
You know, I think one is like people need to
speak out just as they are right now. Continuing to
show for community, I think is incredibly important.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Right.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
I think her family was not able to gain access
to see her when they first were contacting her on Thursday,
And it is because community members here reaching out to
my office that I was able to ask for her
inside kind of sure that she was able to meet
with her family, And that would not have happened if
(03:24):
residents hadn't got together and said, hey, you know, this
is an issue. You know we need sport, so you know,
it makes it difference. And I think her also knowing
that there are people out here supporting her is really important.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
You know.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
I've heard directly from her family that she's very scared,
you know, and rightfully so.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
So I was going to say too, because I think
it's so important. I'm so gratified to see that you
were able to spring into action.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Is this are you?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
It seems like you're willing to step in to help
people that are going through this.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
Is there any way do.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
You contact your office or do you have a your
web page or there are any tips if they find
themselves and not just in this hospital and other hospitals
like that.
Speaker 6 (04:05):
Yeah, I mean, folks.
Speaker 5 (04:07):
Are free to contact my office, like to directly curve
my website. They can also call in and call our
office as well and my district representatives, you know, like
a curlist here. They do an excellent job of just
staying in touch with the community.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
People reach out to me through all sorts of methods
where there would be online or social media, or going
through the traditional route of the email, you know, phone calls,
and we respond all sorts of ways.
Speaker 6 (04:34):
So it's it's very important.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
To me, especially as as a Latino woman, as you know,
the granddaughter of immigrants, to be very president went.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Is there any current legislations that your guys got going
working on to try to erase it or try to
set this back to where President Biden did.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
Yeah, So we actually have a policy moving that I
can't remember the bill number right now, but we do
have a bill moving through the state legislature right now
to make it so that it's very clear that hospitals
do not have to provide access not to immigration enforcement
unless they have not just a warrant, but also a
(05:17):
court order and clarifying that in law, our laws actually
don't touch upon this situation because we've never had something
like this happen. The bread and administration had previously declared
these spaces safe spaces, and so this is very new
territory for us, which is part of the reason why
we introduce the bill. You know, I can only speak
(05:38):
for myself that this is the first space like this
that I've heard of since we began working on this legislation,
and it may be the first case of this is
the state.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
I actually reached up to the governor.
Speaker 7 (05:50):
I let him know about this as well, and we're
very closely monitoring this situation to see not only you know,
what happens, but to see how we can and improve
the law that we're working on so we'll get stronger.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Well, Senator, I've taken up much of your time.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Thank you for showing up and thank you for your time.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you to Senator
sache Rene Prez. We will be returning back to the
press conference shortly on why it was necessary and what
the issues are at hand. But first, these type of
behaviors and punitative actions exist in tandem. The link between
(06:30):
the undocumented and the unhoused treatment is very similar. Instead
of the federal government swooping in and kidnapping, thus destroying
the lives and families of those attacked, our city and
state governments enfolds punitive legislation to target another vulnerable segment
of our society, and that is the unhoused community. So,
(06:54):
without further ado, here are weed in houses top five
punitive actions against the end house.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Let's begin Number five.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Los Angeles Municipal Ordinance forty one eighteen was amended in
twenty twenty one. At the time an impact of twenty
percent of the city, making it illegal to sit, sleep
alive near public schools, daycares, parks, or other sensitive special
enforcement zones. I've been speaking out against forty one eighteen
(07:27):
for many years. Here's an educational cartoon I did with
fellow producer Katie Fischiel with WHEDI and Howse, released all
the way back in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Now, let's been not realed. Come forty one eighteen.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
What's forty one eighteen D It's the specific elle municipal
code that city council members are trying to.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Amend so that mon house people like you, Yes, you
would be arrested for city sleeping or lie down outside.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Who you want to leave you count?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
And here's Paula Jurass speaking in favor of forty one
to eighteen asking for.
Speaker 8 (08:09):
A five hundred foot perimeter is not terribly large, but
it is a step in the right direction to ensure
the safety of our children.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Moving on to number four, Lorda, Governor Rond De Santis
passes the thirteen sixty five bill criminalizing unhoused people. Beginning
in October twenty twenty four. There are currently twenty five thousand,
nine hundred and fifty nine unhoused Lordians who are affected
by this bill.
Speaker 9 (08:40):
Signing House built thirteen sixty five into law today at
a South Beach Greek restaurant, Governor Ron de Santis joined
by Miami Beach Mayor Stephen Minor and state lawmakers.
Speaker 10 (08:49):
These homeless camps overwhelm just the quality of life too often.
It's like people in other states and other cities around
that are not doing well. It's like they let the
inmates run the asylum.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That doesn't work. For number three, we head back to California.
In June twenty twenty five, Governor Gavin Newsom orders an
encampment ban.
Speaker 11 (09:11):
In his own words, it is time to take back
the streets, it's time to take back the sidewalks. It's
time to take these encampments and provide alternatives.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And the state is giving you more resources than.
Speaker 11 (09:25):
Ever and it's time, I think, to just end the
excuses and call the question.
Speaker 6 (09:31):
It's about accountability.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Number two.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
As of July twenty twenty two and Tennessee, it is
a felony with a six year prison sentence to be
unhoused and sleeping on public land. Here's a quote from
local nimbe Rebecca Lowe, who states that unhoused people are
engaging in open air drug markets.
