Border-crossing journalism from the Sacramento Valley
by Floritzel Salvador
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has officially won the presidency with 53.5 percent of the national vote. This is a new and hopeful beginning for Mexico, and AMLO is a beacon of hope for someone like me.
Mexico is a country that has been plagued with brutal murders, disappearances and extremely low wages, and these conditions have forced many Mexican citizens to flee and cross the U.S. border.
photo by Jeremy Tackitt
Some 50 people gathered Thursday in Paradise to protest the separation of children from their migrant parents on the U.S.-Mexico border. They'll reconvene at 5 p.m. Monday at Pearson and Skyway to call for family reunification. Such protests are spreading across the nation.
by Diane Suzuki
I am Sansei, a third-generation Japanese-American who did not experience the hardship and humiliation of being rounded up without due process and imprisoned for three to four years as my elders did. But I did experience the racism and xenophobia in the 1950s in the aftermath of war.
Refugees fleeing violence from their homelands south of our border are now being locked up in immigration detention centers that are intentionally located in isolated sites. Americans should be ashamed that these men, women and children are being imprisoned in our country with the threat of being sent back to where they might be killed.
Dave Garcia, Chris Nelson and Julie Garza-Withers protested the board’s vote.
by Leslie Layton
The Butte County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to oppose California’s sanctuary law, passing a resolution that opposes state policy on immigration and recognizes federal government authority.
Supervisors voted 5-0 in favor of a political statement, a resolution that contends that the sanctuary law places “restrictions and limitations” on the Butte County Sheriff’s Office that could have a “potentially negative impact on public safety.”
Héctor Barajas opened what has become a resource center and shelter for U.S. veterans who have been deported to Mexico, often because of convictions for non-violent crimes. He tells his story — and the story of many other legal U.S. residents who served in this country’s military — in this video produced by ChicoSol contributor Erik Aguilar. Learn more about the Deported Veterans Support House by visiting its website or Facebook page.
by Leslie Layton
Five teenagers from this area who have participated recently in Migrant Education summer leadership programs described a transformational experience in presentations Monday to the Butte County Office of Education board.
Oct. 16 Butte County Office of Education board meeting
"One of the most interesting things I learned was about how Martin Luther King fought for the freedom of African Americans. He wanted a new way of living and he believed we could do it."
The 14-year-old Gridley student visited sites in Washington, D.C., including, he said, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Marine Corps War Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.
"I was forced to get out of my comfort zone and make friends."
He couldn't get into the flamenco guitar elective, because it was full, but liked theater "even better."
"My parents work their butts off and I have to make them proud."
Noemi Chavez, a Gridley High School senior, said the Migrant Student Leadership Institute (MSLI) program at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS), “taught me how to be myself.”
