The Signal - Saturday, June 13, 2026

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1. Hi, this is Lonnie Jordan, founding member of the band WAR, and I'm a big fan of KPFK, 90.7 FM Los Angeles.
2. A world run by a handful of greedy bankers and CEOs
3. who nobody elected.
4. I can't possibly laugh.
5. I'm going to tell you a number of things.
6. But you really only have to remember two words, two words, two words.
7. Good afternoon and welcome to the Signal News Information and Analysis.
8. I'm your host, Dino.
9. This week marks roughly one year since the federal immigration enforcement operations
10. intensified across Los Angeles and Southern California,
11. setting off a series of legal challenges, community response,
12. and ongoing debates about the limits of government power.
13. Over the past 12 months, we've witnessed court battles that have reached the highest levels of the judicial system, allegations of unlawful enforcement practices, including the murder of U.S. citizens during said operations, reports of U.S. citizens being swept into immigration operations, and renewed questions about transparency inside detention facilities.
14. At the same time, federal officials maintain that the immigration enforcement remains a necessary responsibility of government and an essential component of border and public safety policy.
15. What has become increasingly difficult, however, is separating political rhetoric from documented facts.
16. Beyond the headlines and the competing narratives are fundamental questions about due process,
17. civil liberties, government accountability, and the balance between enforcement authority
18. and constitutional protections.
19. Today we're going to take a step back, folks.
20. We're going to take a step back from the politics and examine where things are one year later.
21. And we're going to do so with three folks, three guests to today's program.
22. Our first guest will be Eva Vitran of the ACLU of Southern California,
23. who is helping lead one of the most significant legal challenges arising from these enforcement actions.
24. Ryan Mena, a reporter and journalist who's been a friend of the CIGNO,
25. has been on our program before, of the Southern California News Group,
26. whose reporting has documented both the raids themselves
27. and the conditions inside immigration detention facilities like Adelanto,
28. and who will be giving us an update on the recent hunger strike that's happening in Adelanto.
29. And then we'll close out the program with Flor Melendrez of Clean Car Wash Worker Center, who brings us the perspective of the workers and those directly impacted.
30. Impacted by the policies, the draconian policies of the Trump administration and the disappearances that have been occurring now for one year.
31. Together, we'll explore what has changed, what remains unresolved, and what the public should understand as this story continues to fold.
32. Stay with us.
33. Welcome back.
34. Before we start, one quick programming note.
35. Coming up next week on The Signal news information and analysis with Dino we be taking a closer look at Venezuela six months after the dramatic events that reshaped the country political landscape And that you know saying it nicely
36. What I should say in that is not the dramatic events, but rather the kidnapping of a sitting president of a foreign independent nation.
37. Joining us will be Reverend Ricardo Corzo Moreno, who will have a conversation about the current state of the transition, the economy, the release of political prisoners, and U.S.-Venezuelan relations as they stand today, six months later.
38. Again, that will be here on The Signal next week, so make sure you tune in for that.
39. Joining me now is Eva Vitran of the ACLU of Southern California, who helped lead, who
40. was one of the lead, rather, on the Vasquez-Predomo case, one of the most significant legal challenges
41. to federal immigration enforcement practices to emerge here from Southern California as
42. a result of the raids that happened one year ago this week.
43. Eva, welcome to The Signal.
44. Thank you so much.
45. Good afternoon.
46. Glad to be here.
47. So let's start with a brief refresher, Eva.
48. For listeners who may not have followed every development over the past year, and we've certainly covered it here on this program,
49. walk us through the early stages of not only what happened, but what led up to the Vasquez-Predomo case, or what is now known as the Vasquez-Predomo case.
50. Last summer, as you all know, we saw the full force of the federal immigration enforcement apparatus really descend upon Los Angeles and Southern California writ large.
51. One of the things that we witnessed was our community members coming together to decry the violence and the pain that immigrants were living and experiencing.
52. And five really brave individuals and three organizations, the United Farm Workers, the L.A. Worker Center Network, and CHIRLA, came together to say enough and brought this litigation against the raids.
53. Now, as a matter of full disclosure, yours truly is employed by the Los Angeles Worker Center Network and as such is involved in that.
54. But in this capacity here, we do cover this issue with no direct relationship to either the LA Worker Center Network or its fiscal sponsor.
55. Sure. So, Eva, what were the central allegations that were presented before the district court and what subsequently went to the Ninth District Court of Appeals?
56. Yeah, so the case made a few central allegations.
57. The first is that the way the government was carrying out these horrific operations violates people's constitutional rights.
58. specifically, as you all know from witnessing it, ICE and Border Patrol were stopping people,
59. detaining people, without knowing a single thing about them other than the color of their skin,
60. what they were wearing, and where they happened to be standing, right? And we know that the
61. Constitution demands more, that you need an individualized assessment based on specific
62. facts about the person that they're subject to deportation. And second, you need a warrant to
63. arrest them or a probable cause to think they're going to flee if you go get one. So what we did
64. is we went to the court and we saw an order demanding just that. We wanted the government
65. to stop this unconstitutional practice, stop detaining people just based on their Latino
66. appearance or the fact that they speak a language other than English, their location or their
67. perceived occupation. And we won. The district court, in a really excellent opinion, called out
68. the practice that was happening really accurately and told the government that it had to stop doing
69. And the Ninth Circuit upheld that victory.
70. They heard argument on an expedited timeline and they upheld that this order was correct but then came the Supreme Court And then came the Supreme Court which ultimately stayed those protections
71. What were the government's arguments in seeking that stay?
72. And how did your legal team respond to that?
73. Yeah, so the government made two central arguments before the Supreme Court.
74. First, that the Constitution permits them to rely on those four factors, right?
75. Race, language, occupation, location, and deciding whom to stop.
76. And then second, they argued that the court's order was too broad and unmanageable and that they couldn't implement it properly.