Speaker 9 (09:52):
And I actually personally know three people who've passed away
in the last four months. It is not like any
other tent city or homeless encampment. We have a full
blown open air drug market.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
And before we get to number one, here are some
honorable mentions. Here is in themb Art gallery spraying water
an unhoused woman in Los Angeles. An unhoused woman gets
slapped at a taco bell in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
There you go, right there, that was a slap.
Speaker 8 (10:28):
The victim, believed to be homeless, is being looked for
by volunteers.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Taco Bell has yet to issue public statement.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
In Lancaster, California, the mayor calls for the death of
unhoused people by saying he will give all unhoused people Freefitnesel.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
I want to do is I want to give them
all the fen and all they want.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's what I want and at number one.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Earlier this year, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie passed the
law to arrest unhoused people if they turn now shelter
offers three times.
Speaker 12 (11:02):
Well, in a couple of the parks that you're mentioning,
those parks have now been reclaimed for the neighborhood. We
are sending a message that we're not going to tolerate
people dealing drugs or doing drugs or sleeping on our
streets anymore.
Speaker 8 (11:15):
Of course, the question is, you know, is that a
wackable situation where they're.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Just moving somewhere else.
Speaker 12 (11:19):
Well, it's funny people always say, well, if they move
somewhere else, you know, has it improved. Well, it's improved
for that neighborhood. And we're going to be relentless for
the next three and a half years on this topic.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And that's our top five.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
With all that in mind, let us return to the
press conference in Glendale regarding the ICE kidnapping. A malageral,
soulless partial one outrage speaker was a nurse from Glendal
Memorial Hospital, upset with the collaboration between the hospital and Ice.
To further intimidate Miss Portillo, here are her comments.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
We don't need to be worrying about vice agents roaming
around or sitting intimidating our patients. They're here to heal,
and we vehemably oppose the Trump administration rolled back of
it being a safe place to heal. Every patient has
a right to the care that they need and deserve,
and as nurses, we're going to stand up and fight
(12:15):
for that night, and I'm going to keep his grief.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
I'm going to say, you take on one of us,
you take on all of us. Who take on one
of us.
Speaker 8 (12:24):
We take care of all patients here. Whoever walks in
our room, I would take your President Trump if he
walked in like a walk because that's what we do.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
We're nurses. We're here to give.
Speaker 8 (12:36):
The care that people need, regardless that they're colored, their
place of origin, or anything else. So I'm standing in solidarity.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
And that's on the House news.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
When we come back, I'll speak with returning gets Kat
Rogers of the soaku A CEO you and California immigration
lawyer Pascual Lombardo. Welcome back to Weedian House. I'm THEO Henderson.
(13:15):
Let's now listen to what returning guests calv Rogers at
first time guests Pascual Lombardo have to say about the
current situation.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Here's our talk.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I have two guests that are here to address the
situations that's been going on currently. If you have been
living on another planet, allow me to reintroduce you to
the reality of what's he's going on in planet Earth.
We're in trumpet times, and trumpet times is usually with
an aggressive, steel fists kind of government ice. The Immigrant
(13:52):
Law Enforcement Agency has been descended on Los Angeles and
as to date of this date, there has been a
lot of aggressive actions from reaching out, taking vendors and
leaving their food and their products there. There has been
increased military presence. Like in a past couple of days
at the home depot where the day laborers and other
(14:14):
workers are, there has been workers that were working with
the eating fires and they are reluctant to come back
to clean because of the aggressiveness, the increased pace of
aggressiveness that's been taking place with ICE I recently was
mentioning before I started to show about now they're trying
to slither their way into other places of business, such
(14:37):
as houseless shelters, daycare centers, but most importantly into apartment complexes.
They're slithering their way in, knocking on the door or
acting aggressively to snatch people, and it is causing a
resounding fear and anxiety and to me, for me, I
feel it's incumbentible on me to combat that with the recenter.
(14:59):
Every one, we still live in America. We have rights.
This is not some totalitarian no matter how much Trumping
tries to make it so. There are things to do
and to boast of that claim. I'm asking my friend
Calf Rogers with the ACLU, I'm our new guest Pascal,
to talk to us a little bit about their experience.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Thank you all for joining us.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Thank you, and I will start if you don't mind,
Calf with you and tell us a little bit about
who you are, and I will take it next to Pascal.
Speaker 6 (15:34):
Yeah, thanks so much to you It's always good to
be with you. And we've known each other for many
years and worked alongside one another for housing justice. Yeah,
I am Cath Rogers. I work at a SLU of
Southern California. I'm on what's called Our Dignity for all
projects in Southern California, and most of the clients who
I have the honor of representing are unhoused. I also
(15:56):
work on policy efforts and budget advocacy effort to advance
housing justice and economic justice. Really good to be back
on the show.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Thank you again. It's like I say, it's always a pleasure. Pascal.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Eric, thank you, thank you for the invitation. And my
name is My name is Pascual Lombardo. I'm an immigration attorney.
I've been an immigration attorney most of my career, which
is about almost forty four years. Most of that time
i've done immigration with some representation of migrant farm workers
as well in the Midwest, but most of it's been
(16:30):
about immigration, and I just want to say I'm also
a child of immigrants. My parents were telling immigrants in
the fifties from the East Coast, and while they didn't
face the kind of discrimination Latinos and Middle Eastern an
African immigrants face in this country. I saw a lot
of patronizing behavior towards my parents, and it kind of
(16:51):
sensitized me to what immigrants spoke through in this country.
