The Signal - Saturday, June 20, 2026

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1. I am your Esmad.
2. A world run by a handful of greedy bankers and CEOs who nobody elected can't possibly last.
3. I'm going to tell you a number of things, but you really only have to remember...
4. Good afternoon Los Angeles and welcome to The Signal, news, information and analysis.
5. I'm your host, Dino.
6. Coming up on today's show, six months after Maduro's removal, we go live to Venezuela to ask what's actually changed.
7. Then we head on over to Sacramento for the latest on the budget, immigrant health care funding, and the California's race, which we now know who's running into November.
8. And then we close out the program with new research coming out of UCLA on how immigration enforcement is impacting Latino communities nationwide.
9. But first, let me welcome all our listeners from not only the 98.7 FM signal in Santa
10. Bárbara, but the 93.7 FM signal in San Diego, and my friends over in Richcrest, China Lake,
11. listening on 99.5 FM on this beautiful, or maybe not so beautiful, actually the word
12. is, right Sly?
13. Smoky Saturday afternoon.
14. Please be careful out there, as many of you have seen the latest.
15. It is quite an experience right now in greater metro L.A.,
16. as we seem to have been taken over by one stubborn fire,
17. one stubborn warehouse fire that has left us all up in smoke, pun intended.
18. And, of course, ahead of the now forthcoming Father's Day,
19. I want to wish all the papas out there, including my own father,
20. a very happy Father's Day tomorrow
21. for those of you who are celebrating
22. and for the moms who also play that role as a father.
23. So listen, you know, as I said,
24. lots going on here in L.A.,
25. especially with this top headline of the fire happening
26. in the Boyle Heights community
27. that has now been, for a couple of days,
28. a stubborn warehouse fire
29. that seems to have engulfed the entire city
30. with what I can only describe as nauseous smell,
31. smoke. So, you know, our team here at The Signal, our over-caffeinated team of interns and staff,
32. decided to put together a list of headlines. We were talking about the importance of sometimes
33. sharing headlines with you all. And as such, we want to introduce a new segment here on The Signal
34. in which we'll bring you some of the headlines that are catching our attention, because it is
35. oftentimes through this process that we identify some of the topics that we'll be covering on the
36. program in the days and weeks ahead. And with that, I do want to highlight some of the issues
37. that we're looking at as per the headlines from this week, starting with June 20th. And the first
38. that caught our attention, of course, is the California, excuse me, the Supreme Court struck
39. down a gun law in a unanimous ruling on Thursday with a nine to zero ruling that the federal
40. government cannot automatically strip gun rights from someone solely for occasionally using illegal
41. drugs or illicit drugs, rather, citing with a Texas man prosecuted under the law. The decision
42. comes as the court races to resolve a stack of high-profile cases, including Trump's bid to limit
43. birthright citizenship before its term ends Now this matters folks The ruling narrows a federal federal law and signals how the court conservative majority is approaching Second Amendment cases with
44. several more consequential rulings expected any day now. Back in California, California lawmakers
45. passed budget ahead of a constitutional deadline. On Monday, the legislature passed a budget of more
46. than $350 billion to meet the constitutional June 15 deadline. The real negotiating between
47. lawmakers and Governor Newsom now begins with billions in disputed education and health care
48. funding still unresolved ahead of the July 1st start of the new fiscal year. Now, once this
49. gets finalized in the coming days, it will shape funding for schools, health care, and safety net
50. programs statewide. Additionally, coming out of California, the legislature pushes back on Newsom's
51. proposed Medi-Cal cuts for immigrant communities. As part of the week's budget action, lawmakers
52. rejected several of the governor's proposed restrictions on health care coverage for
53. immigrants, including holding the line on eligibility rules Newsom had previously sought
54. to tighten. The outcome of this will directly affect health care access for hundreds of thousands
55. of Californians as the final budget talks continue. Now, the biggest news perhaps for us and our team
56. here at The Signal came out of the L.A. City Council,
57. where this week the L.A. City Council essentially punted the ball down the road,
58. down the field, on expanding, rather, city council size,
59. drawing some serious criticism.
60. On Wednesday, council members declined to act on a recommendation
61. from the city's Charter Reform Commission to grow the council from 15 to 25 seats,
62. instead forming yet a new committee to study the idea even further
63. with any decision now unlikely, according to some sources, before 2028.
64. Council President Marquise Harris Dawson,
65. who, by the way, we've extended an invitation to come talk to us about this,
66. said the city should do it right rather than rush it.
67. Reform advocates called it a missed opportunity after years of work.
68. Now, supporters say that a larger council would better represent L.A.'s diverse communities.
69. Critics say the delay shows how hard structural reform is to achieve in City Hall here in L.A.
70. Staying in L.A., council advances narrow LAPD oversight measure.
71. Also on Wednesday, the council approved a measure clarifying its policy authority over the LAPD
72. while sending a broader police accountability set of proposals,
73. including expanded fire authority, to committee for further review.
74. The L.A. Police Protective League says the city failed to legally meet
75. and confer with the union before moving forward.
