Changemaker: A song about a greedy landlord plants a seed for Araujo-Sariñana
by Yucheng Tang | Posted June 10, 2025
Juan Araujo-Sariñana
“The landlord’s here to visit/They’re blasting disco down below/Says, ‘I’m doubling up the rent ’cause the building’s condemned/You’re gonna help me buy City Hall‘/But we can/You know we can/Let’s lynch the landlord man” — the Dead Kennedys
At age 17, Juan Araujo-Sariñana discovered punk rock music that now, 20 years later, still influences his life.
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, one of his favorite albums by one of his favorite singers, Jello Biafra, was something he listened to often back in high school. In that album, there’s a song called “Let’s Lynch the Landlord.”
Biafra’s song planted the seed for the cause Araujo-Sariñana is dedicated to now: Distributing food and resources to those who have lost their homes. “Jello Biafra was one of the influencers in my early life and radicalized me,” he said. read more
University administration has dozens of unauthorized flyers removed
by Leslie Layton | Posted May 6, 2025
The flyer that appeared on classroom doors last week
This story was updated at 4 p.m. today to include the university’s response.
Three hundred flyers suddenly appeared on campus doors at Chico State University last week, warning that law enforcement officers – a reference to immigration agents — would only be allowed in classrooms and other “private spaces” if they possessed judicial warrants.
“CAUTION CAUTION CAUTION” warns a flyer banner highlighted in yelllow. The flyer then notes that a classroom is a “private space” with entry restricted to faculty, staff and enrolled students. “Law enforcement may only enter with a valid judicial warrant … Everyone in the United States, regardless of immigration status, has the right to remain silent,” it continues.read more
ImmSchools: Public schools can create a safe environment
by Julian Mendoza | Posted February 12, 2025
photo by Julian Mendoza
Kassandra Ramondo (left) and Lizette Pilar
Hundreds of people gathered on Chico State’s campus Feb. 5 for a peaceful march in what was one of several recent local protests advocating for immigrant rights.
“I think it’s super important that people understand and know that immigrants do make the backbone of our country,” said Lizette Pilar, program coordinator at Chico State’s Gender & Sexuality Equity Coalition. “Especially in agriculture, a lot of our pickers are illegal immigrants or undocumented.”
Efforts are underway across the state — including passage of new laws, street protests and information sessions — to push back against the Trump Administration’s most extreme immigration measures. Downtown Los Angeles has had multiple protests including one that blocked U.S. 101 for hours. Ethnic Media Services (EMS), a a nonprofit news and communications agency, held a know-your-rights training Feb. 7 for media organizations.
One of the speakers was Amanda Alvarado-Ford, deputy directing attorney for the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area. She represents low-income immigrants who are mostly from Spanish-speaking backgrounds, and provided a series of suggestions that can help prepare communities.
“As undocumented people here in the U.S. we still are entitled to Constitutional protections,” said Alvarado-Ford. “Especially the protection to remain silent, and the protection and the right to be free from unlawful searches and seizures.”
Viridiana Carrizales, founder of ImmSchools, discussed how parents and educators can work together to mitigate fears, as well as create safe havens for schools. “I started this organization because no kid should ever be afraid of our schools,” Carrizales said.
Chico State students lead protest
Chico’s Feb. 5 protesters encountered a mostly positive reception as they walked around campus and parts of downtown. Bystanders and drivers showed their support by cheering and encouraging the crowd. Some drivers honked their horns in support of the pro-immigrant message.
“Since we are an organization that advocates for women and (the) LGBTQA community, we felt the need to stand up,” said Pilar, referring to the immigrant community.
“Say it Loud. Say it clear. Immigrants are welcome here,” protesters chanted as they made their way through campus and downtown Chico.
Their signs championed the importance of immigrants in American society and criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Popular Hispanic and Mexican music as well as dance performances were an integral part of the march.
“We depend on immigrants in this country,” said Dr. Gloria Lopez, an assistant professor in the Chico State History Department. “Immigrants are ultimately human beings.”