So I've been doing this really since nineteen eighty one.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Oh that's that's a minute.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
I wanted to start off just with the state of
my mind right now, what's been going on. I mentioned
earlier before the show began, how we lived right now
seemed like in a cliffhanger type of environment. When I
was growing up, my parents love, particularly my mother loved
watching shows like Dallas, Falcon Crest, Guiding like and they
(17:25):
were big hit TVs. This was before social media, of course,
this was before tweeting and all of that. They would
like seven or eight, you know, my mother would be
on the phone with a neighbor or a friend or
family member gossa being about what's going on in the
show or what happened on the show, and the big
thing at that time, if I remember it was as
(17:46):
a kid, it was like Dallas was a big show,
and I think the antagonist was JR.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Ewing, and JR. Ewing got shot and.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It was a big It was a of course, it
doesn't seem that big thing now, but it was a big,
big deal then because he was no one knew it
was a major who done it? And it went through
a whole big cliffhanger anyway, the whole season, I think
the whole summer, everyone was trying to figure out who
was there, who hated the guy more, was it the
family that shot him, or is he going to survive?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
And all of those things.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
And I even had a T shirt for it, that's
how big the phenomenon was. And so to that end,
I was like, if you want to do this kind
of kafasque reality, this is kind of what's going on now.
It's like, who's going to be shooting Jr? Now in
different directions. So with that said, what has been your observations,
CAP on what's going on in your neck of the woods.
Speaker 6 (18:40):
Well, yeah, I think that's that's what I said. We
are in a cliffhanger moment for sure, and I think
there's just so much uncertainty and fear, rightfully so, because
you know, we see these cruel federal agents, you know,
invading places of worship, people's homes, you know, where people hunger, gate,
where people work. You know, it's like nothing is sacred anymore.
(19:03):
So it's it's really frightening in terms of just kind
of some big picture perspective. You know, I think it's
important to remember that, you know, there are people fighting back.
You know, a few weeks ago there were five million
people who took to the streets at the No King's protests.
So I think that was some inspiring show of solidarity
(19:24):
and support among you know, just everyday Americans. So I
think that's really what we need to remember is just
that the the power of the people is always going
to be greater than the people of power, and you know,
we need people to rise up. We also, of course
need lawsuits. You know, there are a lot of those.
Two The ACLU, I think, has filed something like sixty
six lawsuits against the federal administration since Trump took office,
(19:47):
So there's that too, and most of them have been successful.
I think seventy five percent or so have been successful
in stopping the federal administration's actions. So we just need
to remember that resistance is effective. We need to all
get an we need to all resist and all you know,
fight for justice.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Well said I was going to say too, just a
quick sight note, because I noticed the intensity and because
how violent these these these actions are. They're even going
into houseless shelters or going on sweeps and looking for
undocumented on house people and targeting them as well, which
also spikes up anxiety too. Is one thing to be
(20:28):
dealing with being on house and dealing with the forty
one eighteen's and the Grant's past rulings and the things
of that nature. But to add a new element of
more verbal and physical way of trying to remove you
or erase you adds a new dimension of horrors for
unhoused people as well. But to that end, many of
the people that are speaking out, now what's been like.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
For example, I'll give you Governor Newsom.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
Governor Newsom has taken on as like a pushback against
Trump in many respects, and he rightly so should speak
out because he snatched the National Guard authority from him
and brought them without his say so, and he's been
pushing back and staying things in the spotlight. But this
is the same one that has voted for punitative measures
(21:15):
against un house people that are displaced and are undocumented
or not undocumented are facing those kind of realities, and
I would be remiss not to mention the interconnectedness to it.
The four self evictions, the deportations, the violence, that state
or government are in tandem with each other. It is
(21:38):
not an accident. But we must keep in mind that
is conversation as well.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
But I digress.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think the new some
unfortunately has you know, I think he has his sights
on election, you know, for the next presidential election, and
so yeah, I mean we need leaders with real courage.
That's what we need in this moment, absolutely, and we
haven't seen that from him.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Thank you, Pasco. What's your observation, what have you seen?
Speaker 4 (22:06):
It's been a really crazy, frightening time. I've never in
my career seen ICE be so reckless, so aggressive, so,
you know, willing to trample people's rights left and right,
and they're on a mission. Their marching orders are in
la well all over the country. Let's arrest three thousand
(22:29):
people a day, you know, three thousand people immigrants a day.
And Stephen Miller, the point person for integration in the
Trump administration, who's a horrible person. He would do well
in the Gestapo. I always think of it as in
the Gestopo. His marching orders are go out and get
these people. And that's what we're seeing. They're not doing
(22:52):
these targeted arrests. You know, they claim to be going
after quote unquote criminals, and I'm not even accepting that,
but that's what they claim to be doing, right, And
they're going after anybody, and they're going they see somebody
who's not white. Principally they're going after Latinos, but it's
not exclusively Latinos. I think you were talking about an
(23:14):
Iranian woman, yes, before we went on air.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Here a Haitian woman too, Yeah, Aitian woman.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
But you know, anybody who's not white, and you know,
particularly any brownskin person, they will go and they will
arrest them. They don't hear what their status is. They'll
ask questions later. I think you mentioned home depot. You know,
near where I live in East Hollywood, there was a
home depot that was there was a raid. I don't know,
a couple of weeks ago. There was another raid apparently yesterday.