77. We were actually really surprised to see the government defend its use of racial profiling so aggressively in the Supreme Court.
78. And we were even more surprised that the Supreme Court would meddle in this case.
79. You know, the order that we had won was temporary and limited just to Southern California and actually was in line with orders we've seen in other Fourth Amendment cases across the country.
80. So these were the arguments that we made in response.
81. And yeah, as you noted, unfortunately, the Supreme Court agreed with the government and put a pause on our victory.
82. But one thing that's interesting and that I think maybe hadn't gotten as much coverage is that they did so in an unsigned and unreasoned opinion.
83. Right. So we actually have no way of knowing why the Supreme Court did what it did.
84. Maybe they didn't love the evidence on this quick timeline or maybe they wanted to learn more about our plaintiffs or maybe they didn't like that the court had focused on those four factors and would have preferred a different order.
85. And there is really just no way to know.
86. As you know, Justice Kavanaugh writing for himself basically defended a vision of the U.S.
87. where brown people are subject to detention, to showing their papers and can just go along.
88. And we know that's not how things live on the ground.
89. And for the audience who doesn't understand,
90. this particular position was put out by way of what's known as the shadow docket.
91. You reference an unsigned opinion.
92. You know, explain to us what exactly does that mean?
93. What is the shadow docket and what happens when you have an unsigned opinion as opposed to a signed opinion?
94. Yeah, so typically the way the Supreme Court works is they take like 60 to 80 maximum cases a year.
95. That's so many fewer than your average judge, right?
96. Like your average judge has hundreds of cases that they hear at any given time.
97. And so they do that by really carefully reasoning which cases should they take where they're going to make a big legal impact
98. that have been really developed by the courts below so that they're really ready for the Supreme Court to make an intervention here.
99. That's their typical practice.
100. But they also have this thing called the shadow docket, which is when things have to move more quickly,
101. or at least when some party in the case claims that they have to move more quickly.
102. And they can make incredibly impactful decisions without the benefit of time,
103. without the benefit of the courts below having really worked it out.
104. And often they do so, especially in this administration, to give the Trump administration their victory or their way.
105. They'll just clear the path for any obstruction that's in the way of the Trump administration carrying out its policy goals.
106. That's really atypical. It's a departure from the past, and it's not the way our government should work.
107. My guest is Eva Vitran, senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.
108. We're discussing the Perdomo-Vasquez litigation that sought to put a hold, a stop, on the disastrous ice raids that commenced a year ago this past week that led to the devastating impacts across the board.
109. We're talking disappearances, families torn apart, literally in some cases families being ripped apart from one another's arms, including those of children.
110. and we discussing what has been the update or what is the update rather of the Vasquez litigation that is currently still going through Now Eva before we get to the latest development and the most recent filing
111. over the past year since the ruling, so to speak, from the Supreme Court till now,
112. you have gone through process of discovery and so much other developments in this,
113. and obviously we know that you can share a lot of that,
114. But what can you share? What have you learned about this policy that is still underway here in the U.S.?
115. Over the past year, we've been deep in the phase of the case that we call discovery,
116. which is where we get to ask the government for all of its relevant documents,
117. and we actually get to sit their agents and their leadership down for questioning.
118. So we've done a bunch of depositions, that's those questioning sessions, and reviewed a ton of documents.
119. And this really confirms a lot of our understanding from community on the ground of how these raids are playing out.
120. So learning things about what instructions are they getting?
121. What training are they getting?
122. How are they being told to look for people other than the people that they're targeting, right?
123. All of this that we've been learning and that we're looking forward to putting out there in the case.
124. And we've, in fact, used to move the case forward.
125. So one thing that we've done is we added two new claims to the case that really reflect folks' lived reality of what's happening on the ground.
126. So one of those is an equal protection clause challenge.
127. That focuses on the fact that ICE and Border Patrol are specifically targeting people based on their race.
128. And the Constitution doesn't allow that, right?
129. You simply cannot racially profile people in this way, especially not in Southern California, where someone's Latino ethnicity tells you literally nothing about their immigration status.
130. And then the second claim we added is about the extreme show of force that we're seeing agents use.
131. You have probably all seen videos of them descending on locations en masse and masked and armed to the teeth and really terrifying our communities.
132. And the Fourth Amendment doesn't permit those unreasonable tactics either.
133. So bringing us up to date, your team recently filed a new request for injunctive relief.
134. What exactly are you asking the court to do at this point?
135. So we're asking the court to put a stop to the government's policy and practice of arresting folks without a warrant and without an individualized assessment that the person's likely to escape.
136. So the law typically requires you to get a warrant before you arrest someone, right?
137. That's classic Fourth Amendment in the Constitution.
138. There are a couple of exceptions to that requirement, and one of them is that you can arrest someone without a warrant if you have really good reason, so probable cause, to believe that they're likely to get away before you can go get a warrant.