Protecting Constitutional rights
More than 200,000 people have been arrested in the past 30 days, according to data from ICE and reported by EMS. At least 8,000 people have been deported, and ICE has been instructed to arrest at least 1,200-1,500 people per day.
Some of Alvarado-Ford’s tips include:
Have access to documents that verify that you have lived in the U.S. in a safe, secure place where you or your loved ones can access them.
Undocumented citizens who have submitted an application for asylum, U Visa, T Visa or VAWA should have a copy of their receipt.
You have the right to remain silent; don’t say anything or lie to an ICE official. Assert that right in a respectful way to avoid undue harshness from an ICE agent.
If you encounter ICE at your door, you have the right to insist upon a judicial warrant.
After Border Patrol raids, town of Poplar comes to a standstill
by Peter Schurmann | Posted January 18, 2025
photo by Manuel Ortiz
Mari Pérez Ruíz of Community Valley Empowerment Alliance discusses the recent raids with a community of indigenous farmworkers in Tulare County.
POPLAR, Ca. -– In the early 1970s, this unincorporated town in California’s agricultural heartland was designated by county officials as having “no authentic future.” That designation—entailing dramatic cuts to basic services remained until as recently as 2023.
Now, following a series of raids on immigrants that began on Jan. 7 in neighboring Kern County, residents here say the future does indeed look bleak.
“People are scared. They don’t want to come out. We’re all scared,” says Gregorio, a resident of Poplar for the past seven years and the owner of a local business that caters to the community’s farmworker population. (We are not using Gregorio’s last name to protect his identity.)
“If you’re undocumented, it’s not safe to walk the streets,” he added. “And this is just the start. It’s going to get worse over the next four years.”
With Donald Trump’s inauguration as president just days away, the raids -— dubbed “Return to Sender” by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) -— are viewed here as a dress rehearsal for his promised mass deportation campaign of unauthorized immigrants.
CBP Agent Gregory Bovino, who led the raids, stated in a social media post that CBP officers maintained the right to make arrests of anyone suspected of being in the country illegally without regard to due process. He promised “more to come.”
CBP reports that some 78 arrests were made over the course of the three-day operation and included individuals with outstanding warrants for crimes ranging from sexual assault of minors to illegal drug and firearm possession, as well as DUIs and other lesser offenses.
CBP says the raids were confined to Kern County. But several Poplar residents say they witnessed CBP agents patrolling local gathering spaces in and around the town. Several individuals who asked not to be identified described agents apprehending one individual on private land.
Requests for comment from CBP to confirm the statements went unanswered by the time of publication. A spokesperson for the Tulare County Sheriff’s office said they were unaware of any operations or detentions within the county.
CBP spokesperson David Kim initially told news media that Operation Return to Sender was targeted to specific individuals and that it was not a widespread roundup. He acknowledged, however, that individuals not previously identified for apprehension due to past criminal convictions were also detained.
“We don’t know what’s going on with the raids,” noted Gregorio, adding the swirl of misinformation online is exacerbating the panic residents are experiencing. “People are posting all kinds of lies on social media. Everyone’s confused over what is true and what isn’t.”
The fear now gripping the community in Poplar and across the region is also taking a toll on the local economy. Silvia (we are withholding her last name to protect her identity) says sales at her bakery have fallen 70% since the raids last week, as residents and families fear leaving their homes for even the most basic of necessities.
“It is stressful,” she noted. “If I don’t see someone for a day, let’s say a regular, I worry about what might have happened to them. Did they get detained, deported … ”
Down the street at Sabroso Poplar, a local Mexican eatery, waitress Angelica Rana points to the empty dining hall. “Usually, this place would be full. Today, there’s no one here,” she says, adding that in her 18 years living in Poplar she’s never seen anything like this.
“We depend on the people who work in the fields. So yes, there’s been a big impact,” she said.