(23:43):
I didn't even know that. I found out from a
day laborer who told me that. And like I said,
they can't just look at someone on the street and say, oh,
that brownskin person is an undocumented immigrant. They don't know
if he's a citizen or she is as a citizen
or a resident, or a student, visa holder or a
(24:03):
dock up person. They aren't going after anybody and then
they ask questions later. That's what I'm seeing, and I'm
seeing people who are terrified. I've never seen immigrants in
my career be so scared. It's horrifying. And also it
reminds me the other day I was driving I live
(24:26):
not far from downtown off Sunset Boulevard, the east side
of town, and I was driving down Sunset and there
were so few cars on the street, and it reminded
me of the beginning days of the epidemic of COVID
when Sunset was desolate. And it's like what you were
saying before we got started. People aren't going to work,
(24:48):
people aren't going shopping, people are afraid to go on
the street. There's also fear in the courts. People are
being arrested when they actually show up and do what
they're supposed to do and to courters. So it's a
horrible time. Horrible, not unprecedented. There's been bad times in
the history of the United States and with immigration policy.
(25:10):
In the twenties there was a red scare, and in
the thirties there was a massive deportation, so many, many,
many US citizens were deported in Mexico. But this is bad.
This is as bad as it's been in my career,
you know.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
I wanted to bring another connective link to the situation too.
A few episodes ago, I had did a story and
I wanted to show a similarity and I was so
outraged at the time. And this was before ICE had
picked up its momentum. There was a community, an unhouse community, elderly,
mostly elderly, unhused community out in Elmonte, and they decided
(25:47):
to sweep them. And I'm going to give you the
backdrop and show you how at the time there was
not too much of an urgency. But when I went
out there personally, I went out there, it was during
the heat wave the place, and I have existing health
issues and disabilities. It was the most difficult place. I
(26:09):
would not have tried to live there because I've been
unhoused before and I would not have tried to live there.
But this place had uneven terrain and they were deep
into the woods. And the law enforcement had taken to
this area and was pushing them out. Now, what makes
that even much worse is the fact that these people were.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
My parents and grandparents' age. These were not like my age.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
These were not people were able to move on a
dime of move quickly, to move along, like when you
see them coming sweeping people, you know. And they were
giving them shorter ejection times because usually when they sweep
on house people, they usually give ten to fifteen minutes
at the most, maybe thirty minutes to amble your stuff
out or get your assistance and whatever. They were discouraging recordings,
(27:00):
were discouraging people from helping them. They said that they
gave offered shelter, they offered services, and that's they always
say excuses. But the thing is they were pushing the
elderly community to move fast in one hundred and something
degree heat, which it infuriated me so much that I
really spent time on that episode because it really ticked
(27:20):
me off. It was because so much was going on
at that time, but I wanted people to understand the
fear that was going on, the distress and the unreasonableness
of it. And this was on the wings of the
grant's past ruling, but also what was not shown and
it portended. I wish I had, you know, had connected
(27:42):
the dots sooner. Many of the elderly and the un
housed community would sneak back to the areas that they
were in, but at night they had our law enforcement,
our sheriffs, our police officers would go down and hunt
them down, to go and try to arrest them or
what do they call them, trespass them or evict them,
(28:02):
whatever it is that they do to start the arrest
and to seize their properties and things like that to
discourage them from moving back. Now that sounds familiar to
what's going on now, and I want our listeners that
are understandably and justifiably upset about what's going on with
the immigration and the ICE conversation, but also understand this
(28:24):
is not something that we have not seen before. If
you understand how they've attacked the vulnerable communities like the
young house, if they're doing this to us in a
local area, our own local law enforcement, which also I'm
going to bring another question up later, but that is
indicative of what they believe of poor and vulnerable people
(28:45):
and how it's so easy to get fear to sweep
up people, and it's so easy to justify their actions.
The reason that this time is unhelps. People are service
resistant and I've hear some boot liquors, I mean, or
people say, you know, if you came in here regularly,
then then you wouldn't have you wouldn't have these problems,
or you are criminals. There there's only half for the criminals,
(29:07):
and it's so easy to create craft a narrative to
justify injustice. I always say, if you can demonize the people,
then you can criminalize them. So my next question is
is there things that our communities can do legally to
protect ourselves, like our rights, certain things like that.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
I'll hand that off to.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
Kath Sure, and I'll tag team this with pusual because
Pusqual is really the expert on immigrants rights. Okay, I'll
kind of give an overview of if you see a
civil rights violation, what to do, and then I'll pass
it to Puswal for immigrants rights perfect and also what
to do if you counter LA enforcement. So one thing
that we can all do to show up in solidarity
(29:47):
if you see civil rights violations is to be an
effective bystander. Right, so you see something, document it. And
the effective way to do that is if you see
you know, an officer, an ice agent, you see you know,
police using excessive force violating people's rights, you know, you
can make a powerful impact because your presence alone can
(30:08):
sometimes deter civil rights violations. Just being watched, knowing that
there's someone with a camera right there can sometimes stop
civil rights violation. But if you get that footage, that
can be really helpful to somebody, either in a criminal
case or in a civil case afterwards. So my recommendation
is if you you know, if you see something, get
out your phone camera right away. Aim it at the officers,
(30:29):
not at the individual. You know, if you're at an
encampment rate, for example, don't aim your camera at on
housed books. I would aim the camera, you know, directly
at the officers and then collect information about what happened.
Collect the officer's name, get you know, any witness information.