76. Now, that seems to be something we've heard in this show before,
77. that there wasn't enough engagement with all the stakeholders at play.
78. Now, this dispute could delay or reshape police oversight reforms in the days or years, rather, to come and raises questions about whether the city followed its own labor rules.
79. And lastly, out of City of L.A., on Wednesday, council members voted 10 of 5 to advance a measure that would let non-citizen residents with legal status, including DACA and TPS holders, to vote in city and school board elections.
80. Council Member Hugo Soto who introduced the proposal framed it as a fairness issue for long residents Opponents raised issues of costs and election administration concerns
81. Now, if it reaches the ballot and voters approve it,
82. it would expand who has the formal voice in city elections in the city of L.A.
83. Now, those are some of the stories making the rounds here at the Signal Studio in L.A.
84. and across the country.
85. and those are the stories that we'll be looking at in the coming days
86. as we look at new segment ideas for our programming here on The Signal on KPFK.
87. With that, stay with us.
88. We'll be right back as we head to Caracas, Venezuela
89. and get an update on what's happening six months later.
90. Hi, this is Dan McCrory, author of Capitalism Killed the Middle Class
91. and former president of Communication Workers of America, Local 9503.
92. Join us Mondays at 5 a.m. while Working Voices with hosts Joyella and Enrique Sanchez
93. for the news and views on what's happening within the labor community
94. here in Southern California and the rest of the world.
95. Whether it's striking TV writers, organizing successes at your local Starbucks,
96. or justice for hotel workers,
97. Working Voices is all about dignity and respect for all workers.
98. Join us and be part of the solution.
99. Mondays at 5 a.m. on KPFK, 90.7 FM, Los Angeles,
100. and online for the world at kpfk.org.
101. Welcome back.
102. Six months after the dramatic and military removal and detention of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela,
103. the country finds itself at a crossroads.
104. Supporters of the transition point to a renewed foreign investment,
105. increase oil production, and improve relations with the United States,
106. while critics argue that everyday Venezuelans have yet to see any meaningful improvements.
107. While many of the same political structures remain intact,
108. the question we're asking today is where does Venezuela stand,
109. and how or what does the future hold for it?
110. Joining me now from Venezuela is Ricardo Corzo Moreno,
111. contributor to The Signal. Ricardo, welcome back to The Signal.
112. Thank you for having me, Armando, and greetings to all the people in Los Angeles and California.
113. Wonderful. So, Ricardo, let's start off with, you know, the basic reminder, right?
114. The big picture. Many observers expected immediate and dramatic changes after Maduro's removal six months later.
115. How would you describe the overall state of Venezuela today?
116. Well, I would say it's a really complex and volatile situation.
117. We live now in a dual-power landscape, even when a lot of people like to talk about transition.
118. I think right now three main forces are playing out One I would say what I call the restorationists people who want to go back to the old times
119. favoring the
120. interest of the U.S.
121. capital in the country. I'm talking
122. you, Pre Chavez.
123. And then that's one force.
124. You know, the people that want to go back to
125. the old days before Chavez,
126. when
127. the U.S. capital was
128. the main
129. interest for these groups.
130. Then the second block
131. I will say a fractured
132. but still powerful
133. Chavista military apparatus
134. which seeks to
135. preserve his economic
136. and political privilege.
137. And then a third block
138. which I will say
139. is the majority of the country
140. but
141. are really dispersed.
142. I'm talking about the grassroots
143. movements, the communal councils, the worker movements, the campesino or farm workers organizations
144. that they resist or refuse to go back to the old times before Chavez and they don't want to be
145. spectators in what is going on in the country. But they are really dispersive. You know,
146. there is no really cohesive national organized force beyond them.
147. And what we have now is the state,
148. which is still together by a pact
149. that was able to neutralize the hardline Maduro loyalists or supporters,
150. but basically
151. it's still in place
152. the power
153. structure is still intact
154. and
155. we
156. don't have right now in Venezuela
157. what we experience
158. in the between
159. years 18, 19,
160. 20 the
161. scarcity of food
162. or
163. what we have now is
164. a lot of imports, but with high prices, which most of the ordinary Venezuelans can afford.
165. So that's what's going on right now.
166. So Ricardo, it sounds like what you're saying is that the country, at least from a social
167. contract perspective, right, if we're going to apply some sociological understanding of
168. it, you're saying that it's breaking down into three broad categories, those that are
169. looking to return back to the ways in which the pre-Chavez era, the pre-socialist era
170. that benefited mostly elites and the rich, that's one sector. The old school, the old guard,
171. Chavistas, there's still many who remain, but the overwhelming majority of the country is looking to
172. move forward and resist, I think, if I understood correctly, a little, both elements, a little bit
173. of both elements, and are looking to forge forward a path that sounds to me is really a genuine path
174. by the people. Would that be accurate in describing? You're right. That was my analysis.
