Reporter Megan Jamerson:

Enraged and sad. That’s how immigration activists told me they were feeling after Wednesday morning’s news that U.S. Border Patrol agents used a Penske truck as a “Trojan Horse” to arrest 16 people at a Home Depot near MacArthur Park. 

In July, I visited that Home Depot and spent time with volunteers at the LA Tenants Union’s community defense center. They are a passionate bunch who believe strongly in standing up for their immigrant neighbors. Things were peaceful that day. After all, a judge had just banned warrantless sweeps. But everyone was still aware of the possibility that federal immigration agents could one day ignore that order.

Hours after the incident on August 6th, Mayor Karen Bass told reporters, “It is hard for me to believe that that raid was consistent with the court order.” 

Immigrant activists prepare for return of ICE activity

The LA Tenants Union runs a community defense center on the sidewalk by the MacArthur Park Home Depot, and every day, volunteers distribute know-your-rights cards and phone numbers for legal services. But because those rights aren’t protecting immigrants from arrest, the group’s primary objective is to watch for ICE and warn the several dozen day laborers nearby. Volunteers watch oncoming traffic for cars that could hold federal agents, looking for tinted windows or “CA Exempt” license plates.

Meanwhile, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) trains people how to legally video record immigration agents. Within the first week of offering this training, they had a volunteer capture a video of federal agents trying to pry a woman from the tree she was clinging to, and it went viral, according to Emily Gaggia, NDLON’s director of membership.

She says NDLON has networked with other activists to prepare them for ICE raids all over the country. “I feel that LA is leading the way for the rest of us to watch how this model of solidarity works,” she says.

Legal immigrants face deportation after decades in the US

Miguel Molina, who’s been cleaning up the scorched Pacific Palisades, started doing construction shortly after he came to the U.S. at age 16. He applied to a government program called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which grants short-term legal rights to immigrants whose home countries have been devastated by natural disasters or war. For Molina, it was Hurricane Mitch, which killed roughly 7,000 people in his native Honduras. 

Roughly one million people from 16 different countries currently have TPS in the U.S. But the Trump administration is moving to remove these safeguards for hundreds of thousands of recipients who have lived in the U.S. lawfully for decades, including Molina. 

TPS holders rallied outside the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, a frequent battleground over TPS policy, earlier this month. Carmen Sanchez, a native of El Salvador who has lived in the U.S. legally for 25 years, was there. She says, “We are giving so much to this country. Many of these families have already built their lives here: got married here, have children, own businesses, have cars, have homes. So the government telling us we have to leave is very painful for us.”

How does LAUSD superintendent see his role in protecting students from ICE?

LAUSD students’ math and reading test scores have bounced back to pre-COVID pandemic levels, according to Superintendent Alberto Carvalho in his annual back-to-school address last month. But as the new school year begins next week, ICE raids and precarious federal funding are top of mind for the district. 

United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) is urging the district to establish a “two-block perimeter” around schools that bar immigration officials from entering. 

“I do think that a two-block, a three-block radius around schools is appropriate, and that's exactly what we will be asking for. With that said, we understand our limitations, and we understand also that the federal government has been very clear, and the mayor, LAPD, LASPD, we understand that we cannot necessarily interfere with the actions of these federal law enforcement entities. But that does not change what is right, and we're going to be asking for protective policies that are morally justifiable, are decent, and are protective of children,” Carvalho tells KCRW.  

He adds, “I’d be the biggest hypocrite if I did not do all that I could for the kids I serve, since I myself am an immigrant. I remember coming to this country at the age of 17. I know the struggle. I know the fear. … I arrived here legally, but I stayed beyond the timeline of my visa. … I don't want my children to be witnesses to a picture of humanity that is traumatizing to them. And that's why I stand proudly alongside this board and our partners in protecting our kids. It is the right thing to do at the right time.”

‘There’s no plugging those holes’: LADPH’s Barbara Ferrer on budget cuts

LA County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says her agency faces three major threats: loss of Medicaid dollars, new restrictions on who is able to get insurance through the health care marketplace, and cuts to the money it receives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ferrer notes that if a portion of the county’s population can no longer access certain health services, they’re more likely to end up in the emergency room. “That doesn't just mean that people are delaying care until they're pretty sick, and they could have much worse outcomes. It also means for everybody else that our emergency rooms are going to get jammed.”

By losing what could be half of LADPH’s funding, Ferrer says, they’ll be less capable of providing core public services, which could include restricting beach water tests and shutting down public health clinics.

Mystery in Venice: What is killing dogs near the canals?

Over the past six weeks, 10 dogs are known to have died after taking a walk near the Venice Canals. At least 11 more dogs had to be hospitalized. 

Two theories exist as to why this is happening: ingestion of pest control like snail bait or rat poison, or exposure to a toxin produced by cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) that may have proliferated in the warm, still water of the canals.

The LA County Department of Public Health is collecting the medical history of affected dogs and talking to owners about possible sources of exposure. A lab at UC Davis has been tasked with studying samples from affected dogs. And the State Water Board, LA Sanitation, the LA City Bureau of Street Services, and other agencies are all looking at the canal water and other potential vectors.