That's one of the biggest things that I see as
people forget to get witness information. There might be you know,
(30:50):
ten people who saw the civil rights violation take place.
But if you don't have people's names and contact information,
you know, all those witnesses go home. You know, forget
about what happened, so you really need to collect their
contact information right there on the spot. So that's one
way that you can be really effective. And just remember
you have the right to photograph and film police when
you're in public. They can't take away your camera, they
(31:12):
can't delete your photos and videos. If police ask to
see your camera, say I don't consent to a search.
So that's one way that you can be a really
effective bystander to help when you see a civil rights violation.
And I'm going to turn it over to my friend
Pascual to talk more about know your rights and what
you can actually do when encountered by law enforcement or ice.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Nice thanks kath Well. In terms of immigrants, it's important
for immigrants and I think a lot of people know
this now. There's been a lot of community education around
these issues since these It's always gone on, but it's
really intensified since these ice rates have started, and people
now understand they have a right to remain silent, you know,
(31:56):
when the ice is going around knocking on doors. Were
met talking about that going into apartment buildings. People have
a right to not open their doors, right they have
to show a warrant, a federal warrant, not an ICE
warrant to enter the home.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
What's the difference between an ICE warrant and a federal warrant?
And how can we identify understand that because I wouldn't
know the difference.
Speaker 4 (32:19):
It has to be signed by a judge. It to say, okay,
you know, a federal judge and not an ICE warrant
by an ICE agent. And then you can ask. You
can ask the person if they're insisting on coming in,
you can ask them to slide if they do have
a warrant, to slide it under the door or put
it up next to a window. Normally they don't have warrants.
(32:40):
They don't go and get warrants to do something, but
they try to intimidate people. People they are Inuicier responses
as always, well, it's a law enforcement person, I better
open the door. I'm going to get in trouble, right
Or if they open the door a little bit to
speak to the officer, they're just going to push their
way in and then lie about it later. That's that's
(33:00):
just a fact. That's what's going to happen. So people
have to understand they're in their own home unless there's
a warrant, they have a right to not open the door.
One question that came up is what about an unhoused
person and an ICE. If an ice asient is approaching
a tent, is there a right to not you know,
unzip the entrance to the tent. Is it like being
(33:22):
in a home? And maybe Kath can talk about that later.
But if people are on the street, likewise ICE approaches them,
you know, the standard for them approaching somebody and just
initiating a conversation, I think it's like reasonable suspicion that
there's a person is here unlawfully. It's a very low,
low standard. So they can approach people and start talking.
(33:44):
But that person that they're approaching has a right to
remain silent. They don't have to give their name, they
don't have to give their immigration status. And again, like
I was saying, these I sells, they don't know if
somebody is a US citizen or a docoholder or a
Green card holder. They don't know by the color of
their skin that they're undocumented. So people have a right
(34:06):
to remain silent. And I mean, I want to be
realistic about this too. They have a right to remain silent.
But with the tactics that they're using now, they're not
going to listen to that. And most of the time
they are not going to listen, they'll still arrest somebody.
If anything, they might get more aggressive if somebody possibly
tries to assert their rights, but they should assert their rights,
(34:29):
make a record of it, and they really shouldn't. They
would have no probable cause to arrest somebody if it
was just based on what they look like. They should
maintain their silence, and perhaps later if they end up
getting into immigration proceedings, their lawyer can file emotion to
suppress any statements that they actually were coerced into making. Right,
(34:51):
And it's similar to a criminal proceeding. If someone is
arrested and they find some kind of control substance as
a result of coersion and an arrest without a warrant,
evidence could be suppressed. It's the same thing with immigrants,
right if they make statements after being coursed, after the
(35:13):
person has repeatedly tried to maintain their silence. It's not
as easy as in criminal court, but still there's an
argument that you can suppress any statements that person made
and to get proceedings dismissed. So the bullet point is
you have a right to remain silent.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
We'll be back with.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
More from Cat and Pestqual after the break. Welcome back.
This is theo Henderson with Weed and Howes. Here's the
rest of my interview with Kath and Pesqual. Here's another
thing too, because I've been watching some of some YouTube
videos of know your rights and things like that, and
(35:54):
I noticed that the people would ask jump off the
bat am I un arrest or are you detaining me?
Or one of my favorite is I don't talk to cops,
I don't talk to police and try to leave.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Is that's still applicable for the immigrant.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
Community as well, you know, like one of the guys
they think were targeting is that you're just trying to
fish or find something, some kind of justification to hold me.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
I don't want to be held. I got to go
and tried to leave.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Of course that cost other issues, but I wanted to
know if that's a possibility for the community to do
as well.
Speaker 4 (36:24):
Well. Yeah, unless they're under if they're not under arrest,
they have a right to walk away, you know. The
predat is I mean, just to be realistic in this
climate that's not going to work. Most of the time,
these people would just run after in the Ice officers
would just run after him, cackle, and that they have
to even though there are any evidence of the status
of the person. Okay, so I want to be realistic
(36:47):
about that. It's not I don't want to be like
talking about legal rights you know that are illusory, that
they're there, but ice tramples on those rights. At this point,
I just want to to say, and you probably are
familiar with this too, a lot of the nonprofits have
distributed a small card with these rights, the right to
(37:07):
remains silence, not to open the door unless there's a warrant,
not to sign anything. If I asked you to sign something,
as often it could be to agree to deportation. They're
red cards, and people are calling them. You've seen these
right and people in the immigrant community now I've never
heard they say, oh, yeah, I have a red card
or red card. It really thousands of these have been
(37:28):
distributed all over the community and it's great to see it.