139. And that makes some degree of sense, right?
140. If you know where someone lives and works or goes to church and you know that they have deep ties to the community, then you know that you can go get a warrant and arrest them later if the arrest is truly justified and approved by a warrant.
141. But these ICE and Border Patrol agents, they're not doing that. We know from experience that they are not asking any questions that might let them know whether that person is likely to flee or just go back to their lives, their job, their partner, their kids, their community.
142. and that's illegal. So if the court grants our request, as courts have done in other
143. cases across the country, we hope that these random, untargeted collateral arrests that we're
144. seeing will go way down because that's who's typically subject to the practice. And we
145. ultimately hope we can keep more people safe at home in their communities.
146. segment up. You know, we're marking the one-year anniversary. I don't know, maybe it's not in,
147. what do we call it other than anniversary, but one year since the raids that gave rise to this
148. lawsuit. I think one of our caffeinated, fueled researchers here at The Signal shared with me
149. recently that there's something like more than 700 lawsuits in play right now against the Trump
150. administration, which itself was like, wow, you know, mind blown. But what do you believe is
151. ultimately at stake here, not just for immigrants, but on the constitutional protections more
152. broadly? What are we looking at here? I think we're at a real moment, a real inflection point
153. about how we want our government to treat us,
154. whether we are immigrants, undocumented folks,
155. lawful immigrants, citizens, regardless of our race.
156. Do we want to live in a country
157. where the Constitution permits racial profiling
158. and permits the government to stop anybody
159. on really low kind of suspicion
160. or with them just having an inkling
161. that, oh, that person looks out of place,
162. they don't look like they belong, right?
163. We're at a turning point
164. about whether the courts are just going to allow this kind of white nationalist division of America
165. where everyone is subject to the police power to go forward.
166. That's that issue in our case, and it is that issue in a lot of the litigation against the Trump administration.
167. So we're hopeful and glad that we've seen so many community members stand up in the last year
168. and say, not in our name, this is not the country we want.
169. and yeah, I think it's a real
170. pivoting point in the history
171. of what the Constitution means
172. when it protects people in the country
173. Eva Bittran is an attorney with the SOU
174. of Southern California and part of the legal team
175. representing plaintiffs in the Vasquez
176. Perdomo case. Eva, thank
177. you very much for joining us today
178. and for helping our listeners better
179. understand not only what the status
180. of the case is but what's at stake
181. and especially for joining
182. us on a Saturday afternoon here on
183. The Signal, if you want to hear, if you want to learn more, you can go to their website, aclusocow.org.
184. Emma, thanks for being with us.
185. Thank you so much for having me.
186. Hello, beautiful souls and cosmic travelers.
187. Support for KPFK comes in part from the band Definitely Dead,
188. A Grateful Dead tribute band performing Friday, June 12th at Del Mar Social, located at 3444 Trip Court in San Diego, California, and Saturday, June 13th at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles.
189. Doors open at 7 p.m. and both shows begin at 8 p.m.
190. Further information and tickets are available at definitelydead.com, kpfk.org, and Definitely Dead Band on Facebook.
191. So gather your beautiful people, follow the dancing lights, and let the music carry you into the stars.
192. Welcome back to The Signal.
193. Earlier this month, allegations emerged that detainees who spoke with members of Congress during an oversight visit at the Adelanto Ice Processing Center were later placed in segregation.
194. The claims have sparked renewed questions about transparency accountability and conditions inside this notorious ICE processing center here in Southern California
195. one of the largest or the largest immigration detention facilities.
196. Joining me now, I want to welcome back now, rather, Ryan Mehta, reporter with the Los Angeles Daily News and Southern California News Group,
197. whose reporting has helped us shed light on these allegations, ongoing hunger strike, and experiences of people currently being held inside Adelanto.
198. Ryan, welcome back to The Signal.
199. Thank you for having me again.
200. So, okay, Ryan, let's take it from the top, right?
201. walk me through this, you know, your article that first caught my attention when I read it.
202. You know, and for those of you that don't know, you know, sometimes for those of us who produce
203. radio, whether it's my producer or the team here or myself, you know, I'll read these folks' articles
204. and I'm like, I like it. That's dope. Let's bring them on the show. Believe it or not, that's a lot
205. and how radio operates.
206. But your article centers on three detainees
207. who reportedly spoke directly with members of Congress
208. and were later moved into segregation.
209. What were you able to independently verify
210. and what aspects of the story remain disputed?
211. So I was able to corroborate with several detained people
212. inside of Adelanto that these three men
213. who were visited, like you said, by three members of Congress
214. were sent to solitary confinement within days of those visits.
215. I heard from about four or five detained men that, you know, this happened.
216. And when I reached out to ICE and DHS, they disputed those claims.
217. They just said what? Nope, that's not true.
218. They said, well, first of all, they said there was no hunger strike going on inside Adelanto.
219. They've said that repeatedly, and so did GeoGroup,
220. the private prison company that owns and operates the Adelanto ICE facility.
221. So, you know, it's a stark difference to, you know, what they are saying and what people inside Adelanto are saying.
222. Now, one thing your reporting does particularly well is to distinguish allegations from confirmed facts.
223. What explanations, I guess they disputed that facility officials regarding anything regarding transfers.
224. Was there any dispute about that?
225. But how does those explanations compare with what detainees are telling you they're inside on the ground?
226. So I reached out to ICE DHS Geo Group earlier this week regarding the transfers of one of the hunger strike leaders that the representatives met early this month.
