Rising Up - Tuesday, June 23, 2026

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1. at www.theatricum.com and at kpfk.org.
2. I'm going to go.
3. Welcome to Rising Up with Sonali, an independently produced, subscriber-supported program
4. syndicated to radio stations, free speech, TV and podcast platforms. On this show, you'll hear
5. solutions journalism for social justice, fueling action, not despair. I'm Sonali Kohatkar, host and
6. executive producer. This week, we'll go to Newark, New Jersey, where an immigrant detention center
7. named Delaney Hall has become a major flashpoint with detainees hunger striking on the inside
8. and activists protesting on the outside. My guest will be Rachel Marindette, detention attorney
9. at the American Friends Service Committee's New Jersey Immigrant Rights Program.
10. She represents many of the detainees at Delaney.
11. Then we'll turn to Enrique Cardenas Cifre, one of the co-creators of Our Copa,
12. a national campaign using the 2026 World Cup to celebrate immigrant communities,
13. build power through soccer, and defend the fans who love the people's game.
14. Finally, a massive warehouse fire in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, has been burning for days, spewing dangerous chemicals into neighborhoods.
15. Anthropologist and activist Angela Gonzalez-Torres is on the ground.
16. She's running for a House seat, representing downtown LA and surrounding neighborhoods,
17. and is part of a growing wave of insurgent progressives making waves in electoral politics.
18. That's coming up in just a moment.
19. I'm sorry.
20. Sonali Kolhatkar, host and executive producer of Rising Up with Sonali, an independently produced subscriber-supported program nationally syndicated to radio stations, free speech TV and podcast platforms.
21. Our interviews are available to subscribers at risingupwithsonali.com.
22. For many weeks now an immigrant detention center in Newark New Jersey has been the site of ongoing protests on the outside and a hunger strike by detainees on the inside Delaney Hall is operated by the private prison contractor GEO Group A protester was recently struck by a car outside the detention center and is being
23. treated for injuries. Hunger strikers at Delaney have documented abuses and released lists of
24. demands. My guest is Rachel Marindette, a detention attorney at the American Friends
25. Service Committee's New Jersey Immigrant Rights Program, which is part of the state's
26. a DDDI initiative providing a free legal representation to detained folks in the state.
27. Rachel also represents individuals in both immigration and federal court proceedings
28. to secure release from ICE custody and permanent status in the U.S.
29. And she works with people detained at Delaney Hall and Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey,
30. as well as at other ICE detention centers across the country.
31. Welcome to the program, Rachel.
32. Thanks so much for having me.
33. Let me first begin by asking you to tell me a little bit about Delaney Hall on its own. As I mentioned, this is run by GeoGroup. How big is this facility? How many people does it hold? And what are some of the things that we know about how GeoGroup is treating people who are being held at Delaney?
34. Yeah, yeah. So as you mentioned, Delaney Hall is run by GeoGroup, which is one of the two biggest private prison companies in the US, the other one being CoreCivic, which runs Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey.
35. And Delaney Hall actually reopened in June of 2025. It had previously been an ICE detention center, then it had served several other functions, then it was closed down for quite a while.
36. And then they decided to reopen it again as a nice detention center last year. And I believe it was the first new, so to speak, detention center that was opened during this current Trump administration. And Delaney Hall and Geo Group generally are known for having really, really horrific conditions.
37. And so I'd say the kind of two most acutely horrific conditions that I hear about every day from the frequently inedible, it will have, you know, worms in it, it'll be rotten. At best, it's, you know, doesn't, it's not rotten, but it's, it's like, really has absolutely no flavor, no protein, really not, not supporting anyone's health. And then the water frequently tastes metallic.
38. and the the other main issue that I have seen is the kind of really severe medical neglect
39. folks have to put in a request for medical care and then you know they'll be seen in a couple
40. days and given an ibuprofen at most and and that's not only for you know minor medical issues such
41. as like a headache or a toothache but also for really severe medical issues there's people who
42. are being detained who have pre-existing really severe conditions whether that be some sort of
43. cancer as internal organ failure, HIV, people are being denied access to real doctors to their
44. medication, and not seen in at all timely manners. And we're seeing that, you know, people's mental
45. and physical health is really downsliding quite rapidly as a result of not only the conditions
46. themselves, but also the medical neglect. And then I guess a third a third thing that is particularly
47. acute is the way that the geo group employees and of course the ice agents inside uh speak to the
48. folks that we work with i hear from from almost all of my clients that they're treated as if
49. they're less than human and um you know on top of these horrific conditions being um spoken to that
50. way consistently is um really unimaginable tell me about the way in which the people being held
51. have been expressing this information I mean as a lawyer I imagine you have a direct line to them but the rest of the country the rest of the community may not have understood or known what was happening But the people being held the detainees spoke out carried out these
52. hunger strikes that I understand are not just one single hunger strike, but waves of them.