People are really kind of standing up for themselves and
defending themselves and not just being coerced.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So which brings another question. Kath a while ago, I
knew if they were recording outfee since and inappropriate coercion
kind of tactics. Is there somewhere that they can send
this information to let the world know or let legal
counsel know in order to help them, because you know
(37:58):
the ones that are being started, which I also want
to be realistic too, it is not the same as
you're going to jail down and down Central Station, Downtown
Men's jail.
Speaker 1 (38:07):
They're not sending them there.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
They're sending them to outposts or places that they have strategically,
and they're not giving the same processing systems and rights
that if a LAPD was to arrest you, you know
you're going to be booked, your information is going to
be posted somewhere, and you're going to be able to
as a chain where they are. And that is not
what's going on with with ICE. You can be snatched,
(38:31):
and let's even be even more frank, if you're unhoused,
and you know the difficulty even with local law enforcement
tearing up and throwing it with your IDs and your
personal papers, and the ICE comes up on you and
snatches you, the chances of finding you or getting you know,
locating you is even much more steeper.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
So, you know, I just wanted to point that out.
Speaker 3 (38:53):
Is there a spot where they could dump an audio
or videos, you know, in a place where a CEO you.
Speaker 6 (39:00):
Could do so you ceiling, you used to have a
central repository. It doesn't anymore. So it's going to depend
on the person's situation. But I'll just give an example,
because sometimes an example is the most helpful. Last Monday,
I was walking at night in my neighborhood and I
saw an unhoused man who was being searched by the police.
(39:22):
And you know, the police cars were there. The police
were out of the car and they were doing a
pat down search. But I saw them going into his pockets, right,
which is crossing the line from a pat down search.
You know, that's that's crossing the line from a stop
and frisk into like an actual search. So I got
on my cell phone camera real quick start recording, and
you know, I just said something like, you know, I
see that you don't have consent for that search, right,
(39:43):
And so I documented for maybe four to five minutes,
get the whole encounter focused on the officers, right. And
after that video, I sent a copy of that video
to the public. Defender's office, because I figured that anyone
who is charged with the misdemeanor or felony is going
to have a public defender. So I send it to
(40:04):
the public defenders here where I live in San Diego,
and they said they're going to send it to the
appropriate point of contact for you know, the man's attorney.
So it depends on the person, but you really want
to try to get it to the person who's impacted
and their attorney. That's really where you want to get
the footage. And just to piggyback really quickly on that,
you were just talking about some catchphrases that people can
(40:25):
sort of memorize. I think that there's a few that
are really helpful. You were talking about asking am I
free to go? I think that's a really helpful one,
and I think that applies to anyone, right, you know,
in the immigration context and police contexts, because that tells
you what kind of encounter you're having. You know, if
police are detaining you, you want to know that, right,
(40:47):
and if you're free to go, you want to know
that so you can just walk away. So that's a
good one to remember. It's just am I free to go? Also,
I don't want to answer any questions, or I'm exercising
my right to remain silent, whatever you want to say
to indicate I am remaining silent. It's better to actually
state that than staying silent, because then you're making a record, right,
So if you put that on the record, I don't
(41:08):
want to answer your questions, I'm remaining silent. That's a
really good way to make the record. Also, if you're
in custody and you're being asked questions, say I want
a lawyer. That invokes your sixth Amendment right, and it's
supposed to stop the questioning. So law enforcement is supposed
to stop questioning you at that point. And then if
there's any kind of search, doesn't matter what kind, search
(41:28):
of your tent, a search of your bag, a search
of your car, anything like that. I do not consent
to a search. And you can say it again and
again and again, I do not consent to a search.
It may not stop the search because, as Pusquo was saying,
you know, we know that people's rights are violated all
the time, but it helps build a record because the
thing is a lot of times police will say, oh,
(41:50):
I had consent for that oh, I asked to see
the bag and they handed it to me. So they
agreed to show me their bag. You're making a record.
No I don't consent to this, and that's going to
be helpful later on. It'll protect your rights later, even
if it doesn't stop the search.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Perfect. Perfect.
Speaker 4 (42:05):
Yah. Can I ask a question, Rre. You know, if
if that is happening, is a video taken by a
bystander or a legal observer, could they have be good
evidence in court of the person exercising their constitutional rights
to remain silent?
Speaker 6 (42:20):
I think so, yeah, absolutely, Like for example, the video
I was talking about from last Monday, you know, the
man in question was clearly detained, he was in handcuffs.
He was saying what are you doing? You know, stop that,
you know to the officer. So he was clearly not consenting.
He didn't use those exact words, he didn't say I
don't consent, but you know it was clear that there
was no consent there, right, and so video would indicate
(42:42):
that and especially we want to make a record.
Speaker 4 (42:44):
Yeah, And it could also be like like you know,
National Lawyers Go has legal observers going to a lot
of these ice demonstrations and they could be videoing, they
could be taking notes about what happened and later they
could be witnesses as well.
Speaker 3 (42:58):
Perfect which also up bring up quickly about in LG
has legal observers, they're usually coming to the staging areas
or trying to anticipate where ICE is going to be
to stop or basically watch what's going on. And that's
another too, if you don't know what National lawyers guilt.