227. And they responded to my inquiries by not really answering my questions.
228. They confirmed that the leader, Kyron Shaquille Swasso, was transferred to El Paso to a detention center over there.
229. And, you know, I asked about, you know, was this done out of retaliation?
230. Like people inside think is happening and like what advocates and lawyers are alleging.
231. And they just said this is, you know, just part of the process to remove him from this country.
232. Now, just for those of you who may not be aware, the representatives in questions who visited the facility were Representative Judy Chu from the California 28th District,
233. Representative Pete Aguilar from California's 33rd District, and Representative Jimmy Gomez from California's 34th District.
234. And they visited the Adelanto Ice Processing Center in San Bernardino County, a notorious facility.
235. and they went there with the intention of meeting with detainees participating in this ongoing hunger strike to assess conditions inside one of the nation most troubled immigration detention facilities Now you previously
236. reported on the conditions of this facility. Ryan, has any of that changed in your experience?
237. In the eight months that I have been looking into Adelanto, conditions, what people inside
238. are telling me about, the troubles that most concern them have remained the same. And that's
239. trouble with food, water, and the biggest one of all, medical care inside. People,
240. dozens of people at this point have told me that food is often served spoiled and that,
241. you know, the portions are small and insufficient and that water is, you know, it has a funny smell,
242. a funny taste, and that sometimes people go without water for hours because the facility
243. workers don't refill the jugs that are inside for drinking water. And for medical care,
244. people have told me repeatedly that it can take weeks, if not months, to get the medical care
245. that they are requesting. And when there's a medical emergency inside the facility,
246. people say that they need to fall on the floor in order to get prompt immediate medical attention.
247. And it's not even immediate. People have told me, dozens of people have told me that
248. even when someone is on the floor having a medical emergency, it could take like
249. anywhere between 5, 15, I've heard up to 30 minutes to receive care for medical emergencies.
250. You know, as you described that, I can't help, you know, my eyes are squinting.
251. I'm just kind of making that discus face because I can only, you described a jug of just nasty water, basically is what you described.
252. And, you know, I'm not trying to diminish what came in the latter part of your comment with somebody having to literally get to the point where they collapse.
253. But, you know, I want to emphasize the fact that you have spoiled food, that you have bad water,
254. and it's not hard to understand why people ultimately end up in a medical crisis
255. only to find out that you are likely not going to get any medical attention in a timely manner.
256. So the more I think about that, it's just like, wow.
257. You know, beyond this incident, you've spent considerable time communicating directly with people,
258. being held at Adelanto. I understand you've spoken with detainees involved
259. and or connected to the recent hunger strike. What prompted the hunger strike?
260. So what prompted the hunger strike that began in mid-May was the California Attorney General's
261. report, their yearly report on California ICE detention centers. It came out on May 15th,
262. and people inside told me that they saw, you know, what was happening on this report on the news,
263. on the TVs there.
264. And they were like, wow, this is crazy.
265. What's happening in other facilities is happening in here.
266. And it is unacceptable.
267. This is what they told me the process was like.
268. And they were like, we need to demand better.
269. So we're going to start a hunger strike.
270. And so they contacted me.
271. Several men contacted me, told me what they were doing,
272. and began my reporting and my story on that.
273. So the participants are hoping to accomplish
274. what is obviously is a human right, right?
275. We're talking, you know, just proper food, you know, clean water, clean facilities.
276. This is exactly what they're describing, or not exactly, rather, but this is what they're asking for.
277. Yes, they started the hunger strike not just to call out the conditions inside of Adelante,
278. but also to demand better.
279. They demanding nutritious foods they demanding better water and demanding prompt medical care and also mold remediation that you know mold is found in the showers There are also reports of worms being found in the shower So they asking for better
280. conditions overall, but these are the specific areas that they're pointing to. My guest is Ryan
281. Manna, reporter, Southern California News Group and the Los Angeles Daily News, who's been reporting
282. now for months on the Adelanto detention facility located in San Bernardino, California, and where
283. recent hunger strikes took place. And after the visit of Representative Judy Chu, Pete Aguilar,
284. and Jimmy Gomez, who went to the facility in early June, was it late May, I believe?
285. June 1st.
286. June 1st. After visiting and talking with some of the detainees, some of them were retaliated on.
287. Two of them were put in solitary confinement, I understand.
288. Actually, all three who were visited were taken to solitary.
289. Two within the day after the visits, and then the third the day after that.
290. Now, as we look at this issue, Ryan, and you heard our first guest, Eva Vitran from the ACLU,
291. this entire program this week, we've been dedicating it to the issues that have gone on over the last year, right,
292. since these devastating ice raids and attacks began.
293. In fact, this past Monday was the one-year anniversary.
294. So this entire week, we've been looking at some of these topics and issues and why this program is dedicated to that theme.
295. But you yourself actually have an additional story that attaches to this.
296. In fact, how I first learned about your reporting, you were reporting on the front lines that first day, second day.