53. What have these hunger strikes been like? How have they made their demands known to folks on
54. the outside? Yeah, yeah. So the hunger strikes began at Delaney Hall a little over a month ago,
55. I believe, which was a product of folks on the inside feeling like, you know, enough is enough.
56. The treatment that they're receiving, not only by GeoGroup, you know, with the conditions at Delaney,
57. but also by the immigration court system writ large, is really, you know, unacceptable and
58. inhumane. And so they wanted to take matters into their own hands and show not only GeoGroup and
59. ice that, um, that they have a voice and, but also show, you know, people across the country that
60. what is happening to them. Um, and so I, and it was, it was a, they started it as a hunger and
61. labor strikes. They often folks inside often have jobs, um, at, you know, in the kitchen,
62. cleaning that kind of thing. And so, um, almost everyone at the outset of the strikes, almost
63. everyone was participating in the women's unit. I believe the first night, not a single person
64. went down to eat and from the various men's units, uh, almost nobody went down, you know,
65. less than 30 people out of, you know, several hundred. And the way from my understanding is
66. that the way that folks inside Delaney Hall have been sharing their experiences and their demands
67. with people on the outside is kind of through three, three main means. One is through attorneys
68. like myself, we are able to talk to our clients quite frequently, both by visiting them physically
69. inside and also through confidential legal calls. And so they're able to share reports of what's
70. happening with us. And, you know, with their permission, we're able to share that information.
71. They also have a direct line of communication to family members who go visit and are able to have
72. calls and like messages with family members, as well as organizers and community members who have
73. been, you know, have had boots on the ground since the since Delaney Hall was reopened in June 2025.
74. So a lot of the organizers are also kind of directly in touch through the tablet system they have inside and the phones with people who have been leading and participating in the strikes inside.
75. So what about the way in which protests on the outside have now unfolded?
76. I understand not just, say, family members or grassroots allies and immigrant rights organizations, but even elected officials like Senator Andy Kim and New Jersey Governor Mikey Sherrill.
77. Senator Kim was pepper sprayed, I understand, which I can only imagine how that is indicative of the way in which people who are less prominent have been treated,
78. including the person that I mentioned who was hit by a car just earlier this week outside
79. the facility. What does that outside protest look like? Yeah, yeah. So there's been folks on the
80. ground, you know, community organizations and, of course, families who have been there since
81. Delaney Hall reopened in June 2025. But since the hunger strikes on the inside began, you know,
82. and all of the increased attention that has been happening recently has really been spearheaded by
83. the strike on the inside and the demands of the detainees there.
84. And so since that has happened, there's been a really substantial outpouring of support from people who
85. were perhaps not previously aware of what was happening at Delaney.
86. And so we been seeing now this really kind of beautiful combination of people from whether that be like community organizers family members you know movement movement folks organizing groups and then also elected
87. officials, and media. And, you know, now there's this kind of outpouring of support outside,
88. physically, you know, directly outside of Delaney Hall, that spans across these kind of really
89. diverse demographics of people who are united by the mission set by the voices coming out of the
90. inside. And so, but kind of the flip side of that is that as there's been this, this increased
91. outpouring of support and resistance from community members outside Delaney Hall, there has also been,
92. of course, increased pushback and retaliation from ICE and GEO. And that has, you know, there's been
93. every, every day that I'm, I'm there outside and inside Delaney Hall, we see large swaths of armed
94. ICE agents, GEO group employees, you know, physically trying to intimidate people on the
95. outside through either words or like physical action with, you know, be it pepper spraying or,
96. you know, having just this like huge quantity of weapons. And they, you know, seem to have
97. no regard at all for like, who it is that that their retaliation is aimed towards be it folks
98. on the inside, folks on the outside, elected officials, etc. And so, you know, with that
99. beautiful outpouring of diverse support also comes this this increased repression. But I do think has
100. all of this kind of combined has led to a really impressive increase in awareness across the
101. country that of what is happening not only at Delaney Hall, but at ICE detention centers across
102. the country. Because even though Delaney Hall only opened last year, ICE detention in these
103. horrific conditions perpetrated by GeoGroup, CoreCivic, and the US government itself are not
104. new and are not isolated to New Jersey. And just on the note of the woman who was struck by a car,
105. Or is it true that it was a GeoGroup employee in their private car who struck her?
106. Yes, that's my understanding from folks on the ground.
107. I wasn't there.
108. I'm not, I can't say that with 100% certainty, but that is my understanding of who struck her.
109. That's remarkable and remains to be seen.
110. I suppose if that person will have charges filed against them.
111. I did watch the video.
112. It's quite horrific.
113. And it is an indicator, again, of how people are being treated, you know, on the inside.
114. What is the, and is it true that the majority of people, or at least a good number of people
115. who are being held in Delaney Hall, don't really, you know, there's no legal reason
116. for them to be detained, that before the second Trump administration, ordinarily, they would
117. just be free while their immigration cases, which are active and ongoing, were being adjudicated.
118. Is that accurate, that they're being held under Trump too, simply because that is this
119. administration's way of being, that they have essentially criminalized anybody who does not
120. have legal residency? Yes, that's exactly right. There have always been, not always, but since the
121. Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted, you know, 30 plus years ago, there have always been
122. a few different statutes that authorize immigration detention. But the main statute that does so is
123. authorizes discretionary detention, meaning it's in theory, like up to the US government,
124. whether they detain people under that statute, and their detention has to be governed by some sort of
125. legitimate or justified by some sort of legitimate government interest of which
126. It's supposed to be only a risk of flight or danger to the community.
127. And there's supposed to be, you know, actual evidence supporting that, that someone is
128. one of those two things to be discretionarily detained.