175. So, Ricardo, on the issue of economic recovery versus daily reality, you touched on that already.
176. you know the government points to increased oil production the government is now saying
177. foreign investment is beginning to flow and the lifting of sanctions as evidence that the economy
178. has begun to recover at the same time many venezuelans
179. are reporting that food prices, inflation, again, you touched on that, and the cost of living remain overwhelming
180. is one of the ways in which this was characterized to one of our researchers.
181. What hasn't the economy recovered from?
182. What is the one area that, in your observations, still needs a lot of work?
183. I would say that the economic theory, you know, that if there's more income and you get, in the case of Venezuela, you get more oil production.
184. I think the Trump administration is focusing on that.
185. Venezuela was one of the larger oil producers.
186. We used to produce up to 3 million barrels of oil per day in Chavez times.
187. It went down to less than half a million under Maduro regime.
188. You know, there are many explanations to that.
189. One is the U.S. blockade and other, of course, corruption.
190. and now we are producing like 1 million of oil per day.
191. The idea is that with the new foreign investment
192. and the US oil companies coming to the country,
193. that can go up to 1.5 million within a few months
194. and then up to 2 million within one to two years.
195. Okay, so that would be a significant growth, actually, back to the $3 million during the Chavez period.
196. Yes, the idea is that we go up to $2 million.
197. And now the current administration, the president in charge of the interim president, Desi Rodriguez,
198. she's making a lot of pragmatic pivot to all the foreign investment.
199. and of course she has a really complex situation
200. because she needs to balance the interest of the transnational capital
201. but then also how that will go down to the immediate survival of working families.
202. Sure.
203. Which actually, I'm glad you bring that up
204. because one of the questions when we were thinking about this topic
205. and we were planning this story,
206. One of the things that came up to us, of course, is that as we look at the rebuilding of the economy, in particular the oil sector, as you point out, critics worry that it could very well once again concentrate wealth among political insiders and foreign corporations, therefore simply enriching maybe a new group of elites and leaving the people out.
207. Is that a sentiment that you're seeing and experiencing in Venezuela?
208. Yes. And especially many of the all new elites that were formed in Maduro, especially people in the military, now they are trying to be power brokers with the oil companies coming to the country.
209. So I think the challenge for President Dessy Rodriguez will be how that can shift to a more solidary economy,
210. how you can estrange more communal production how you can increase and develop more community cooperatives how the state and the investors can buy from the small producers how that new income will translate into social programs
211. So the economic growth will not only go to the new elites, but really will benefit the
212. ordinary people.
213. I think that that's the challenge.
214. My guest is Ricardo Corzo Moreno, contributor to The Signal, calling us live from Caracas, Venezuela.
215. As we discuss Venezuela six months later, what has changed after the kidnapping, the military attack on the capital in which the then-president Nicolás Maduro was taken in a nighttime raid by military personnel at the direction of the Trump administration.
216. And, you know, Ricardo, one of the things that, you know, I'm dying to know, and I know that you and I discussed a short while back about maybe revisiting Venezuela, and it's an idea that's still lingering in my mind.
217. But, you know, I can think back to my time working there, both in media and other industries.
218. And, you know, there wasn't a place you didn't go.
219. Now, I'm talking back 2007, 8, 9, at the height of Chavismo.
220. And, you know, the communities, everywhere you went, there was a vibrant invocation of el señor presidente Hugo Chavez.
221. And that, I suspect, has withered over the years, obviously, especially during the Maduro administration.
222. So many Venezuelans expected a complete break from the Maduro era.
223. Yet many government ministries, judges, military leaders, and some of the bureaucratic infrastructure remain in place.
224. How much of the old chavista system remains there?
225. Well, I will make a difference when we talk about chavismo and madurismo.
226. a painful but honest answer
227. from a left point of view
228. will be that
229. much of the old bureaucratic
230. authoritarian
231. parasitic structures
232. they're still there intact
233. because you know
234. Maduro removal was
235. imposed by a foreign power
236. was not the result of
237. a popular insurrection
238. or you know
239. that will sweep away all the government apparatus.
240. It was a negotiation between, you know,
241. gay military and elites and also the U.S.
242. So Maduro is out, but much of the structure is still in place.
243. For example, a lot of the high command military associates,
244. Associates, they still control a lot of the food distribution, the mining, the banking, the ports.
245. So they become the stability factors with their economic power.
246. So there is, you know, all the clientelist machinery that the companies allied with the oil industry in Venezuela
247. that is still controlling a lot of the production,
248. they are still in place.
249. So we have a long way to go to get reforms
250. that can be meaningful democratic reforms that will bring institutional change I will finish with this
251. Chavismo is still there, you know,
252. when you go to the people in the barrios, in the hoods,
253. you talk to the people and they remember Chavez
254. and they remember the old good times of Chavez.
255. Yeah.
256. So there is a force in Chavismo still
257. in the popular sentiment of the people.
258. Of course, many people were really disappointed
259. by the Maduro regime,
260. by his way of conducting business in Venezuela.
261. And there is hope that somehow
262. we are not going back to the old days,
263. pre-Chavez, which Maria Corina Machado represents,
264. the right-wing strength.
265. But also people are waiting for a better politics,
266. coming from the left.