297. In fact, I remember being there myself.
298. And one thing that you and I have in common, although your experience was a lot worse, is you were shot.
299. Two days in a row.
300. Two days in a row as a frontline reporter.
301. Tell us about that day.
302. Yeah.
303. So on June 6th, you know, that was day one of the intensified ICE raids in Southern California.
304. There was a raid at Ambiance Apparel, which, you know, I went to and reported on.
305. I had never seen anything like that.
306. militarized agents on the streets of downtown LA taking people. And later that day, there was a
307. protest at the Metropolitan Tension Center. People were very angry that the community members or
308. neighbors were being taken by these masked militarized agents. And so during that protest,
309. it was at that protest, things were kind of heating up a little bit. Federal agents brought
310. out less lethal launchers. And, you know, I saw what was happening and I decided to back up because
311. I was like, all right, I don't want to get shot. And as I was walking away, I got shot on my left
312. thigh. And, you know, I was wearing two press credentials around my neck on a lanyard. I was
313. carrying a notepad, wearing my backpack. It was very clear what I was there doing.
314. Right, right, right, right. And on day two?
315. Day two, I was sent out to Paramount, California, where there was an anti-ice protest.
316. You know, I was reporting there talking to people who had been shot with, quote unquote, less lethals by the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.
317. And I was getting ready to leave when I saw a few dozen federal agents come out of this one side street.
318. And I just thought it was so bizarre because there wasn't really a whole lot going on at that point.
319. It was relatively calm.
320. And I saw them bring out, you know, less lethal launchers.
321. And I'm like, oh, shoot.
322. Is this going to happen again?
323. Am I going to get hurt again?
324. Before I have time to hide, I'm hit in the head with what I believe is a rubber bullet an inch above my right ear.
325. And my friend, my reporter friend, Sean Beckner Carmichael, he's hit in the head with a tear gas canister, which explodes on both of us.
326. And, you know, I've been tear gassed before, but nothing like this.
327. And it's, you know, impossible to see and breathe.
328. And, you know, we eventually get out of there and flush our eyes out.
329. And a couple of days later, I am diagnosed with a concussion.
330. Wow.
331. And wasn't allowed to do my normal job duties for that week.
332. Wow.
333. I'm so sorry to hear you go through that as somebody who's actually had those experiences.
334. And now as I sit here in old man status, comfortable inside the studio.
335. Funny, I was at the Paramount.
336. I was at the Paramount incident.
337. And I now do mostly photography.
338. But there was one photograph I took there that to this day I still have it in my office at home.
339. And it was a woman, an elderly Latina woman, who at some moment in the middle of this chaos and as they were shooting tear gas canisters and screaming at people, she got to her knees and started praying.
340. and that is one image
341. having photographed folks
342. in 30 countries around the world
343. but that image
344. that it happened in Paramount, California
345. 2025
346. this woman who seemed to have
347. nothing else left
348. but prayer
349. in the middle of tear gas canisters
350. flying in all sorts of directions
351. and I remember getting up
352. enough time just to point the camera
353. and shoot
354. I was across the street, and there was a young man who was begging her to get down, get up, move out of the way, get behind the car, and she just stood there and prayed.
355. And thank goodness nobody shot her, but it was a very impactful moment.
356. So, you know, Ryan, after spending months reporting on El Anto, speaking directly to the folks in the facility, what's the one thing that you try and get across to the public to better understand what's happening with these individuals who are detained there?
357. People don't know when they're going to see their family, their friends, see a tree, see the world again.
358. That is what I've been told by dozens of people.
359. one of the most difficult things about being in there, the agonizing uncertainty over what's going to happen next.
360. Right.
361. Over, you know, and recently, in recent months, people have been telling me, like, I don't want to die in here.
362. Because they're hearing about all these deaths happening, not just stemming from the Atalanta ice facilities,
363. but also from other ice facilities across the country.
364. They're hearing what's happening and, you know, they're experiencing it and they're worried they're going to die.
365. So, and you know, immigration detention is a civil offense.
366. It is not meant to be punitive.
367. But many people inside there who have been to prison and jail have told me that Adelanto is worse than prison and jail.
368. Our next guest actually can speak to some of these experiences because some of her folks have been taken.
369. We're talking about Flor Melendrez, executive director of the Clean Car Wash Worker Center.
370. we're going to take a quick break and come back to Flo
371. can you hang around and do this interview with me?
372. Sure
373. I'm going to take advantage
374. free labor you guys
375. Ryan Mena
376. reporter with LA Daily News
377. who actually going to stick around with us here in the studio we going to take a short break and we be back with Flor Melendrez from the Clean Car Wash Worker Center Cut to the chase
378. Here's every Friday morning at 8 a.m.
379. Join us as we dialogue with activists.
380. They were given a pledge.
381. Historians, musicians, poets, and you, the listener.
382. Not only analyzing our current situation, but coming up with solutions.
383. What is your strategy, Wim?
384. Street Sankofa, take this music.
385. Analysis and solutions. And what did we talk about?
386. Survival skills in 2026 and beyond.
387. 9-11, there were people in the Pentagon that was glad that it happened.
388. Redefining local police departments.
389. And while going through certain parts of Los Angeles, I actually saw this with my own eyes.
390. Police passing out red devils.
391. Reparations, colorism, and much more.
392. Cut to The Chase every Friday at 8 a.m.
393. Welcome back.
394. For nearly 20 years, the Clean Car Wash Workers Center has organized alongside car wash workers throughout Southern California fighting for dignity, workplace protections, and better wages.