129. However, under this recent administration, the kind of discretionary piece of the.
130. This discretionary detention concept has been essentially eviscerated.
131. And so instead of only detaining people that the government has some actual reason to, you know, argue is a flight risk or a danger, they are detaining everyone and just claiming that these interests apply to every single non-citizen, essentially.
132. And so we're seeing a huge increase in people who are detained without criminal records, of people who are detained while they have ongoing cases where they've been, you know, appearing for every ICE check-in, they've been appearing for every court appearance, etc.
133. And we've seen it be increasingly difficult, I mean, vastly increased difficulty in getting these individuals released, even despite the fact that these are people who would never have been detained under any prior administration.
134. Because the immigration court system has also increasingly created new law and policies internally to stop discretionary releases by ICE.
135. We've seen pretty much the death of what's called the parole system, which is ICE themselves choosing to release someone.
136. You can submit a request and, you know, they can release people.
137. The parole, there's no, no one is being paroled anymore at all due to internal policies.
138. And we have confirmation from ICE that there are internal policies saying that they can't parole anyone at all.
139. Um, and then we're also seeing the immigration court system increasingly use very liberal definitions of danger and flight risk to keep, you know, any and everyone detained and also start to claim that people are detained under different mandatory detention statutes, which are arguments that we were not seeing at all before 2025.
140. So, you know, while I think it is important to underscore that, you know, no one deserves to be in these horrific detention centers, no matter whether they have a criminal record, whether they have an ongoing case or not, it is still certainly worth noting that, you know, that there is this really vast increase in kind of across the board detention without any real like rationale behind it for really anyone with no status.
141. Yeah.
142. Rachel, given the widespread opposition to Delaney Hall from community members all the way up to elected officials and the fact that essentially this is not it is not necessary to detain these folks who have active cases.
143. What are the prospects for closing down the detention center?
144. And I know that this is likely part of a nationwide push to shut down detention centers.
145. I've interviewed folks from Detention Watch Network several times on my show.
146. So what is the movement to shut it down look like?
147. Because I imagine that is one of the main goals, right?
148. Yes, absolutely.
149. Yeah, I think, I mean, the main demand from coming from folks on the inside and therefore,
150. of course, echoed by organizers and purchasers on the outside is to shut down Delaney Hall
151. and not just Delaney Hall, as you said, to also shut down this entire system that, you
152. in last year, but for the past, you know, 30 plus years of, you know, this kind of civil
153. confinement that directly mirrors criminal detention.
154. That is, you know, as an enforcement mechanism, right?
155. This increase in criminalization and treating people inhumanely through carceral structures
156. is really the approach the government has taken to immigration.
157. And so ultimately in order to dismantle that the overarching goal has to be to really shut down all of these detention centers because the conditions are egregious across the board You know we have I see the particular horror stories from Delaney Hall most frequently because that where the majority of my clients are But I also have heard you know similar reports from people at detention centers across the country And so ultimately
158. you know, I don't know what, what exactly that's going to look like. But I think the ultimate goal
159. and the ultimate demand absolutely is shutting down this, this really egregious carceral system.
160. And do you know who has the authority to do that? Do you imagine the governor of the state would have or maybe the mayor of New York would have some say?
161. Yeah, so I know the so there's unfortunately, several states, including New Jersey, have tried in the past to to push private prison companies out of their states entirely through like state based legal mechanisms.
162. And there has been somewhat limited success on that front, unfortunately, because these are the like Geo Group and CoreCivic, they have contracts with the federal government.
163. Um, right now, in recent weeks, the Attorney General's Office of New Jersey did launch a lawsuit against Delaney Hall specifically regarding the lack of access of New Jersey medical and health and safety inspectors going into Delaney.
164. And so, you know, I think there's potentially some conditions related work that, you know, lawsuits that that could perhaps have have an impact.
165. But ultimately, as I said, these are contracts that these private companies have with the federal government.
166. And so the only like through the legal system, at least the only way to to truly get these detention centers in New Jersey and across the country shut down is going to be through through the federal government.
167. And so finally, what are ways in which people can support those being detained and support the organizations that are leading the charge to keep the issue prominent and ensure that folks don't forget about the people who are essentially been disappeared within the walls of these centers?
168. Yeah.
169. Yeah.
170. So I think there are, I guess, three things that jump to mind.
171. The first and most important thing is continuing to amplify the voices of the people on the
172. inside.
173. The people that I have the pleasure to work with every day at Delaney and ICE detention
174. centers across the country are some of the most resilient, strong, and powerful people
175. that I know.
176. And everything that I do as an attorney that the organizers do is kind of to support and
177. to uplift them, their stories, their experiences. And so I think making sure that we are all
178. centering the impacted voices in everything we do is really the most important thing.
179. Sharing their demands, telling their stories, that is really the most important thing.
180. And then I think second, showing up, whether it's at Delaney Hall in New Jersey,
181. there's ICE detention centers in well over, I think, three quarters of the states in the US.
