Latest news with #Bracero
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
MNPD: Man allegedly in possession of 500+ photos of child sexual abuse arrested
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — After a months-long investigation based on a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the Metro Nashville Police Department announced the arrest of a man allegedly in possession of more than 500 images of child sexual abuse material. Last November, the NCMEC told the MNPD that the NCMEC received reports that an online messaging account belonging to 24-year-old Brandon Bracero had both uploaded and shared 'inappropriate images' starting in September. On Wednesday, the MNPD executed a search warrant on Bracero's Lincoya Creek Drive residence; Bracero was found to be in possession of more than 500 images of child sexual abuse, police said. Additionally, Bracero allegedly shared those files through online accounts. Bracero has been charged with four counts of aggravated child sexual exploitation of a minor. As of publication, he remains in custody on a $100,000 bond. ⏩ If you or someone you know is a victim of exploitation, you can follow this link to report any incident to the NCMEC's CyberTipline. The NCMEC also has resources if your nude, partially nude or sexually explicit photos taken before the age of 18 end up on the internet — you can follow this link to take steps with the center's Take It Down program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona's US Rep. Raúl Grijalva dies at 77: What to know about his life and legacy
Veteran U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva diedThursday at 77 years old. One of Arizona's longest-serving congressmen, Grijalva was a fixture of Tucson politics and eventually became known in Washington as a standard-bearer of the left wing of the Democratic Party. His decades-long political career was cut short by a battle with cancer that kept him away from Capitol Hill in the months leading up to his death. Grijalva is survived by his wife, Ramona, and their three daughters. Here's what to know about Grijalva's life and legacy, and what's next for the Arizonans he represented. Grijalva began his political career in Tucson, first as a school board member in the 1970s, then as a Pima County supervisor in the 1990s. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and reelected 11 times. He served 11 full terms, making him one of the longest-tenured members in Arizona's history. He was the dean of the Arizona congressional delegation at the time of his death. Representing Arizona in D.C., he served as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the most liberal group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and was a senior member of the House Natural Resources Committee, where he battled mining companies that wanted to develop uranium mines near the Grand Canyon and a huge copper mine near Superior. During his career, Grijalva championed immigrants' rights, environmental protection, expanded health care and public education. It was a progressive agenda that usually kept him on the losing end of debates, especially in a state that tilted Republican most of his career, but it was an intentional effort to push the policy conversation to the left. Later, Grijalva became one of the first federal lawmakers to publicly urge President Joe Biden to end his 2024 reelection campaign, at a time when many Democrats were hesitant to touch the subject. Grijalva died Thursday morning due to complications from his cancer treatment, according to his office. Grijalva announced his cancer diagnosis in April 2024 and took time away from Capitol Hill while undergoing treatment. He was mostly absent from Congress in the months leading up to his death, missing all but two votes as of late February. Replacement must be voted on: After Rep. Raúl Grijalva's death, what's next for his seat? Grijalva was born in 1948 in Canoa Ranch, south of Tucson, to an immigrant father who came to the United States as part of the Bracero program that employed Mexican workers on American farms. His mother was from Ajo and didn't speak English. He graduated from Sunnyside High School in 1967 at a time of roiling resentment about the plight of Hispanics, most visibly led by Cesar Chavez, the activist founder of the United Farm Workers Union. Grijalva acknowledged feeling guilt as a teen about his family's heritage that evolved into a need to take action. 'I think it kept building and building,' Grijalva said in a 2009 interview with the Center for Immigration Studies. 'The first reaction was anger. The first reaction was to get even with whoever is doing this. And at the time it was racial.' Grijalva was a community organizer and was active in Raza Unida Party, the 1970s movement that promoted Chicano pride and defended civil rights for Mexican-Americans. He was eventually elected to the school board in Tucson and, later, the Pima County Board of Supervisors, where he served until his successful 2002 bid for Congress. With more than a year and a half left in the ongoing congressional term, Arizona will soon hold special elections to pick Grijalva's successor. Under state law, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs must establish the date of the special elections within 72 hours after a congressional seat is officially declared vacant. The primary election is to be held roughly four months after the vacancy happens, which puts it on track to take place during the summer of 2025. The general election will happen two to three months later. Grijalva, D-Ariz., represented Arizona's 7th Congressional District, a bright-blue stronghold that includes much of Arizona's border with Mexico. That means whoever wins the Democratic primary is overwhelmingly likely to win in the general election. Remembered: Rep. Raúl Grijalva, one of Arizona's longest-serving congressmen, dies at 77 This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rep. Raúl Grijalva dies at 77: What to know about his life and legacy
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California farmworkers feared ‘La Migra' raids. Is Trump's deportation crackdown ‘more vicious'?