395. But over the past year, the organization has found itself confronting a very different challenge.
396. Car wash workers have become one of the most visible targets of immigration enforcement operations,
397. immigration attacks, immigration disappearances across all of Southern California.
398. Families have been separated, workers detained, businesses disrupted.
399. In fact, not only disrupted, some businesses were outright bankrupted.
400. An entire community is forced to live with uncertainty and fear.
401. Throughout it all, Clean has been on the front lines providing support, advocacy, and literally a lifeline for workers and their families.
402. Today, we're joined by Flor Melendrez, Executive Director of Clean Car Wash Workers Center, to reflect on where things are one year later.
403. And I'm happy to say that staying with us here in the studio is Ryan Mena, a colleague reporter with the LA Daily News.
404. We're going to get some cheap, free labor out of her.
405. Thanks for staying with us, Mena.
406. Floor, welcome back to The Signal.
407. Hi, everyone. Thank you for having me.
408. So, Floor, for listeners who may not fully remember how all of this began,
409. take us back to those first few days.
410. What was happening inside the car wash industry when the enforcement actions,
411. the disappearances began?
412. And, you know, how did workers react, and particularly your organization,
413. who's been so intimately involved in this process?
414. Yes.
415. It's hard to even think about it, right?
416. But thinking back of a year and how the rape started,
417. I could only describe it as what people have shared with me,
418. which has been nothing less than like a feeling of being kidnapped.
419. That is what people describe it as, right?
420. Like being at work and all of a sudden feeling like, you know, there's a rush of vehicles, people getting off, armed, masked, and then just going and grabbing people.
421. And no questions, rushing people to the ground, rushing people, putting them in handcuffs, putting them in their vehicles, right, taking them away.
422. in the beginning of the raids, many times going two, three days without knowing where
423. their loved ones were who were detained.
424. So honestly like a kidnapping it has been very tragic to the families And now looking back we have seen that there been over 373 confirmed kidnappings at car wash car washes from car wash workers
425. Right. And, you know, there's been a total of what we have estimated.
426. I know there's many more. Right. This is a number that we have confirmed.
427. Like, we have been able to speak with the families and follow up with those families.
428. 373 car wash workers cannot have work.
429. And let me just pause it for a second because I want to really, I mean, this is 373 car wash workers who may or may not have families,
430. children's, entire economic hubs for part of a community.
431. These are families that are literally devastated by the loss of one of the more important economic sources.
432. But not only the finances.
433. We're talking you're separating a family.
434. And that's for the ones that you are aware of, right, that you've been able to connect and confirm.
435. So, you know, it's fair to say that it's a lot higher maybe, right?
436. Yeah, definitely.
437. Definitely we think that the number is higher.
438. This is what we have been able to confirm, but we definitely feel that that number could be higher.
439. So, Flora, the car wash industry seems to have been uniquely impacted by these operations.
440. Could you please give us a sense of the scope of what you've witnessed over the last year?
441. How many workers and families have been affected?
442. What trends are you seeing today?
443. And what the situation looks like on the ground right now compared to where it was a year ago?
444. Well, you know, saying that 373 workers that have been kidnapped, you know, that's a large number for the industry, right?
445. And these kidnappings happened in L.A., L.A. County, Orange County, and the Indian Empire.
446. We're talking about over 106 car washes that were raided by federal agents, right, all across in those areas that I just mentioned.
447. And I want to say that the industry does look a lot different now.
448. Right. Many car washes have closed. We have been able to confirm that at least 10 car washes have either closed or converted into express wash models following the rates.
449. You know, the industry has had many effects on the workers, right? The entire neighborhoods and our local economies, of course.
450. And even through, you know, this difficult time, I think the only thing that has kept the Car Wash community going has really been that solidarity, that community solidarity that we've had and that we've been able to see and witness communities coming together.
451. These are families that have been separated.
452. You know, how it was mentioned earlier, the 373 workers, you know, this was their home and they were taken.
453. And we, you know, through the support and collaboration between CLEAN and other organizations such as NorCal Resist,
454. CLU, the OC Justice Fund, you know, alongside with immigrant defenders and other private
455. attorneys, 42 of those 373 workers detained, 42 car wash workers have been released from
456. detention.
457. And, you know, that is a hard number to say when you think of the number of workers detained
458. to the number of workers that have only been able to come back home.
459. It has been a struggle Let me ask you Flor for you all and by the way let me just reintroduce you Our guest is Flor Melendrez Executive Director of the Clean Car Wash Workers Center here in Southern California
460. who represents not only car wash workers, but really their families and an entire industry that has been systematically targeted
461. by these draconian illegal ice rates that have resulted in not only the disappearance of more
462. than 370 workers, but the catastrophic impact on families, children, households, communities
463. as a whole. And, you know, Flo, your organization has been on the front lines of this. How has your
464. org adapted over the past year. Now, your org has historically worked with uplifting and empowering
465. workers through education, capacity training, a variety of different, you know, mechanisms that
466. are designed to really improve upon a work experience. But now you're also having to adapt
467. to what is literally a humanitarian crisis. What changes have you gone through as an organization?