267. The interest, as I started at the beginning,
268. that all those movements are dispersed all over the country.
269. You know, the story of Venezuela today is one of many contradictions.
270. Economic indicators may be moving in one direction,
271. but daily life seems to be, for many at least,
272. still very, very difficult.
273. Political prisoners, some have been released,
274. others remain, and we're hearing that power structures
275. are indeed in the same location, functioning in the same way as before.
276. The question facing Venezuela is whether these changes represent the beginning
277. of a more democratic and economic renewal,
278. or simply a new chapter in the long struggle over power, legitimacy,
279. and the future of the nation.
280. Ricardo, thank you very much for joining us from Venezuela, from Caracas.
281. We always appreciate you and the contributions you make to The Signal.
282. hope to have you back soon
283. thanks for being with us
284. thank you for having me Armando
285. thank you stay with us folks
286. we're going to take a short break and when we
287. return we come back
288. we come back home to the state of California
289. and to the capital
290. where our friend
291. Andrea Valadez reporter out of Calo News
292. who covers the capital will give us
293. an update on key developments
294. coming out of Sacramento
295. One, two, three.
296. Radio Afrodisha brings you the best music from Africa and the African world every Saturday.
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300. Turn it up and keep it moving with Radio Afro this year.
301. We had the global African sound comes alive every Saturday, 4 to 6 p.m.
302. Showtime.
303. Welcome back.
304. We now head to, we come back home to Sacramento for the latest news and political developments coming out of the state capitol, where our friend Andrea Valadez joins us.
305. Andrea from Reporter with Calo News.
306. And Andrea, this week has been tracking how California lawmakers are responding to federal immigration enforcement, the ongoing debate over funding health care and support services for the immigrant community here in Califas,
307. And the latest twist in California is now a two race for Governor Andrea Andrea Andrea welcome back to The Signal est
308. Andrea, Andrea.
309. Do we have Andrea on the line?
310. Okay, so let's, you know, as we get her on the line,
311. you know, we're working on it.
312. Hang in there, Andrea.
313. I see you on the telephone line.
314. and I think we're just going to raise up that volume.
315. Andrea, are you there?
316. Standby, folks.
317. This is live radio.
318. I think I hear it.
319. Radio Afrodisha brings you the best music from Africa and the African world.
320. So let me reintroduce Andrea as we get her on the line.
321. I do see her on here.
322. so this week uh some of the stories that are being covered by andrea
323. include the california lawmakers turning to tax policy to challenge immigration enforcement
324. as federal immigration enforcement actions continue across california
325. democratic lawmakers are increasingly looking at tax policy as a tool of resistance and
326. One proposal would prohibit California taxpayer dollars from being used to support family separation efforts and other immigration enforcement activities.
327. Supporters argue that the state has both a moral and fiscal responsibility to protect immigrant families,
328. while critics question whether the state is overstepping its authority in challenging federal actions.
329. Now, the debate reflects California's broader effort to push back against the Trump administration's immigration agenda through state policy.
330. Now, this is a strategy and a tactic that we've seen develop over the last 12 months as California state lawmakers have increasingly become much more strategic and nuanced in their legal approach to challenge the Trump administration's attack on communities.
331. Now, a year in since the attacks began here in California and L.A. in particular, we've now seen, you know, by last record, and this is nationwide, well over 700 lawsuits filed against the Trump administration that seek to mitigate some of the direct and collateral consequences being caused by the draconian actions by the Trump administration.
332. administration. The other top story covered by Andrea Takalo News is this funding immigrant
333. health care and support services. As California prepares next year's budget, lawmakers are
334. grappling with how to maintain health care coverage and critical support services for
335. immigrant communities amid significant fiscal pressures. Now, this has been consistent, it seems
336. like across both state and local.
337. If you all recall, we did have significant fiscal pressures here in L.A.,
338. and although the city was able to balance a budget or put forward a balanced budget,
339. we were able to address some of these issues as well.
340. The debate in California or at the state level centers on preserving access to care,
341. legal assistance, and the community-based services while balancing budget constraints
342. and competing priorities.
343. The conversation has become increasingly important
344. as immigrant families face heightened uncertainty
345. related to federal enforcement
346. economic challenges. Now, these uncertainties, you know, range from everything from, you know,
347. job insecurity, exploitation. Here in the signal, we've covered this extensively where
348. we have seen the families who have lost a source of income and others are increasingly concerned
349. or afraid to go to work.
350. And this has just been a catastrophic impact on the communities here in L.A.
351. Now, the other story that we're looking to cover is the California governor's race,
352. which begins to take shape now.
353. After months of remaining largely on the sidelines,
354. several major California political figures are now beginning to weigh in on the race
355. to succeed California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has turned down.
356. Newsom himself, who has more and more recently shed some signs of interest
357. in running for governor, or rather for president,
358. has begun to weigh in on who might very well be the next governor.
359. Newsom himself recently signaled support for continued democratic leadership, while candidates and political organizations are increasingly working to secure endorsements and build coalitions.