Poplar, with just under 2,000 residents, is located on the southeastern edge of Tulare County, one of the nation’s largest producers of dairy, citrus and berries, among other crops, a multi-billion-dollar industry built largely on the backs of migrant labor.
Two-thirds of Poplar’s residents are Latino, though there is also a long-established Filipino community, as well as a smaller Yemeni population and indigenous migrants from parts of Mexico and Central America.
An estimated 310,000 people live in unincorporated communities like Poplar across the San Joaquin Valley.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the town was the site of some of the earliest stirrings of what would become the farmworker movement led by labor groups like the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), among others. That history is celebrated in a new mural in the local park, which depicts the many faces -— past and present —- of those who have fought to improve conditions locally.
“This was an epicenter of the farmworker movement and one of the areas that experienced the most violence,” explains Mari Pérez Ruíz, co-founder of the non-profit Central Valley Empowerment Alliance (CVEA), which advocates on behalf of residents in Poplar and surrounding communities.
CVEA is housed in what used to be Poplar’s fire house, shut down years earlier as part of cuts to local services after county officials identified it as among 13 communities with no growth prospects. All 13 were majority communities of color. Cuts included essentials like water and sewage. CVEA fought successfully to restore services for Poplar during California’s record drought ending in 2016.
“They did not make it easy,” noted Pérez Ruíz, referring to county officials and the outsized interests of local growers.
Today, she and her team are busy supporting families too fearful to go to work or send kids to school. CVEA has produced small, pocket-sized “Know Your Rights” pamphlets that detail steps to take in case someone is stopped by immigration officials, as well as contact numbers for legal aid.
On a recent evening, CVEA volunteers handed out food and clothing to a small community of indigenous farmworkers on the outskirts of Poplar. Many spoke of lost wages during the previous week. “Why are they targeting us,” one man complained. “We’re doing honest work here, trying to feed our families.”
Gregorio says half of what people earn here typically goes to cover rising rents, with the other half going toward food, childcare and other expenses. “It’s impossible,” he says.
As for the mood among neighbors and customers, “It is the same conversation with everyone you meet,” he said. “How are you?” “Scared.”
Manuel Ortiz, Ed Kissam and Nicolás Díaz Magaloni contributed reporting for this story by Ethnic Media Services, posted on Jan. 17 here.
Editor’s note: There have been no verified reports of CBP in the Chico area in recent days, according to NorCal Resist Chico. Follow the organization’s Facebook page here for information on an upcoming Know Your Rights training.
A film on the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, produced by immigration crackdowns over the past couple of decades, will be shown in a free KIXE PBS film screening at 6 p.m. Jan. 20.
Readers can register here to gain access, watch “Missing in Brooks County” at home, and also participate in an online community conversation afterward that will feature several local panelists, including ChicoSol Editor Leslie Layton, who has covered immigration from the Mexican side of the border.
The film tells the moving story of Eddie Canales, who has assumed an unofficial role as a human rights detective assisting families hunting for missing loved ones in the punishing landscape of Brooks County in south Texas.
The screening is sponsored by KIXE and the Shasta County Foundation and is part of the Indie Lens Pop-Up film series. The film includes a few heart-breaking stories and scenes that show images of deceased people, but tells a larger story from multiple perspectives — from that of desperate, brave migrants, heroic figures like Canales, and law enforcement officials and border patrol staff.
Trump steps up assault on immigration and immigrant communities
by Sunita Sohrabji | Posted August 12, 2020
photo by Leslie Layton
Demonstrator at a Women’s March several years ago calling for immigrant rights.
The Trump administration has made 400 policy changes detrimental to immigrants through its tenure at the White House, with 63 fresh blows meted out amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) in a report released July 31.
“Many of the changes reflect the administration’s really strong knowledge of immigration law and regulations, and their willingness to enforce things that have been on the books for years, but have never been implemented,” said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at MPI, who co-authored the report with MPI Associate Policy Analyst Jessica Bolter.