182. And there's been protests at a lot of those, those detention centers across the country. So finding out, you know, the learning about the ways that your community, your state is directly impacted by ICE detention and by these private prison companies and really showing up to, to speak out against that in your community is, is especially important as well.
183. And then third, I think, is, you know, if you're unable to physically be there or if you're perhaps, you know, not don't have a platform to share other people's voices.
184. I think supporting bond funds is a particularly tangible financial way to help.
185. One other big issue we seeing right now is when in the kind of rare instances that we winning bond for individuals who are detained the amounts that bonds are being set at are really astronomical right now I recently had a bond for instance for someone who had not lived in the US previously
186. so had no, has no, no financial support at all. His bond was set at $35,000. And you have to pay
187. the entirety of an immigration bond. So finding, you know, organizations near you that are helping
188. to pay bonds for detained folks, so that they can actually get get out of these detention centers is
189. also a really tangible thing that people can do to help right now. I want to thank you so much,
190. Rachel, for joining us today. Best of luck to you. Thank you. My guest has been Rachel Marandat,
191. a detention attorney at the American Friends Service Committee's New Jersey Immigrant Rights
192. Program. She works with people detained at Delaney Hall and Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey,
193. as well as at other ICE detention centers across the country. And I'm Sonali Kohatkar,
194. host and executive producer of Rising Up with Sonali, an independently produced subscriber
195. supported program nationally syndicated to radio stations free speech tv and podcast platforms
196. I'm Sonali Kolhatkar, host and executive producer of Rising Up with Sonali,
197. an independently produced subscriber-supported program
198. nationally syndicated to radio stations, free speech TV and podcast platforms.
199. Our interviews are available to subscribers at risingupwithsaunali.com.
200. World Cup fever is in full swing in the United States, which is the primary host of the 2026
201. FIFA Games, a global sporting event drawing legions of fans from around the world.
202. The World Cup, which has historically been a joyful mass event, was marred in its lead-up
203. by reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE agents,
204. would be part of security arrangements at stadiums hosting the games.
205. In the U.S., World Cup fans are disproportionately of immigrant origin.
206. In the lead-up to the games, organizers formed a campaign dubbed Nuestra Copa, or Our Cup,
207. to demand ICE-free events and center fans in a game that has been traditionally seen as the people's game.
208. My guest is Enrique Cardenas Cifre, the communications director at Mijente's support committee and one of the co-creators behind our COPA, a national campaign that is using the 2026 World Cup to celebrate immigrant communities.
209. Welcome to the program, Enrique.
210. Thank you so much, Sonali, for having me here and thanks to the audience.
211. So I am going to admit right off the bat, I am not into soccer.
212. I don't understand it. I don't follow it. But I've been so fascinated seeing how excited people get by this game, both in past games and also particularly this year when the majority of the games are being held in the United States.
213. It's really been interesting to see how excited people get and how celebratory it is.
214. So what happened to those very troubling reports that ICE agents were going to be at stadiums?
215. You know, I'm in Los Angeles. We're at the SoFi Stadium.
216. Workers there were threatening to go on strike if indeed ICE was going to be part of the security apparatus What happened Yeah so we been tracking ICE activity as Mijente Support Committee right this pro organization So we been
217. tracking ICE activity since the new administration took control of DHS and their ICE machine,
218. deportation machine. There were some, yeah, some rumors and there are some
219. In effect, there's some ice agents working near the stadiums.
220. What we've been seeing right now is, let's say, like a calm moment.
221. There was a lot of noise of having ice raids during the stadiums, but we haven't put down
222. our watch and our, let's say, our gloves to fight against ice.
223. It's just that we think that they are using a different approach.
224. So right now, what we are looking at is ice activities in places that are not host cities
225. or not close enough to the stadiums and coliseums because there's some, how you say it, there's
226. some background or it happened before, especially during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
227. County in Texas that the sheriff targeted some bars, some Latino bars in the area.
228. So again, coming back to the World Cup, we haven't seen a lot of the ice as the ice activity.
229. They were mentioning closer to the stadiums or to the whole cities, but we're keeping a look
230. how that can look like in different counties, different areas, because we think that that's
231. part of their strategy too um if we if we if we analyze this administration the this trump
232. administration we know that this is a very let's say showman president so for now i i would think
233. that he has gone through that approach of using the world cup as a as a stage to push uh their
234. vision of the U.S. And you can see it recently in some of the Homeland Security tweets.
235. They are using the U.S. main national soccer team to talk about their quasi-facist quotes,
236. saying build the wall, defend the homeland. This is our soil.
237. Let's actually put that up on screen for our audiences who are on television. The Department
238. of Homeland Security posted a picture of the U.S. men's team with the caption, total domination,
239. nothing is getting past Team USA. And then it had another caption, built the wall. And then that
240. post was deleted. Another post defended the homeland, one nation, one homeland, one team,
241. which is essentially Nazi terminology and language that we saw sort of similar types of
242. slogans during Hitler's Nazi reign, which is so ironic, given that the men's US soccer team is
243. quite immigrant heavy, is it not? And in fact, most teams around, you know, many, many teams around
244. the world have players who are immigrants to those nations. It is a game that is really
245. immigrant heavy, right?