If I'm correct, that's a group of lawyers that are
(43:22):
out fighting injustice as well as this situation warrant and
they have other tactics and tools to look into as well.
But to quickly segue into one of the things that
what's been going on, we've already established that this is
an unprecedented time. There's a lot of anxiety and a
lot of fears and things. They're going after unhoused people
(43:45):
and shelters. In fact, in San Diego's they arrested to
unhoused people when they're going into the shelters. I think
it was in a parking lot of somewhere else. So
seems like this is going to be part for the course.
Is there anything else that unhoused people can do? I
know we have the red cards, and that's another possibility too.
(44:05):
But is there any other kind of things that they
could do to protect themselves, like, for example, the tent situation,
they're at a tent, someone speaks to them, you know,
like the local cops would try and they don't come
out because if they don't want to be with cops
and let's they try to get swept. You know, they
you know, they don't try not to come out. But
(44:25):
you know that does that still hold weight or hold
water in the same situation.
Speaker 6 (44:30):
So in the tent situation, there's not a whole lot
of case law, but some courts have said, you know,
there's a right of privacy in your tent, So I
would certainly argue in court, and I think we should
all continue to argue in court, so we do build
up case law on this point. Okay, But you know,
if I were in a tent and there was an
ICE agent outside, I would ask for a warrant and
(44:52):
I would also state I do not consent to a search,
and you know, you state those things over and over again,
preserve your record. We know, like PSCUAL said, you know,
ICE is violating people's rights, so it may not stop it.
But certainly ask for it because it can build a
record and protect your rights elsewhere. And then also I
think just being in solidarity with one another. We know
(45:14):
that unhoused folks help one another way more than any
city or government or service provider ever does. So, you know,
I think exercise your best judgment about how to stay safe,
how to stay out of ICE's view. You know, it's
the extent you can. I know people are going to
extreme measures right now just to stay away from ice,
which is so sad, you know, But people know how
(45:35):
to keep themselves safe, people relying on each other and
building community to keep each other safe. Also, service providers
can do more to keep people safe if they are
in a shelter. For example, shelters can indicate which areas
are open to the public and which are not. And
then we need service providers to really pull the line
too and not let ice in without a warrant into
(45:57):
non public areas in a shelter.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
That's an excellent point.
Speaker 3 (46:01):
But also what can mutual aid groups do to help,
Like you know, I'm part of a mutual aid group,
and if they are listening in what service things like
for example, they were doing the power up when a
lot of the protests was going on, and what can
they do to shepherd allowing some of the un housed
to be a prize and find out how to make
(46:23):
sure that they're safe as well.
Speaker 6 (46:25):
I think a couple of things. So some of the
mutual aid groups that I work with pass out red cards,
and I think that's just a basic thing that you know,
everybody can do. You know, if you're doing mutual aid,
include red cards for everybody. Also, I think talking with
unhoused folks and asking what folks are already doing, because
I feel like information sharing between unhoused folks. There's so
(46:48):
many creative ideas in the community, and people know how
to keep one another safe. And so I think really
like developing ideas collaboratively with the with unhoused community members
is a really good idea. And then also mutual aid
providers can probably make sure that their local service providers
like shelters are doing the right things, are protecting their
clients from ice, because that's really, you know, something where
(47:12):
service providers needs to step up and demand a warrant,
you know, keep non public areas, keep ice out of
those areas, to protect unhoused clients at their at their shelters.
Speaker 4 (47:25):
Another thing that I think on house people can do
if they have access to a cell phone. There's different
groups that are actually tracking these ice raids in the community.
Like one is Un del Badio in La What is
again like Union del Badio you know, Union of the
(47:47):
Neighborhood or Union of the People. There's another group called
La Taco. They're actually like videotaping ice aggressions, ice raids
as they're happening, and people who have that app they
can find out if ICE is in their neighborhood or
close to their neighborhood. The other day, I was at
u Haul I needed to get some workers to help
(48:10):
me with a move and I was it was near
the home Depot center and I said, oh, that's where
the raid took place the other day, and he said yeah.
And then they also they arrested somebody in a lunch
truck as well. And then he says to me, right now,
there's an action going on in Ninth Street downtown LA.
And I said, how do you know that? And he
like took out his phone and went to the un
(48:33):
Bodio app and he showed me as it was happening
the raid that was going on. This is amazing and
I think there's a number of organizations doing this. It's incredible, incredible.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
That's good to know.
Speaker 4 (48:46):
And the other thing I did that day and I
think more people should do this. I don't know if
anybody's doing this in an organized way, but I had
to get some stuff at U haul and I started
talking to some workers. There are a couple that I
recognized a move from a couple of years ago, and
I just like, did anno your rights thing with people
(49:06):
right on the spot. And I think other people have
done this, but I don't know if anybody is doing
in an organized way going to these communities.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
That's the next thing too, because there's been again, there's
so much that has been going on with the raids
and the spontaneity of sweeps because while the raids are
going on and house people are being swept and places
where they used to be are not where they are.
And then also because of the nature of how what's
going on with the raid on house people have trying
(49:37):
to fade into the background. For example, where I'm nearby,
there used to be a whole hosted tents during the day.