360. coalitions. Now, look, the activities are just wait and see. You'll soon quickly begin to see
361. the amount of ads that are going through left and right and bombarding your devices, your
362. televisions and what have you. It looks like we do have Andrea now back on the line. Andrea,
363. welcome to live radio. This is, you know, this is live radio. This is what happens. Sometimes
364. equipment presents itself with a challenge.
365. Now, here's the irony of it.
366. This is a little secret just between you and I
367. and the 20 million people that are listening.
368. All right.
369. The equipment is brand spanking new.
370. Never a boring day.
371. Never, ever.
372. Andrea, welcome back to The Signal.
373. And I was already given a brief overview
374. of the top three stories
375. that our caffeinated researchers here said.
376. These are the ones that we should talk to Andrea about.
377. But we started off giving those descriptions.
378. Give it to me, story one, California lawmakers turn to tax policy to challenge immigration enforcement.
379. Walk us through this proposal.
380. What exactly are lawmakers trying to accomplish here?
381. Yes, so that specific bill is Assembly Bill 2465.
382. And essentially, it would make it so that any corporations that are involved with federal immigration enforcement,
383. So think companies that own those detention centers.
384. They will not be eligible for state grants, tax credits, state loans, basically anything that's funded by taxpayers.
385. So the bill author, Liz Ortega, she told me that she did work with the state tax board to sort of figure out the ins and outs of this.
386. And it sounds like basically any time one of these corporations goes to apply for these grants or credits, the system will flag them and automatically deny them.
387. well who's uh you mentioned one author but who's leading the effort here and what are the
388. arguments they're making in support of using state tax dollars this way yeah so this specific bill is
389. really being championed by assembly member liz ortega she a democrat from the east bay she the Vice Chair of the Latino Caucus There a whole bunch of Democrats that support bills like this
390. right now. And the pitch basically is that lawmakers should be doing anything and everything
391. they can to curb the, you know, the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. And
392. one of the ways to hit them where it hurts, so to speak, is by withholding those tax dollars
393. from anyone who helps the administration do what they're doing.
394. And, you know, many would argue as they should.
395. Andrea, as California prepares next year's budget,
396. lawmakers are grappling with how to maintain health care coverage
397. and critical support services for our immigrant community.
398. But, you know, we're faced with fiscal pressures
399. and, of course, the mounting challenges that our communities are experiencing
400. as a result of the attacks by the federal administration.
401. what are lawmakers proposing when it comes to funding health care and support services
402. for immigrants next year? Yeah, so the gist right now is that Democrats are trying to basically just
403. delay a whole bunch of cuts for undocumented immigrants, refugees, people here under asylum.
404. They're trying to just hold back on these cuts until next year for the next governor to deal with,
405. whereas Governor Newsom wanted to cut these things right now.
406. And on support services for immigrants,
407. interestingly, the legislature is proposing
408. roughly $100 million to go towards these communities
409. while Governor Newsom, again,
410. only proposed around $20 million back in May.
411. So there is a clear divide
412. between what legislature Democrats want to do
413. and what the governor wants to do.
414. Now, hold on a second.
415. I'm doing the math on that.
416. $20 million?
417. Yeah.
418. No, you said $100 million. Yeah, that's an $80 million divide.
419. Yeah.
420. Not let me pick oranges over apples this week.
421. Well, speaking of the California governor, the race has begun to take shape, right?
422. After months of remaining largely on the sidelines, several major political figures here in the state began to weigh in, including good old Gavin Newsom.
423. So at this point, walk us through major candidates.
424. What are the key dynamics shaping this race?
425. Yeah, so as you said earlier, right now it's, you know, a two-man race.
426. So voters are either going to choose between Javier Becerra, a Democrat, and Steve Hilton, who is a Trump-endorsed Republican.
427. I think one of the key dynamics here that's the most interesting is that, you know, California has almost double the amount of registered Democrats than Republicans.
428. So on the surface, it would seem that Becerra has it in the bag, but you really never know.
429. Hilton has his work cut out for him, so it'll be interesting to see how these next few months go.
430. Now, what changed over the past few weeks that has the state leaders becoming more active in the governor's race?
431. Is that what you just referenced, the point that maybe the Democrats are beginning to see that it's not always peaches and cream as they always thought it was?
432. Is that the case?
433. Yeah, well, I mean, Becerra really didn't have any establishment support even a few months ago because of how low he was polling.
434. And as we all saw, that can change on a dime. Right.
435. And so now there is a clear front runner for Democrats, and that is Javier Becerra.
436. And so everyone's kind of throwing their weight behind him because at this point it's either a Democrat or Republican that's going to be elected.
437. And Democrats want it to be another Democrat. So there's a lot of weight behind him now.
438. So what should voters and political observers be watching between now and the next major milestone in this campaign which I think leading into the summer I could see that perhaps on the next funding cycle for campaign donations But what should voters be looking at What should my team of researchers be looking at when preparing the next segment
439. How's that?
440. Yeah, well, I think both candidates are really starting to ramp up their campaigns.
441. Steve Hilton has been holding many press conferences here in Sacramento.
442. As far as I know, Becerra is still engaging with voters.
443. um but i think a key thing to look out for is that first debate right that's not scheduled yet but
444. that that will be the first time that voters can actually see these two lay out their plans for
445. california without a stage full of bickering and talking over each other like we saw a few
446. a few weeks back um and really what interests me the most right now for that first debate
447. is how much if at all hilton will try to separate himself from the president who again endorsed him
448. and of course is extremely unpopular here.