246. Yeah, 100%.
247. So so connecting it to the to the first question,
248. we haven't seen a lot of the ICE activity, but we started seeing this propaganda,
249. you know, as you said, quasi nice, nice, nasty, nasty type of propaganda and slogans.
250. So we think
251. they're pushing their vision of the world using the world cup as a you know as a spectacle and
252. as you said soccer is a pretty it's a beautiful game because it's really connect a lot of cultures
253. countries immigration process there's some data uh in the u.s fans that is absolutely amazing in
254. those terms because basically if you ask a u.s person what what are their their most uh sports
255. their favorite sports event in the world.
256. And they will talk about, you know, the Super Bowl,
257. the Olympics, et cetera.
258. But around the world, 28% of people answer the World Cup
259. and only a 3% in the U.S.
260. But if you ask immigrants in the U.S.,
261. that percentage go up by more than 30%
262. in some of the, you know, different nationalities
263. like South Americans, Asians, Africans, et cetera.
264. So it's a pretty immigrant sport. And they're using that rhetoric. And as you said, it's absurd that not only the U.S. men's soccer team is heavily based on, you know, on different stories around immigration of those players, but also the soccer, the football in the United States is really connected to immigrant communities around the different states of the U.S.
265. because those are the places where Latin Americans, Asians, and other communities get together to build community, to play the beautiful game, etc.
266. So they're not just being ironic and hypocritical about the U.S. men's soccer team,
267. but also about the whole culture and infrastructure that permits that the soccer keeps growing in the U.S.
268. So, yeah, we're tracking those.
269. We're trying to contrarrest those slogans,
270. write that propaganda with the beautiful game
271. that there's a slogan in Latin America
272. that you shouldn't be manchando el balón.
273. Like, how do you say ensuciando the ball?
274. You shouldn't be like, yeah, you shouldn't manchar el balón.
275. It's like a terminology that if you really want to...
276. I wish my Spanish was as good as your English,
277. so I'm sorry.
278. I wish some of my cultural soccer knowledge I can easily translate to English.
279. But yeah, just to say that we're trying to contrast that with the beautiful game.
280. You're trying to counteract it?
281. Yeah, to counteract it with slogans, posters, to defend the beautiful game.
282. Because in reality, if they really want the U.S. men's soccer team to win, they shouldn't be using the U.S. men's soccer team as a propaganda tool for their, you know, build the wall.
283. We only want Americans here, you know, so that's part of our Copa too.
284. But mostly our Copa is to have a space, to have different spaces to enjoy the beautiful game, to enjoy the World Cup.
285. Let me ask you about FIFA in particular, which is the institution that oversees the World Cup.
286. They seem very cut off from the actual game itself.
287. FIFA created this bizarre Peace Prize, I believe it was last year or earlier this year,
288. earlier this year, and awarded it to President Trump,
289. which was, I guess, his way of saying that he didn't need the Nobel Peace Prize
290. because he had FIFA in his pocket.
291. So Trump has been very favorable to FIFA
292. and FIFA seems to be ingratiating themselves to him And yet he hasn actually said much about the games or even shown up to any of the games which I suppose is exactly the way you might be liking it
293. So can you comment a little bit on the way in which Trump has been trying to ally himself with FIFA?
294. But it hasn't quite worked for the fans, right?
295. Yeah, 100 percent. The beginning of the year started with that ironic hypocrisy trophy that Trump wanted so much.
296. And Infantino, FIFA's president, wanted to give it to him so much too.
297. The World Cup started as a political thing. It always has been a political thing.
298. We have a podcast. There's another thing that we're doing with our Copa.
299. and we have a podcast that is how the soccer fandom have moved through authoritarian times.
300. So we talk a lot in that podcast about the Mussolini World Cup during the 30s in Italy.
301. We also talk about how the Corinthians Club in Brazil helped fight the dictatorship in Brazil.
302. But by that time, so there's a lot of examples on how FIFA have contributed in the past to to facist regimes and totalitarian regimes.
303. So there's a connection there is not new for sure that this there's there's a FIFA is part of a brother state.
304. And if we want to get into those terms and they have been supporting Trump's agenda since the beginning,
305. beginning, I think that Trump is playing a role during this World
306. Cup, especially with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State,
307. Michael Rubio. If you see how they are moving their playbook,
308. basically, they put this all these travel bans, all these
309. situation with the visas, etc. But then they create like a VIP
310. list. So we're starting to talk about it, like the moralization
311. of the US politics and visa and to throw you some examples,
312. There's a goalkeeper from Cape Verde, Cabo Verde, Bosinha.
313. He played really well against Spain in a historic game, 0-0 draw against Spain, the favorite team to win the World Cup.
314. And Cabo Verde, a really small island with a small population.
315. So basically, Bosinha, after that game, said that he can't bring his mother because they didn't have the $15,000 they had to pay for the visa.
316. So what the Trump administration did and Michael Rubio was to, hey, I will make sure you can bring your mom.
317. But all the other Cabo Verde fans, as with the Congo fans, it happened the same with the,
318. they have a really famous personality that they put in the stadium to support the team.
