California encourages higher education, offering financial aid
by Natalie Hanson | Posted July 5, 2025
Butte College Public Relations Officer Christian Gutierrez.
California’s universities and colleges are the front lines for migrant students who seek support and a pathway to higher education.
Higher education institutions tout California’s Dream Act Application (CADAA) as a lifeline — as pressure grows to protect immigrants in California amid a sweeping and forceful immigration crackdown.
In a recent briefing hosted by American Community Media, panelists shared how students can, under the California Dream Act of 2011, apply for and receive Cal Grants and the California College Promise Grant at community colleges, as well as institutional and state aid at California colleges and universities.read more
by Laszlo Bartus, Amerikai Népszava | Posted July 1, 2025
A photo posted on the official X page of the US Department of Homeland Security depicting ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ a new immigrant detention facility located in Florida’s Everglades National Park. photo courtesy of American Community Media.
It is no secret that Donald Trump has a reputation for cruelty. In that vein, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis could not have come up with a more pleasing gift than a prison for undocumented immigrants located in the Everglades National Park.
Let’s be clear, Alligator Alcatraz—as the prison has been dubbed—is set to become the most inhumane prison in the world.
The Everglades National Park is a vast swamp stretching between Florida’s east and west coasts. It is teeming with massive pythons, alligators, swarms of mosquitos, and panthers. Summer temperatures regularly top the triple digits.
The idea is that, like San Francisco’s notorious Alcatraz, escape from this new dungeon in the swamp will be impossible, and that anyone who tries to leave will be immediately devoured by wild animals or otherwise succumb to the elements.read more
Sacramento-based NorCal Resist is asking for food and cash donations and gift cards for its May 16 Car Caravan to Butte County that will provide emergency pandemic assistance to immigrant families ineligible for government aid.
NorCal Resist organizer Autumn Gonzalez said many of the immigrant families that will be assisted with cash for rent or in other ways are Camp Fire survivors who contacted the organization’s hotline.
“We’ve had a lot of calls from Butte County,” Gonzalez said today. “It’s really sad because so many work all the time and pay into unemployment, and now aren’t working and aren’t able to collect unemployment. We’ve heard from people who say, ‘We have no food left and we’re down to our last $10.’”
Some of the Camp Fire survivors have needs even greater than those of people who are struggling in the Sacramento area, she added.
ChicoSol recently posted an Ethnic Media Services story explaining that millions of people in this country have received no relief, not even a stimulus check — including American citizens who have an undocumented person in their family.
NorCal Resist, a grass-roots immigrant aid organization, raised more than $100,000 to assist undocumented and asylum-seeking immigrants in the Sacramento area in recent weeks. However, the fund is almost depleted and donations are needed for the Butte County caravan.
Cash donations can be made here. Gift cards for grocery stores, Walmart, Target, or other places can be mailed to NorCal Resist, P.O. Box 188331, Sacramento, CA 95818.
The organization is not taking more requests for assistance at this time, but has about 2 dozen families in this area awaiting emergency relief. — Leslie Layton
Regardless of how you feel about illegal immigration, facts will be useful when you discuss this polarizing national issue. Here is ChicoSol’s March 2017 facts roundup, focusing in particular on the Latino demographic. The most interesting fact may be the last on our list:
1. Latinos comprise 15 percent of Butte County’s total population, according to the U.S. Census 2011-2015;
2. Latinos comprise about 39 percent of California’s population;
3. Nationwide, Latinos make up more than half of the K-12 total student population;
4. Nationwide, 64 percent of all Latinos are U.S. born;
5. The number of undocumented immigrants in this country has been estimated at about 11 million, a figure that has remained stable since 2009. About 66 percent of the undocumented population had been here for at least a decade in a 2014 study.
6. In 2014, Mexicans made up about 52 percent of the undocumented population, but that figure has been declining.“The origin countries of unauthorized immigrants have shifted, with the number from Mexico declining since 2009 and the number from elsewhere rising,” says Pew Research.
7. Forbes magazine has just reported that an astonishing 83 percent of the finalists of the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search were the children of immigrants. –– Kate Sheehy and Leslie Layton