Growing up in the 1970s, fourth-generation Fresnan Patrick Fontes used to pick chile and grapes in Fresno County fields alongside his grandfather as a fun way to make extra money. Fontes, a Fresno State professor of American History, is the grandson of a Bracero worker, a controversial guest worker program that brought in an estimated four million Mexican farmworkers in the early 1940s to 1960s. On several occasions working in the fields, he witnessed immigration agents show up in green vans and raid the workplace in search of undocumented people. 'Most of the people in the fields would run and shout, 'La Migra!'' Fontes said. 'It stuck with me all these years.' Sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter centered around Latino issues in California. As President Donald Trump promises to carry out mass deportations, many central San Joaquin Valley residents are on edge — especially after a surprise January Border Patrol operation in Kern County resulted in 78 arrests and dozens of deportations. The Valley is no stranger to immigration crackdowns. Several of the region's residents, lawyers and farmworker advocates who were active in the Central Valley during the 1960s-1980s — as well as archived Fresno Bee reporting from the era — recall a time when immigration raids were common in Valley fields and local towns. High-profile raids led to a farmworker's death by drowning during a Border Patrol field raid. Threats of deportations were often used to quell farmworker unionizing campaigns. Raids in small Valley towns in the 1980s involved local law enforcement and targeted people who looked Latino or Hispanic. Trump's focus on mass deportations has revived a debate in Fresno County and beyond about the role local law enforcement should — or shouldn't — play in cooperating with immigration enforcement. Recent polling shows almost half of Americans support allowing local law enforcement to arrest and detain immigrants without legal status. The central San Joaquin Valley is home to a large concentration of the nation's farmworkers. Between 50% to 75% of California farmworkers are estimated to be undocumented. Threats of deportations can especially impact small, rural farmworker communities, said Juan Uranga, former attorney and executive director of California Rural Legal Assistance, a legal aid nonprofit that sued the federal government over deportation practices in the 1980s. 'People have to keep in mind that it's more than people getting deported,' Uranga said. 'On top of the arrests themselves, there's this constant message to Mexicans that they're less than and totally vulnerable. That, at any time, at any place, people more powerful than them can swoop in and completely make a mess of their lives.' After the passage of the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act, California's landmark law allowing farmworkers to form unions, Uranga said growers, labor contractors and others in power used the threat of calling immigration officials as a 'weapon' to keep farmworkers from organizing. 'Even if growers didn't call on the INS, Latinos knew that growers had the capacity to do that,' he said. INS used to oversee the Border Patrol and is the predecessor to what is known today as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Humberto Gomez, a retired United Farm Workers organizer, said that raids happened frequently in the late 1960s to early 1970s — around the time the UFW started its strikes. But they returned in the 1980s, he said. 'In the '80s we had a lot of raids,' he said in Spanish. 'They hit us very hard.' To protect workers during workplace raids, Gomez said the union got creative. When immigration officers would show up to the fields, workers who had legal citizenship would run, while undocumented workers stayed back picking crops, Gomez said. The idea was that usually workers without papers were expected to flee at the sight of officers. Another concern for Gomez during workplace raids was the risk of drowning. 'We didn't want anyone to fall into rivers or canals during a raid. Many people don't know how to swim,' he said. In March 1985, Alvaro Dominguez Gutierrez, a farmworker, drowned in the Kings River during a series of raids near Kingsburg in which 80 people were rounded up. He was the 14th undocumented foreign national to drown in California since 1974, according to a March 1985 Fresno Bee story. Border Patrol agents arrived at the orchard Dominguez Gutierrez was working at and started chasing a group of workers, The Bee reported. Frightened, Dominguez Gutierrez also started running with another group of workers through water about three-feet high. He then stepped into a hole and drowned, likely because he didn't know how to swim, officials said. (INS later said the drowning was a 'tragedy' but not Border Patrol's fault.) 'The technique they would use was basically to force people into an irrigation ditch or into a body of water,' Steven Rosebaum, a former staff attorney for CRLA who called for an end to field raids, said in an interview. In September 1984, members of Sanger police, Fresno County Sheriff's Office, California Highway Patrol and INS/Border Patrol used helicopters, floodlights and barricades to blocked off several streets in town and descended into 16 bars to arrest undocumented people. According to a Jan. 17, 1985 Fresno Bee story, 255 individuals were deported as a result of the operation, and 40 more were arrested with a variety of charges. Fresno civil rights activist Gloria Hernandez, who worked for CRLA at the time, said she was 'pissed' when she learned of the raids. 