319. They didn't accept his visa, but then Michael Rubio and Trump made sure that he was able to come to the World Cup.
320. So it was a problem that you generated yourself. So you're generating the problem to then build the solution to the problem. And then you can say, hey, thanks to me and to my, you know, Michael Rubio and Trump administration, we can bring those special people to the work.
321. Right, it's sort of like, it's what a con man does, right?
322. It's a way to, yeah.
323. Well, let me ask you finally, Enrique,
324. about the way in which our Copa has tried to stay true
325. to the fans and the love that fans have for their game through your website You mentioned there a podcast and there also watch parties that people have organized This is you know
326. more than a month long series of events taking place across the United States,
327. not only for immigrant communities in the U.S., but for people who are visiting from out of the
328. country or who are attending the games. What are some of the ways in which people can
329. link up through and use your campaign to make it truly a sort of a people's experience and
330. an enjoyable experience? Yeah, for sure. So first of all, you can go to ourcopa.com. That's our
331. website, our headquarters for everything we have. As you mentioned, we have a podcast. You can search
332. for the podcast called Our Copa on your favorite platform. We have watch parties. We already started
333. doing watch parties in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago, Houston, in Atlanta too. And we're
334. having a lot of other medium-sized events across the country in Austin, Texas, Oakland, etc. So
335. there's watch parties. You can follow our COPPA26 on Instagram account if you want to get the flyers
336. and all the updates about the watch parties,
337. but we also have other programmatic things
338. that are more connected to the real fans of the sport
339. because they want to take that out from us,
340. especially our joy and our capacity to enjoy a game,
341. like the beautiful game.
342. Well, I want to thank you so much for joining us today, Enrique.
343. Good luck to you.
344. Give out that website quickly one more time.
345. Yes, ourcopa.com.
346. And on social media, you can search for at ourcopa26.
347. And we'll post links to that as well from our website.
348. Thank you, Enrique.
349. Good luck to you.
350. Thank you.
351. Thank you so much.
352. My guest has been Enrique Cardenas Cifre, Communications Director at Mijente Support Committee
353. and one of the co-creators of our Copa National Campaign using the World Cup 2026 to celebrate
354. immigrant communities, build power through soccer, and defend the fans who make the game.
355. I'm Sonali Kohatkar, host and executive producer of Rising Up with Sonali, an independently
356. produced subscriber-supported program nationally syndicated
357. to radio stations, free speech TV, and podcast platforms.
358. I'm Sonali Kolhatkar,
359. host and executive producer of Rising Up with Sonali.
360. an independently produced subscriber-supported program
361. nationally syndicated to radio stations,
362. free speech TV and podcast platforms.
363. Our interviews are available to subscribers
364. at risingupwithsonali.com.
365. Progressive candidates for office are making inroads
366. in this year's primary races in states across the nation.
367. In California, voters representing downtown Los Angeles
368. and its surrounding neighborhoods
369. have sent two Democrats to the November general midterm race, incumbent Jimmy Gomez and newcomer
370. Angela Gonzalez Gonzalez who previously appeared on this program to share her progressive platform now joins us once more The district that she seeking to represent has in recent days
371. been plagued by a massive industrial fire at a warehouse in Boyle Heights, a historically Latino
372. neighborhood in LA. Angela is also a Chicana anthropologist. She's a lifelong Angeleno.
373. Welcome back, Angela. I'm so happy to be here, Sonali. Thank you for inviting us back.
374. So congratulations on winning the primary. And just to remind people who live outside California, this state has the bizarre primary that was changed many years ago.
375. It's basically top two vote getters are the ones who head to the November race, which is why it's not a Republican and a Democrat, but rather, in this case, two Democrats, you and the incumbent Jimmy Gomez.
376. First, let's talk, before we get into your race,
377. the issue that has plagued those of us who live in and around the area,
378. where it's called the Lineage Fire,
379. has ruined air quality for thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in and around the area.
380. Tell me about this fire.
381. It took place in a warehouse in Boyle Heights.
382. In my understanding, as of now, it is still burning.
383. What's been happening?
384. Yeah, so it's almost been a week now.
385. Last Wednesday, this fire broke out at a 500,000 square foot warehouse that is a cold storage
386. operated by Lineage Logistics.
387. And it's been a week.
388. I know people think it just really is happening in Boyle Heights, East LA, but it's actually
389. the smoke is traveling around the city.
390. So people even where I work, Pasadena and in Pasadena are experiencing severe just coughs and shortness of breath.
391. I'm I'm actually feeling it today for the first time, even though I've been protected by masks and and and goggles when we're out because we've been out since day one.
392. And it's just it's been a really, really big deal to navigate for residents nearby.
393. and we're trying to do our part as this student-led campaign that really cares about East LA Boyle Heights, especially.
394. And so basically, this was a massive warehouse that held,
395. it was reading something like 85 million products, frozen, basically a massive refrigerator,
396. owned and operated by the company Lineage.
397. But they're saying that it was solar panel technicians who were working on the rooftop that sparked the fire.
398. And the authorities, it's kind of a unique thing.
399. They didn't really know how to handle it.
400. And so it's not just smoke and the kind of traditional things that burn, but ammonia and chemicals that are considered deeply dangerous.
401. Why do we even have such massive warehouses in residential neighborhoods?
402. Yeah, yeah, that's the question. I, for one, have so many questions. The area is still healing from the Exide battery plant, where recent research found lead in our children's teeth, right?