449. And also how much Becerra will differentiate himself from Gavin Newsom
450. or if he's kind of going to back up what Newsom has done
451. and many have said if he will be a Newsom 2.0 in a way.
452. So it'll be interesting how they both try to stand out.
453. Well, it sounds like we may very well have a type of election
454. that is designed by candidates who are by default
455. looking to separate from their respective parties, all the while staying as part of that party.
456. Look, I've already placed a large order, extra butter popcorn. I'm going to be sitting by,
457. you know, checking the drama and politics out. Andrea, as always, thank you for joining us and
458. for helping us make sense of what's happening in Sacramento. We appreciate you. We hope to have
459. you back soon. And hey, listen, when doing live radio, you can always drop off. Thanks for being
460. with us. Thanks for having me. Cut to the chase. Stay with us every Friday morning at 8am. Join us
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468. Welcome back. Welcome back. As we continue, we now go to UCLA. I want to welcome to the program Dr. Melissa Chinchilla, Director of Research Impact, and her work at UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge.
469. Today we're digging into a new report on how immigration enforcement is impacting Latino communities nationwide.
470. And I'm joined by Dr. Chinchilla to discuss this report,
471. who came out of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge in partnership with the organization Unseen.
472. And it's actually the fourth in a series.
473. The first brief, published back in October of 2025, documented a surge in Latino ICE arrests
474. during the early months of the second Trump administration.
475. The second of the report back in January of 2026 found that detentions were increasingly targeting non law immigrants with people held longer and transferred farther from home And then the third back in April this year looked at the deportation specifically
476. and found Latinos were disproportionately affected with due process increasingly curtailed.
477. And this new report released just last month, it extends the analysis with most recent data available
478. covering ICE activity from January 2024 through February 2026.
479. So it takes a window, it looks at a window that matters
480. and lets researchers directly compare the last 13 months of the Biden administration
481. to the first 13 months of the second Trump administration.
482. I'm digging that.
483. So let's get into it.
484. Dr. Chinchilla, welcome to The Signal.
485. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
486. so let's start this off this is the fourth brief your team has published tracking ice treatment
487. of latinos since the start of the second trump administration what made you
488. keep returning to this data and what does the new update share yeah well you know that it's
489. this has been an ongoing issue and we really wanted to see what is being presented in the
490. numbers. The report is based on data that's been put out by the UC Berkeley School of Law
491. Deportation Data Project, which is covering ICE detentions, and it's based on publicly available
492. data. We wanted to take a look at, you know, what's been happening under the Trump administration
493. and how have arrests and deportations shifted under Trump compared to Biden?
494. And, you know, really looking at who's being targeted, what are the tactics being used,
495. and how are folks being impacted in the community.
496. Now walk us through the data itself.
497. Where does it come from?
498. How did you isolate Latino-specific impact from it?
499. Yeah, so as I mentioned, the data is publicly available data.
500. Our partner at UCLA, under the Center of Neighborhood Knowledge,
501. really led by Dr. Paul Ong and his team, they looked at the data.
502. They're looking at a number of different factors,
503. including who's being arrested and how they're moving through the detention system.
504. So they're looking at who's being arrested, where are arrests occurring.
505. Once detention occurs, what is happening to individuals?
506. So are they being kept in state? Are they being moved out of state?
507. Are they being deported to their home country or deported to other areas?
508. You know, the data really shows a couple of key findings,
509. which I'm hoping we can discuss throughout the segment.
510. So, you know, one, we're really seeing a shift in terms of who's being targeted and how they're being targeted.
511. So we're really seeing a shift in terms of the profile of folks.
512. Right, because the administration has consistently framed the enforcement around removing, quote, the worst of the worst.
513. Right. And so tell me, what is that panning out?
514. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, despite President Trump's campaign and his emphasis on saying that he's supporting the most dangerous criminals, we're really seeing otherwise in the data.
515. So we are not seeing this to be true. Instead, the data is really showing that, as we've seen throughout the Trump administration, there's really been a shift in terms of who's being targeted.
516. So we're seeing that these so-called worst of the worst are actually have dropped in terms of the proportion of individuals being deported.
517. So our deportation analysis found that the share of individuals classified again as worst of the worst.
518. And these would be individuals that ICE has deemed as being the greatest threat.
519. would be any person that's convicted of a violent crime or convicted of two or more felonies.
520. These individuals have really dropped, going from roughly one-third of deportees early in the period that we looked at,
521. so at the beginning, very, very beginning of the Trump administration, to about one-eighth, one-in-eight later in the year.