'One of the (raided) bars that they went to is one that I used to go with my sister and brother-in-law. We'd dance and have a good time,' she said in an interview. Hernandez alerted CRLA's legal team about getting involved in the case. Among those detained during the operation were Sanger resident and Korean War veteran Tony Velazquez and his wife, Sallie. The couple was detained for several hours in a Sanger bar during the raids, according to a lawsuit filed the following year by CRLA. 'They were forced to sit down with their legs open and (weren't) able to get up until they proved their citizenship,' Hernandez said. (Velazquez's family members declined to comment on this story.) The high-profile raids were controversial because they involved local law enforcement and because immigration officers detained 'everyone with brown skin who could not prove they were citizens,' according to a Nov. 17, 1985 Bee story. A similar operation targeted in Parlier bars on April 6, 1984, resulting in the deportation of 170 Mexican nationals, according to Bee archives. 'They knew that the campesinos went to the bars for a while on Friday and Saturdays,' recalled Gomez, a Parlier resident. After Fresno County Board of Supervisors rejected a multi-million dollar claim in connection to the Sanger raids, CRLA sued the INS in 1986 on behalf of eight individuals arrested during the raids. They alleged their civil rights were violated by INS and Border Patrol agent when they were detained without reasonable cause or warrants. The lawsuit, known as Velasquez v. Senko involved eight separate immigration raids in Gilroy, Salinas, Calistoga and Watsonville that happened in the early 1980s. 'As part of an alleged pattern and practice, the defendants target predominantly Hispanic towns, neighborhoods, and businesses for warrantless dragnet searches and seizures of suspected illegal aliens,' the suit said. The lawsuit was dismissed in 1992 after the parties agreed to settle. The settlement included a ban on joint raids in the Valley for ten years, said Hernandez. The 1980s raids prompted a wave of activism and local policy changes. Sanger City Council issued a resolution opposing raids and pledging that 'Sanger officers would not be used to round up illegal aliens in the future,' The Bee reported in January 1985. Fresno City Council voted in April 1985 to prohibit Fresno Police from participating in Border Patrol raids, according to The Bee newspaper archives. For Uranga, the main difference between the 1980s and now is that elected officials in California are keen on protecting immigrant rights, he said. Whether local jurisdictions can get away with anti-immigrant actions depends on state action. 'We didn't have that kind of political support (back then),' he said. Over the years, raids as a means of enforcement became 'frowned upon,' Rosenbaum, now a UC Berkeley law professor, said in an interview. Raids in the Valley ended up slowing down in the 1990s and 2000s as they became politically unpopular, Rosenbaum said. 'The raids, you know what, it just didn't look good,' he said. Democrats didn't like them and Republicans like Reagan and Bush were of a 'softer and gentler Republican Party.' A shift in priorities after the 9/11 attacks also played a role. Border Patrol closed down its local offices in Fresno, Livermore and Stockton in 2004 and as the federal government shifted its focus to enforcing immigration at the border, The Bee reported at the time. Two decades later, Trump in his second term has embraced a 'rage policy' that champions and highlights raids as a tactic to enforce immigration, Rosenbaum said. He called today's immigration crackdown under Trump 'more focused and more vicious than 40 years ago.' The new administration's rhetoric around immigration has revived a debate about the role of local law enforcement in immigration enforcement – which was a hot topic when the sanctuary city movement took hold in the 1980s, Rosenbaum said. Last month, Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni criticized a 2018 state law that prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with immigration officials. Last week, a Sacramento area sheriff said he'd work with ICE in certain circumstances 'even if I'm not supposed to.' Hernandez said young people today are protesting against inhumane immigration enforcement tactics. She credits decades of activism for laying the foundation, particularly the wave of Latino activism after the passage of the 1993 anti-immigrant Prop 187 in California. The initiative sought to prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing state services, including public education and health care. 'I think the groundwork we laid in the '80s, '90s, has raised awareness. I think people are mad. The young ones are mad,' she said. 'They're saying, 'no, we're not going to allow this to happen.''