403. We're still dealing with it's it's just a month.
404. The May 22 oil spill that sent thousands of crude oil into this community
405. that lacks representation, sent it into our storm drains, into the Alley River.
406. But this is really unique.
407. Like you said, it's it's actually a facility again,
408. 500 square feet about where there's two refrigerators.
409. So one is on fire because there's a solar
410. farm on the roof. And so that is what caught fire. And it's just been up until maybe today,
411. a couple hours ago, just unsafe for firefighters to go inside. So it's been a very unique thing
412. to see as we're starting, you know, summer break. And yeah, really, we're just trying to make sure
413. people understand the particles that could be or and are in the air, what AC units are safe to be
414. running the importance of an air purifier and we've been on the ground with community organizations
415. that's always been always the the thing that makes me the happiest about this district is
416. community always steps up so we were in in skid row you know feeding clothing handing out masks
417. to about 400 people on father's day and then yesterday councilwoman isabel gerardo's office
418. invited us to help distribute hundreds, if not maybe over a thousand purifiers. And all of this
419. takes time. And so it's just been just really interesting. And we're so grateful that this
420. student-led campaign that we happen to be running at this time that this fire is breaking out
421. had the capacity, since we won our primary on June 2nd, to look into an identical warehouse fire
422. under the same company that burned for 60 days in Washington. And so they're looking at what some of
423. the resolutions were and what some of the consequences in terms of health conditions
424. for residents, even as far proximity, like thousands of miles away, dealt with some pretty
425. horrific conditions due to that warehouse. And so we're just looking at what we can do now,
426. but also how we can prepare residents for the worst case scenario.
427. Like, you know, we need people to go see a doctor if they can,
428. because this fire broke out, Sonali,
429. and then hundreds of people were outside for the soccer game
430. against Mexico and South Korea.
431. And so we're getting a lot of testimonies from people
432. who are feeling very unwell.
433. So I want to get to your campaign very quickly,
434. But this particular incident is a reminder that low-income communities of color in particular are often seen, you know, their neighborhoods are often seen as so-called sacrifice zones, right?
435. And as you mentioned, there have been other incidents, there have been other areas, you know, in East L.A. and in many different parts, South L.A., where we've had warehouses, factories and industrial manufacturing that has exposed residents to harmful chemicals of the kind that you would never see in a wealthy, wider neighborhoods.
436. If you make it through the November midterms and head to Washington, D.C. to represent the 34th district in California, how would you take on what is your plan to take on this issue to ensure low income communities of color, which is a lot of your district, would be protected?
437. Yeah, and that's what I want to say.
438. It might seem like it's a Democrat on Democrat race here in California's 34th congressional district between Representative Jimmy Gomez and I.
439. We could not be more different.
440. I am unlike him born and raised in this community.
441. I would be doing what I'm doing now,
442. whether I was running for office or not.
443. But the reason why I am running for this seat in particular
444. is because we can do so much more on a federal level.
445. And frankly, we need to, because people are dying.
446. I can stress enough over the past week just how unwell people feel And certainly we shocked by the lack of urgency from some of our elected officials And I should just jump in here and just remind people
447. this is also a community that in early 2025 dealt with the wildfires from both the Eaton
448. Fire in Altadena and the Palisades Fire. And this area was flooded with chemicals and smoke.
449. Oh, man. I was just in Altadena organizing with some tenants as well because they still have not had their ventilation systems replaced.
450. And so ash is still falling from people's vents in their homes.
451. And so we have so much work to do. Again, the love I have for marginalized communities like my own, it's not limited to any boundary.
452. But for this California's 34th congressional district, what we're finding is in parts of unincorporated East LA in Boyle Heights, this warehouse quite literally sits on the corner of what is considered LA County and LA City.
453. And so I have not seen anything like this before in my tenure working in local politics where the jurisdictions play such a big role in the lack of streamlined communication and thus action, right, to just take care of people right now.
454. And so that's that's partly why I'm running in general is because I've seen this before. We've been through unorganized situations like this before. And quite frankly, we're tired of it.
455. I was asked to step up because we knew and we were unfortunately correct that our congressmember would be at a Dodger game while our community was running around trying to put this fire out literally.
456. And we need serious emergency preparedness.
457. I've said that since I ran for president of my neighborhood council, working in the LA mayor's office.
458. And even now, as we prepare for like the Olympics and stuff, when I held a regional representative seat on Metro's Public Safety Committee, we need to talk about streamlined communication.
459. But also what we're seeing from a lot of elected officials is the the the statements of we're monitoring the situation and the commitment to providing damage control rather than preventative care.
460. And so we're working with researchers to figure out on a state level, on a federal level, how can we make the job easier for our city council members, our LA mayor moving forward, because people know in this district, this is not our first environmental crisis.
461. And it certainly probably is not our last one, but it should come with real accountability and transparency.
462. And so I'll just say this last thing. We're working with the city controller, Kenneth Mejia's office as well, to provide taxpayers and Angelenos that transparency that this crisis in the last week has already cost us $3 million.
463. and this company has an outstanding unpaid penalty check of $5 million.