468. yeah i think you know for for years um clean started in 2007 and for years our main focus
469. has definitely been leadership development uh rooted in organizing right to improve the industry
470. in the last year i can say uh you know we have had to shift to do a food bank we had to shift
471. to doing a lot of uh know your rights training um walk through through the car washes you know
472. doing our outreach with employers and with workers in a way that is shifted to labor rights,
473. to immigration rights, to health and safety, right? Because let's remember that this doesn't
474. only put the workers at risk, it's our whole communities, right? It's the clients who are
475. at the car wash, it's the workers at the car wash, it's the owners, these are our communities.
476. and we have had to shift to do a lot of that responding to look for legal support to look for
477. immigration attorneys right to learn the system a lot of our organizers have to learn the system on
478. um how do you look for a loved one uh what do you how do you get a bond what's uh uh you know
479. what's the legal process how do you search for someone all these things that it was unknown to
480. us has become like a daily routine, right? To be able to really uplift the families, to be really
481. be able to connect the families, even the simple connection between when somebody is detained
482. and being able to connect to their families, even learning that process, like how do you add funds
483. to have them communicate? How do you add funds to have somebody have a meal, right? Like all these
484. processes that were unknown to us have really shifted in the way that we work. We have really
485. partnered with community, with workers creating what we call phone treats. And it's just a faster
486. system and how we stay together to really alert each other, alert each other if anything's
487. happening. And obviously, we continue to do our organizing because we do not want to put our guard
488. THAT IS THE LAST THING WE WANT TO DO.
489. WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE STAYING CONNECTED,
490. THAT WE'RE STAYING WITH UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION.
491. YOU KNOW, OUR MEMBERSHIP USED TO MEET EVERY OTHER MONTH
492. THROUGH THE RATES WE WERE MEETING WEEKLY.
493. RIGHT. WEEKLY.
494. to ensure that, you know, workers were communicating, that workers were sharing their experiences,
495. that workers were sharing what they would have done differently once they were detained,
496. and really informing the process on how workers were preparing themselves and their families.
497. And I use the word prepare, and I don't know that that is the right word, right?
498. Because how do you prepare your family for such separation?
499. You don't. I don't think you can.
500. Yeah.
501. Yeah, so Floor, you kind of touched on this, but one thing we've also seen over the past year is an incredible response from community organizations, advocates, labor groups, faith leaders, and ordinary residents.
502. So I'm wondering, what has the solidarity looked like from your perspective?
503. And what are some examples of community support that has given you hope during an otherwise difficult year?
504. Yes, we have so many examples.
505. We have been, you know, very, very blessed to have.
506. We pull a call out to community.
507. I remember in the peak of this last summer, and we said we need volunteers.
508. You know, we're asking workers to shelter in place,
509. and we need volunteers to do our food bank delivery to them.
510. You know, we don't want to keep on exposing folks, so we did a call out,
511. and I remember from one night to the next, we got the response of, I think, 117 volunteers.
512. that were willing to show up right the next day, and they did.
513. And they helped us separate all the groceries, receive donations, make packages,
514. deliver the groceries to the workers' homes.
515. And, you know, we did that a few times, and that is what solidarity looks like.
516. It's people showing up, donating their time, donating groceries,
517. donating whatever they could to continue to provide this legal support, financial support to these families.
518. So we have had so many examples of that.
519. And I'm looking forward to that opportunity, Flo, to discuss the financial support
520. because we certainly want to give a space here, airtime, to let folks know how and where they can support.
521. And let me reintroduce you once again.
522. We're speaking with our guest is Flor Melendrez, Executive Director of the Clean Car Wash Worker Center.
523. And one of the most impacted communities, the car wash industry, is who she represents, workers, families, children,
524. and others who have been navigating this devastating, draconian, racist policy directed at car washers,
525. and all immigrants, but here in Southern California, the Latino community in particular.
526. And I also want to reintroduce my impromptu guest host, Ryan Mena,
527. a journalist from the Southern California News Group and the LA Daily News,
528. who Sly and Arnella and I looked at each other through the glass and said,
529. let's keep Ryan here in the studio and have her join us for the rest of the hour.
530. So thank you, Ryan, for stepping in.
531. Floyd, I want to take this a little bit more personal if I can.
532. And, you know, that's this issue.
533. Look, you have been standing there beside workers, families,
534. through some incredibly difficult moments.
535. Your staff has been doing the same.
536. What has this been here What has this year been like for you as a director as a leader as a community champion who has to stand strong has to keep providing guidance and direction You know some of our reporting here on The Signal we noticed that there is organizational fatigue not because you
537. you know, look, there was organizational fatigue before
538. because many nonprofit organizations are exactly that,
539. champion and warriors who sometimes run on caffeine and fumes.
540. But what has that impact been like on you as a community leader?
541. It's definitely been an impact. It's been difficult.
542. I think we're lucky to have great support from other worker centers, from other community leaders, from other volunteers.
543. Our team has been going through it. I want to say that it is tiring. It is a lot.
544. It has been a very difficult year, but also seeing the faces of workers when they come home has been very inspiring to us.
545. You know, our own team has had to go through what are our protocols, what are our plans to keep our team safe as well as while doing this work, right?
546. And yes, there is fatigue.
547. I think there is obviously thinking of how do we plan forward not knowing what is next or what will happen can definitely create that level of uncertainty for each person and obviously to an organization.
548. But I honestly think that the people that are the most impacted are always the people that want to help the most.
549. And I see that from our team.
550. And, you know, I think it's important to do a reset.
551. I think we're overdue as an organization, right, to have some time to disengage and then to continue this work the way that we have been doing so.