Chicago Tribune
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Black History Month celebrated through variety of Lake County events; ‘An opportunity for people to … celebrate the rich and inspiring history of African Americans'
Celebrations of Black History Month are sprouting throughout Waukegan and Lake County in February showcasing African American culture, and creating a sense of community through the performing arts. Cory Ratliff, the senior co-pastor at Waukegan's Sign of the Dove Church, emceed a showcase of dance, song, the spoken word and more, at the Waukegan Park District's annual Black History Month Performance. Long a melting pot of many cultures, Ratliff said sharing the talent of various performers from the Black community not only shows unique elements of its culture, but also brings unity to everyone. 'Bringing all of this together shows the nuances of our history through our performers,' he said. 'We are celebrating Black History Month by showing the resilience of a community from where it came.' The Park District's celebration of Black History Month through the arts Saturday at the Jack Benny Center in Waukegan was one of the numerous events assembled by individuals and organizations throughout February around Lake County. Along with the Park District, Waukegan Community Unit School District 60, the African American Museum at England Manor in Waukegan, Brushwood Center in Riverwoods and other organizations are holding Black history events. 'Black History Month is an opportunity for people to gather together and celebrate the rich and inspiring history of African Americans and the remarkable accomplishments that shaped our nation and the world,' museum founder Sylvia England said. After a dance performance by ALATS Dance Company of Waukegan began the Park District's event, poet Sharon Epps got the crowd going as she talked about a family cornbread recipe. Each time she raised her hand, the crowd responded by shouting, 'Cornbread.' Leslie Bracero, one of the two operators of Malanated Authors and a writer of illustrated children's books, shared her story growing up with a single mother and grandmother. One thing was stressed. 'My mother said, 'You will go to college, and it will be a Black college,'' she said. 'I graduated from Tuskegee University. I was able to flourish there.' Before and after the performances, Bracero sat at a table talking about her books and offering them for sale. An educator for more than 30 years, she said her books are meant to let children read stories and see pictures of youngsters who look like them. 'I want children to see themselves in the books,' Bracero said as she sat beside a display with books showing Black and Hispanic youngsters. 'These are mirror or window books where the kids can see themselves.' The Park District is also hosting a family movie night at 6 p.m. Friday at the Belvidere Recreation Center, Soul Food With Sylvia at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Jane Addams Center in Bowen Park, where England will share some of her recipes, and a concert by the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Brookside campus of Waukegan High School. Though District 60 focuses on teaching about different cultures throughout the year, Quinn Norman, an instructional coach for the E.P.I.C. Preschool Program, said there is a special focus on Black history in February. Along with programs in each of the individual schools, Norman said there will be a districtwide celebration focusing on African Americans in Labor at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the high school's Brookside campus. Norman said the event will showcase people who have made significant contributions to work in America, including entrepreneurs, professionals, members of the military, self-help strategies, gains through organized labor and more. It is part of a national theme this year. Featuring dance and music performances, speeches by Black community members and exhibits, Norman said the event will include a tribute to Black women who went to work in America's factories as men joined the military to fight in World War II. Taking her educational efforts beyond the Park District cooking event, England said she has helped arrange Black history displays this month at the Waukegan Public Library, the North Chicago Public Library, the Highwood Public Library and the Woodland Middle School Library in Gurnee. In addition to arranging displays at the libraries, England is also offering a Black History program at 10 a.m. on Feb. 28 at the James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare Center in North Chicago. The Brushwood Center in Ryerson Woods held both a culinary event and a Black History Month program on Sunday. The day started with the preparation of soul food which people were able to take into the performance, according to a Brushwood press release. The Lake County branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) held a screening of 'HUSH,' a documentary film on Black mental health Monday at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan. A panel discussion followed the movie, according to a NAMI press release.