They're not They waited like middle of the night, come back,
it's like fifteen to twenty tenths. Then they disappear because
it's changing up the timing and the rhythm of how
the things used to be. Where they could be staying
(49:59):
there or they could be by they're not. They're adjusting
to the ever changing environment. The young House are really
trying to stay ahead, but also trying to stay ahead,
not only from ice, but trying to stay ahead from
law enforcement and Governor Newsom's forced encampment resolution policies and
punitative ideas too. While this is going on, I always
(50:20):
have to redirect or bring it back to This has
been going on with un the House people for some time,
and you know, we have had postings and conversations about
sweeps and things, but it's now taken to a more
of an accelerated rate with the major populace of people
that are in different stages of walks of life that
(50:40):
are undocumented and documented. Because you don't have to be undocumented.
You can be walking down the street behinding your own
business and they say papers and you just like, what
the hell, and you can be just snatched and whether
you're a citizen or not.
Speaker 4 (50:52):
So the other thing That's that's really outrageous, is that
a lot of these these ICE officers, if that's in
fact what they are, they're masked. You can't even you know,
you don't know their identity, you don't know if they're
really ICE officers, And there's I can't prove this, but
I know the LA Times has talked about this, that
there may be people who are like crowd boys masquerading
(51:13):
as ICE, you know, or other individuals who are anti immigrant.
Speaker 1 (51:18):
Or human trafficking.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
I've heard the stories that they are not part of
all enforcement at all. They're trying human trafficking people because
this is the hysteria that's going on right now.
Speaker 4 (51:28):
And also there's been talk that some of these people
might be bounty hunters hired by ICE to represent I
wouldn't doubt that. I really wouldn't doubt that. I don't
know if it's accurate or not, if anybody's proven it,
I certainly wouldn't doubt it. Especially with Trump and Stephen
Miller in control. They have no shame. I mean, they
(51:49):
have no respect for the law, and they have no shame.
Speaker 3 (51:52):
Absolutely absolutely, I think I've covered what I wanted to cover.
Is there anything that I'm missing that you guys want
to bring out or bring up.
Speaker 4 (51:59):
I mean, I'm not sure this could involvement on a
house person who is in immigration proceedings. I mean, what
I mentioned before is people are going in they may
have an immigration court hearing, and they're showing up in court,
and if they're been in the United States for less
than two years, they can be what's called expedited removal.
(52:21):
They can be like expelled. Generally, you get a right
to a hearing before you're actually deported from the country,
but if you've been here less than two years, the
government has a right to actually expel you without a hearing.
And the only thing you could do that is say,
f your persecution. They'd have to give you an interview
to determine if it's a credible fear. If it is,
(52:43):
you can apply for asylum. But otherwise they can just
expel you. So people who are going into court, they
may be applying for asylum and some other form of relief.
And if there's been there less than two years, it's
communicated to ICE by the ICE attorneys, the government attorneys,
(53:04):
and the attorney will move to dismiss the case. And
that sounds good. People are walking out thinking all the
case was dismissed. Well, right outside the court room, ICE
is there and they're arresting people, putting them in custody
and starting this procedure. And the same thing with a
lot of people who were actually brought into the country
(53:25):
allowed legally parolled in from the border to apply for asylum.
People are going to court and again the ICE attorneys
are moving to dismiss their cases, detaining them. And those
people who were permitted to come in under what's called parole,
they're not even entitled to a bond to be released
(53:49):
while their proceedings go through the court. So if they
want to perceive with their asylum case, they can do it,
but they're going to be detained. It's another manner of
career people to just give up and leave. So some
really outrageous things are going on.
Speaker 1 (54:06):
Well, thank you for bringing out to I S. I
have no idea, kay, you know, I.
Speaker 6 (54:10):
Just thank you for you. It's always good to be
with you, you know, in these trying times. And just
appreciate the information you get out to folks, and continue
to be in solidarity with one another, you know, move
forward and protect one another.
Speaker 4 (54:24):
Yeah, and support one another. I mean, I know a
lot of people immigrants that I've talked to, they were like,
so happy to see you know, millions of people are
on the United States protesting on that No King's Day.
People I've talked to, they were like, well, most people
are supporting us. It's you know, as opposed to just
(54:45):
living in fear all the time. And I think we
should encourage people as individuals too, and just remind them,
you know, don't believe what is is telling you. You know,
you're good people. They're the ignorant ones. They're the racist ones.
You're just working trying to survive, and you're a good person,
and don't forget that. Stay strong.
Speaker 3 (55:04):
Oh thank you both for taking the time to come
in and talk with me today. And on that note,
I hope you learned as much as I did.
Speaker 6 (55:12):
Thank you, Thanks so much, Deo.
Speaker 1 (55:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Thank you so much to Cafin Pasqual for that time.
You can learn more about their work at the links
in the description. And thank you for joining us for
another informative episode of Weedian House.
Speaker 1 (55:35):
Hope you get something out of this.
Speaker 3 (55:37):
In the face of injustice, it is always important to resist.
Speaker 1 (55:42):
If you have a story you'd like to.
Speaker 3 (55:44):
Share, Please reach out to me at Wiedianhouse at gmail
dot com or Widianhouse on Instagram. Until next time, maybe again,
Meet in the Light of Understanding. Weedian House is a
production of by Heart Radio. It is written, hosted, and
created by me Theo Henderson, our producers Jamie Loftus, Hailey Fager,
(56:08):
Katie Fischer, and Lyra Smith.
Speaker 1 (56:11):
Our editor is Adam Watt, our.
Speaker 3 (56:14):
Engineer is Joel Jerome, and our local art is also
by Katie Fischer.
Speaker 1 (56:20):
Thank you for listening.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.