464. And so we need to make sure we're all working together to hold people accountable.
465. And the company in question is called Lineage.
466. Well, let's talk about the student-led campaign that you're working with.
467. What is this campaign?
468. This campaign that was mobilized around the Lineage Fire and Boil Heights.
469. What are the issues it's working on?
470. How are you connected to it?
471. and how is it connected to your campaign for the November midterm?
472. Yes, my students were the ones that asked me to run a year ago, April of 2025.
473. And by students, you mean college students?
474. Yes, after Trump was elected.
475. I currently work with community college students that are some part undocumented,
476. formerly incarcerated forced to live paycheck to paycheck or in their cars A lot of my students have experienced homelessness quite literally living on the street and have overcome recidivism you know cycles of incarceration through education
477. And so I've done that now for nearly 10 years. In that time, we've tried to get the attention of the
478. current Congress member representing the heart of Los Angeles, where a lot of my students live.
479. And we decided to run. And I think we got his attention because honestly, there's just so much going on in this district between ICE raids to small businesses closing every week just down the street from me.
480. And so we're taking all of it very seriously and bringing a community informed, research focused approach to co-governance.
481. And it's been an incredible year. It's been a lot of work.
482. But we we knew that Angeleno's would prove June 2nd that we're ready for change and we're ready for representation that reflects our values and our courage right now.
483. And those values are, I see, affordable housing, tuition free public education, health care.
484. And these are sort of bread and butter progressive issues, would you say?
485. And bare minimum. Yeah, really just bare minimum. Honestly, I know you have written a couple of books now and you have a new book coming out to that really talks about just like how humanity is is the root of all of these struggles and liberation movements.
486. And so we were really moved by the strength and sacrifice of Palestinians right now speaking up for themselves and seeing that our current Congress members in the pockets of APAC and big AI trying to steal our future and corporate real estate developers making sure that, you know, they profit off of our pain and our problems.
487. I think that was the biggest thing that woke us up to say, you know, maybe it's time right now for us to try to get corporate money's influence out of the Democratic Party so that we can make sure we never have another Trump administration again.
488. I also want to bring up the fact that your opponent, incumbent Jimmy Gomez, is apparently facing sexual misconduct allegations.
489. you know, he so he and I believe this came out, you know, very recently, he won 46% of the total
490. vote, you won just under 31%. I'm looking at the latest numbers, hitting into November, if all of
491. the other Democrats or people who ran as Democrats and income independence, if all of their supporters
492. voted for you, it still wouldn't add up to the number of votes that Jimmy Gomez got,
493. except now he's facing this reputational damage, let's put it this way. How will you be changing
494. your approach, your campaign's approach between now and November? How will you be aligning yourself
495. and showing yourself up as, you know, in contrast to Jimmy Gomez? Yeah, that's a great question,
496. because honestly, the news of Representative Jimmy Gomez being under investigation for
497. potential sexual misconduct did not come to a surprise to our campaign. But it did break the
498. day of the election here in Los Angeles. And we had so many messages from people saying,
499. I just dropped off my ballot. How do I change my vote? This is unacceptable. This crosses the line
500. for us here as Angelenos to see that he is now caught up in the crisis that Eric Swalwells
501. and other Congress members are rightfully under investigation for And so I think the feeling here on a local level in this district is that people have either immense regret for not voting for voting for the incumbent because while I feel terribly for his
502. family, he did cause his family pain. And he said that in his statement, while working families here
503. are working two jobs just to keep a roof over their head, you know, and his priorities just
504. were not to deliver Los Angeles the representation that we need on a federal level. Instead, he's in
505. the pockets of those perpetuating Trump's corrupt agenda, you know, so it just it's just time. And I
506. think that what we have done is built a multicultural, multi-generational coalition
507. that is not only capable of winning this seat, but making sure that we have down the ballot
508. options like advocates for justice like myself, where people don't have to feel that they have
509. to vote for the incumbent, corporate-backed, Republican-funded Democrat anymore. We're
510. seeing this across the country. And I'll just say this last thing. I made top two working two jobs
511. with just $200K. And I'm so excited to see what we can do with more time, more support, and
512. definitely more funding. So that's been our priority. And I'm now investing 100% of my time
513. into this. Yeah. Thank you so much, Angela, for joining us today. Give out the website where
514. people can find out more about your campaign. Yes, Angela for congress.com. Angela Gonzalez
515. Torres is my name and our average donation is $26. But we're really a building a volunteer base
516. that is just going to have the best time this summer. So I'm so grateful. So Natalie, thank you
517. for the work you do as well.
518. And we love them.
519. Be careful.
520. Good luck to you.
521. My guest has been Angela Gonzalez-Torres,
522. a lifelong Angeleno Chicana anthropologist candidate
523. running to represent
524. California's 34th congressional district.
525. She heads to the November midterm
526. facing off against incumbent Jimmy Gomez.
527. I'm Sonali Kolhatkar,
528. host and executive producer of Rising Up with Sonali,
529. an independently produced subscriber-supported program
530. nationally syndicated to radio stations, free speech TV and podcast platforms.
531. Hello, this is Martin Sheen, and you're listening to KPFK, 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara.
532. We'll be right back.
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