522. Wow. And your report, so okay, let me actually transition to this other broader issue and concern that continues to come up now that we're coming into this year-long process, the human impact on families and communities.
523. You know, beyond the statistics, what does the data tell us about the real world impact?
524. I know that you all are taking this from existing data points, but in your read as an academic, what particularly with nearly half the arrests now happening in workplaces, homes, public spaces, what does this say about the impact on our communities?
525. Yeah, no, thanks for that question.
526. And I guess just to reiterate a couple of things from the data.
527. So one, we're seeing that an increasing number of non-criminals are being targeted.
528. Two, we're seeing that ICE activities are now just are happening more and more in community settings.
529. So folks are being impacted in public spaces.
530. They're being arrested in workplaces, as you mentioned.
531. You know, we've even seen arrests happen outside of schools, for example.
532. so uh those two points and the other point i wanted to make which is based on the data
533. before i get into some of the impacts is that we're seeing uh that latinos latino non-criminal
534. detainees are coming primarily from a working age adult so these would be individuals between 18 and
535. 50 um 54 years of age so these are individuals that are are working um probably bringing income
536. to their household. So given those three things, you know, what we're really seeing on the ground
537. is that folks are afraid. Folks are afraid to engage in community life. Folks are afraid to
538. go to work. And then this has economic impacts. This has economic impacts on the household that
539. these individuals belong to and then also throughout the community. So now we've seen
540. a lot of different reports coming out really analyzing the impact of ice raids on local
541. communities economies and we're seeing that there's been significant financial impacts whether
542. this be through reduced labor force participation loss of revenues for businesses in communities
543. that have large immigrant um large immigrant populations disruption and spending because
544. folks are afraid to go out and spend um and then we're seeing that there's increased economic
545. insecurity for the households themselves, right? You know, I work in housing and homelessness. A
546. lot of the work that I do is around housing and homelessness, and we're really afraid of what
547. we're going to be seeing on the ground as all these economic disruptions are happening.
548. Actually, let's get into that a little bit more if we can, Dr. Chinchilla. Let me re-ID you. My
549. My guest is Dr. Melissa Chinchilla, Director of Research Impact.
550. And we're discussing a part four, is it, right, of a report, of an ongoing report coming out of UCLA's unseen report on Latino ICE arrest detentions and removals.
551. And so yeah you know this we not really begun to see the direct and collateral consequences of this a year in And you know you touched on the work that you do at the intersection of homelessness
552. How should we be looking at this in the coming maybe next 12 months?
553. Are we likely to see these economic impacts lead to additional state of homelessness in places like L.A. where it's such a significant problem as is?
554. yeah you know that's a great question i i really believe that we need to start paying more attention
555. to one prevention but then two how are you ensuring that folks that do fall into homelessness are
556. getting the resources they need so even prior to what we've been seeing with the ice arrests and
557. the economic impacts that uh increased ice enforcement is is having uh we we know that a lot
558. of immigrant households and mixed status households are households that were already
559. living on the edge of homelessness. So these are households that were already struggling to pay the
560. rent. I actually worked on a report with colleagues of mine, including Molly Richards, who's done some
561. work on doubled up homelessness. And what we found was that in Los Angeles County, the majority of
562. households that are experiencing doubled up homelessness, and these would be households
563. that are forced to share living accommodations with other households because they have
564. lost their housing themselves and cannot afford to be a primary leaseholder.
565. These doubled up households are primarily Latino in LA County. So about 77% of those
566. experiencing what we call doubled up homelessness are Latino. And one of the factors that is
567. predictive of this is whether or not someone's foreign-born as well. So we see that a significant
568. number of foreign-born Latinos are experiencing doubled-up homelessness. This was prior again to
569. all the raids that have been ongoing and the economic impacts that we expect to see from
570. these raids. So I always describe these households as being on the cusp of experiencing street
571. homelessness or shelters. So we definitely need to be paying attention to how we are ensuring that
572. folks do not end up on the streets. And for those individuals that unfortunately do fall into
573. homelessness, do we have the resources available? And is our system prepared to ensure that these
574. individuals and families are linked to the resources they need to gain housing stability?
575. Dr. Chinchilla, I'm aware that you and some of your colleagues have also been doing other trainings and other work in this area and rapid response outreach advocacy trainings on issues at the intersection of, for example, homelessness and immigration enforcement.
576. Can you shed a little bit more about some of the other work that's going on and mitigating some of the impacts of these deportations and detentions?
577. yeah definitely so you know as you know a lot of my work in the over the past decade or so has
578. really been focused on on homelessness and specifically latino homelessness and ensuring
579. that our homeless and housing systems are equipped to meet the need of of our community one of the
580. things that we've seen and this is like you know throughout the years past has been that oftentimes
581. our systems are not prepared to serve immigrant households because of challenges that may be
582. unique to these individuals and also families.
583. And when I say this, I mean like things like, you know,
584. we know that immigrant households can access federal resources for housing for example We know that sometimes language translation may be needed We also know that if they experiencing homelessness as a family that sometimes our resources for families tend to be limited
585. So there's already challenges in terms of how to serve this population, and we've been working on the ground in order to uplift those.