Pierce discussed the report at an Aug. 7 briefing on the accelerating erosion of immigrant rights, organized by Ethnic Media Services. Attorney Kalpana Peddibhotla spoke of the enormous changes in business immigration since the pandemic began taking its toll in the United States. And Ignacia Rodriguez Kmec, an immigration policy advocate with the National Immigration Law Center, spoke about President Donald Trump’s recent changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, following a Supreme Court decision which ruled against the Administration.
At the briefing, Pierce said that the Administration’s relentless battle against immigration — both legal and undocumented — was unprecedented. Some of the 400 changes are small and technical. “But when you take these all together, it has added up to really monumental,” she said.
One of the most profound changes the Administration has made during the pandemic is implementing a 1944 rule which allowed the surgeon general to restrict any individual coming into the country who could be considered a public health threat. In March, the Centers for Disease Control — citing “a danger to public health” — used that rule to issue a directive which disallowed people without proper travel documents from entering the country.
“The effect of that has been essentially ending asylum at the southern border and that’s actually something the Administration has been working on for years,” said Pierce, noting that the vast majority of asylum seekers have been expelled in recent months.
Pierce said a future Democratic administration may not be able to immediately roll back the excesses of Trump’s immigration policies. “Democrats have not been very active or interested in acting on immigration. They haven’t really put forward a vision for what that immigration system should look like, so I think that there’s just a lack of willingness there to undo each of these changes,” she said.
Peddibhotla, who formerly served as the co-chair of the South Asian Bar Association’s committee on immigration, said the president has used the pandemic to forward his agenda on limiting business immigration. “The proclamations post COVID-19 are essentially a sledgehammer to business immigration,” she said.
On June 22, citing the stark rise in unemployment levels amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump signed a proclamation temporarily banning new foreign workers from entering the U.S. Visa categories included in the ban are H-1B workers and their spouses; H-2B visas for non-agricultural workers; J visas for student exchange programs; and L visas for intra-company transfers. The ban does not impact foreign guest-workers already in the United States.
On Aug. 3, the president issued a largely posturing proclamation barring the federal government from hiring H-1B workers. Fewer than 2,000 H-1B workers are currently employed by the federal government.
“These are the critical workers. They are the workers that are allowing us to have Zoom calls. They’re the ones that we need to allow us to get back on our feet and be able to work remotely and provide the technologies that we all need,” stated Peddibhotla.
The attorney cited multiple studies showing that H-1B and other business-related guest-workers are helping to grow the American economy, through innovation, entrepreneurship — foreign born workers are twice as likely as U.S. natives to found businesses, which in turn create jobs for U.S. workers — and the job multiplier effect.
“The overall ripple effect is there’s actually job creation and our economy does better with immigrants,” she stated.
Rodriguez Kmec of NILC said the COVID pandemic has highlighted the importance of essential workers, especially those involved in agriculture. However, the administration has done nothing to support them: undocumented workers were denied a $1,200 stimulus check, which was distributed to most Americans in April and May. Moreover, undocumented workers are also ineligible for federal unemployment stimulus support, which — until July 31 — added an extra $600 per week bonus to state unemployment checks.
On June 18, the Supreme Court upheld DACA on a 5-4 vote, ruling that the Trump administration had acted improperly to terminate the Obama-era program, which provides relief from deportation to thousands of undocumented youth who have lived in the United States for most of their lives. A month later, Trump, via executive order, reshaped the program, allowing no new applicants and shortening the length of a renewal to just one year, rather than the previous two years.
Rodriguez Kmec said this would have a devastating impact on young people, who would be forced to pay out $495 — the filing fee — every year to renew their status.
“At a time when many are facing unprecedented financial hardship, this additional fee could hinder eligible individuals from applying, putting at risk their employment authorization and protection from deportation in the middle of a health and economic crisis,” she said.
Support immigrant families — many have members who are essential workers — by making a donation to the new organization Semillas here. Your donation will be used for a food bank that will distribute needed supplies to families in Butte, Glenn and Tehama counties.