552. But, yes, it has been difficult.
553. Yes, there is, you know, folks are tired.
554. And I think we continue to run on caffeine, but also in a lot of community love.
555. I love that.
556. Because we've been held so tightly and so strongly.
557. I cannot tell you how many times our whole team at different moments, you know, had to break down, had to cry it off, had to, you know, talk it off.
558. and, you know, go back on the drawing board and going back to square one
559. and creating a different plan and learning, relearning and learning how the system,
560. the legal system keeps changing and how difficult it is for families to be able to understand it enough
561. to go back to these workers' homes and then go through this process with the family
562. to make sure that they understand, right?
563. So I think we've been held with community love and we continue doing the work.
564. and we, I like to say how our members say it, right?
565. Más fuertes que ayer, stronger than yesterday.
566. We definitely feel that.
567. And as we close, what else would you like listeners to understand
568. about the people behind these headlines?
569. I want to remind us that we are human beings, right?
570. That we have those feelings that we go through it,
571. that we are not only seeing this day-to-day at the workplace,
572. but even in our own families, right?
573. Our very own families have also suffered that separation.
574. Our very own organizers are going through this
575. in more than one way, and not just as a job, right?
576. But like this is our day life So just reminding folks that you know all our organization is human beings There is no you get from point A to point B and that it
577. Like, no, we take this home.
578. We live through this.
579. You know, our families have also been impacted.
580. And, you know, the work we do is really the work of love and organizing is at its root.
581. And I feel like, honestly, our team has had to grow in so many different ways, but it has taken our team to break down at times to then go past that.
582. Sure. Understandable.
583. And for those who want to help, what can they do right now to support car wash workers, support affected families, and support the work that CLEAN is doing?
584. I would really invite folks to visit us at www.cleancarwash.org and learn more about us and be able to donate there.
585. You know, you could donate your time.
586. You could donate any funds, everything.
587. Any single dollar goes a very long way, and it goes directly to our members.
588. It goes directly to our community.
589. So folks can join by, can support by going to cleancartwash.org.
590. That's again, www.cleancartwash.org.
591. I'd like to thank you, Flood, very much for spending this valuable time on this Saturday afternoon.
592. Flood Melendrez, Executive Director of Clean Cartwash Workers Center for joining us today
593. and for sharing both the realities facing workers and the resilience that continues to emerge from these communities.
594. Flora, thank you for being with us on The Signal.
595. Thank you.
596. Thank you for having us.
597. Well, folks, as we wind down, yeah, I mean, that's kind of rough, no?
598. Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
599. Historical times we're living in.
600. Exactly.
601. Historical times.
602. And listen, this is why I applaud folks like you, right?
603. I mean, you guys are out there on the front line.
604. You know, old man Sly, myself, and Arnella, who is not on old person status.
605. You know, we're here in the cozy studio, but it's you all, the journalists that are on the front lines being shot at, being shot, that really, along with Float and other community champions, deserve all the applause.
606. I want to thank you for this latter part of the signal for co-hosting.
607. Maybe we'll invite you back.
608. That'd be cool.
609. Yeah?
610. That'd be super cool.
611. Let's notice to the producer who's nodding her head.
612. I want to, yeah, listen, thank all our audience in every signal area, 98.7 Santa Barbara, 93.7 FM San Diego, and 99.7 FM in Richcrest, China Lake.
613. Thank you for being here with us.
614. And as we close out, folks, I want to remind you that this has been a year, a year, a year since all of this went down.
615. And, you know, unfortunately, it's not the end of it, right?
616. This week marks roughly one year since the federal immigration enforcement operations intensified across Los Angeles and Southern California, setting off a series of legal challenges and community responses.
617. Over the past 12 months, folks, we've witnessed court battles and we've witnessed unlawful
618. practices.
619. U.S. citizens have been killed along the way.
620. It is imperative that for us in community broadcasting public radio journalism that we stay the course and continue to report on these issues Over the last hour we explored how this story through three different lenses through the courts through the questions that journalists ask
621. and through the journey of communities on the ground,
622. we've realized that it's not just about community or rather immigration enforcement.
623. this is about people's lives. This is about the strength and power of a community.
624. And I want to just kind of bring that back to its raw effort.
625. Perhaps the most important takeaway from today's discussion is that this story is far from over.
626. The litigation continues, the reporting continues, the human impact continues.
627. And as long as those questions remain unanswered, they remain worthy of public attention.
628. For KPFK 90.7 FM, our production team and producer Nela Bárbara, engineer Sly Rivers, our digital media producer Oliver Quintanilla, and my guest host.
629. Ryan Meneth.
630. We'll see you next week.
631. I'm your host, Dino, and thanks for being with us.
632. Stay tuned for the car show, who I listen to while I go back home.
633. Muchos pensamos que tú eres un cobarde
634. El sentimiento del nacionalismo
635. Le ha dejado la puerta abierta al terrorismo
636. Señor Presidente
637. Lo que traes en la mente
638. Es muy diferente
639. De lo que piensa tu gente
640. ¿Quiénes son tu gente?
641. Oye, señor presidente
642. Son los que quieren creerte
643. Y verte fuerte de usar
644. Uy!
645. Uy!
646. El movimiento chicano
647. Brown kid
648. The American people
649. The poor
650. I'm Esty Chandler.
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