586. But now with what we're seeing with heightened immigration enforcement and the rhetoric coming from the federal level, we are seeing that organizations that provide homeless services are increasingly afraid of and may not be prepared to address some of the challenges that are occurring because of increased ICE enforcement.
587. So colleagues and I have been working with homeless service providers, I should say, in order to provide increased capacity building training regarding how they as organizations can prepare themselves in order to respond to potential ICE enforcement in their facilities.
588. so under the Trump administration one of the things that's happened has been that there's
589. been erosion of what we previously thought of as sensitive locations where ICE would not enter
590. and where individuals could have a sense of safety right and these were places like schools
591. for instance health centers also homeless shelters but we've seen an erosion of those
592. sensitive location protections. And so more and more folks are afraid of what can happen if they
593. are in these areas that previously were thought of as safe. Dr. Chinchilla, as we wrap this up,
594. you know, I'm thinking about not only the findings that you've shared about this report,
595. but how we're, you know, in community mitigating some of the challenges that are highlighted by
596. these data points, including the work that you and your colleagues are doing. If listeners take
597. away one thing from not only this report, but your work and the work of your colleagues that seek to,
598. again, address and mitigate these challenges, what would that be? What's the one thing that
599. you want our listeners to fully understand or at least start to understand? Yeah, you know,
600. thanks for that question. And it's really hard to name just one thing. Give us a couple.
601. Yeah, I'd like to name a couple if you allow it. So, you know, I think with this report,
602. there's a couple of what these reports I should say these series of reports there's a couple of
603. of take-out key takeaways that I want folks to walk away with one is that the administration
604. is really not targeting the worst of the worst and um in other words a deportation campaign
605. that has been shaped around public safety it is not about public safety uh two you know people
606. should know that the administration is increasingly targeting people in their communities and is using
607. racial profiling to undertake arrests. And then three, which we did not get into in detail,
608. is that the due process is really being eroded. We're seeing that folks are being
609. deported a lot faster than previous, under previous administrations. And this is in part
610. because of the due process, people are not being given due process. So I really want to highlight
611. those three things coming from the report. And, you know, for all the listeners, one of the things
612. that I want to leave in terms of the takeaway is that there's the
613. misconception sometimes that what is happening on the ground doesn't directly
614. impact us if we are not someone who is foreign-born or if we do not have a
615. foreign-born person or undocumented individual in our family or in our
616. network but it does impact us you know some of the things that we seeing in terms of the human impact that happening with immigration enforcement is we seeing like increased surveillance happening we seeing erosion of rights and you know for folks that say um you know immigration is not an issue that i
617. should care about if you are um a person who is is working in the u.s and hoping to retire one day
618. you know it is um you know one of the things that we see with social security is that um
619. The number of workers per retiree has really decreased, and our birth rate as a nation is not keeping up.
620. So for folks that think immigration does not affect them, it does affect them.
621. And so I want to leave folks with that.
622. And I appreciate that because, look, there's an economic component to this, and then there's what I like to sometimes remind our audience,
623. specifically those that say, and I don't think that's my audience, but those that say this doesn't impact me.
624. Listen, it does, on a human level, it impacts all of us.
625. And with that, Dr. Chinchilla, I want to thank you for joining me.
626. My guest has been Dr. Melissa Chinchilla, Director of Research Impact.
627. We discussed, as we discussed, the unseen report on Latino ice arrest detentions and removals.
628. And Dr. Chinchilla, I want to now extend an invitation to have you come back because I think we just scratched the surface,
629. not only of this particular research, but a lot of the work that you and your colleagues are doing.
630. So we look forward to bringing you back and maybe doing a whole series on this.
631. Thank you so much.
632. I look forward to it.
633. Fantastic.
634. And with that, folks, we sign off and want to thank all my guests today, including Ricardo Moreno, who came to us live from Caracas, Venezuela,
635. Calo News reporter Andrea Valadez out of Sacramento
636. and Dr. Melissa Chinchilla here in the LA area
637. out of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge
638. and the report on Latino ICE arrests and detentions and removals
639. and I leave you with this note folks
640. that today's show, you know, what we did
641. is we were able to trace one thread across three different stories
642. power and who gets to hold it
643. accountability
644. and in Venezuela a government in transition still hasn't answered whether real change means new faces
645. and new structures in Sacramento lawmakers are using the budget itself as a tool to push back
646. against federal immigration enforcement while the governor's race takes shape all around it
647. and at UCLA and this data that we just heard about you know we covered and what makes something that
648. comes across very clear. Regardless of what Washington claims about who it's targeting,
649. working families or not, what we know is that all communities are bearing the weight of this
650. enforcement. The through line is simple. Accountability doesn't happen on its own.
651. It takes pressure, organizing, and people willing to keep asking the hard questions.
652. That's what we tried to do today. And it's with that that we'll keep doing it here on The Signal.
653. I want to thank everybody, all my guests, our board engineer, Sly Rivers, and our producer, Nela, who is out today and will be back soon.
654. Stay with us.
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