Latest news with #KevindeLeón
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Symbol of pride or provocation? Why Mexican flag flew high at Ls Angeles protests
Protester waving Mexican flag - Image Credit: AP Image In Los Angeles, the protesters burned the self-driving taxis, hurled stones at police, and even carried the Mexican flag while protesting against the ICE's raid. In almost every frame, the protesters were seen with the Mexican flag, which has become a prominent visual element, visible in various media coverage, from news broadcasts to social media platforms, with its distinctive red, white, and green colours appearing against backgrounds of protest scenes. Why protesters carrying Mexican flag? The flag serves as a symbol of opposition to President Donald Trump's deportation policies for some individuals, while others interpret it as evidence supporting their concerns about immigration, as illustrated by the National Review's comparison to the "Confederate banner of the LA riots." The current use of the flag recalls similar demonstrations from 30 years prior, when protesters displayed it during opposition to Proposition 187, a measure aimed at restricting undocumented Californians' access to public services. This period marked a significant development in Latino political influence in California, fostering future leaders like former Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, Plitico reported. Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, references similar flag displays during 2006 protests against George W. Bush's immigration enforcement legislation. She explains, "When you attack the undocumented community, when you attack the immigrant community, there is a sense that — I mean, it's a reality — the majority of the folks are Mexican." Flag represents both American and Mexican American identity Regarding the flag's significance, Salas elaborates that it represents both American and Mexican American identity, challenging the notion of accepting Mexican culture whilst rejecting its people. The flag serves as a statement of cultural pride and resistance against discrimination. For younger protesters, many of whom are US citizens, the flag represents solidarity with their parents and previous generations. It demonstrates their refusal to deny their heritage despite societal pressures. California's substantial Mexican-American population, comprising 30% of residents (approximately 12 million people), includes recent immigrants and established multi-generational families, all contributing to a strong cultural connection with Mexico.
Politico
a day ago
- Politics
- Politico
Why they fly the Mexican flag
Presented by Health Justice Action Fund COLOR GUARD: Anyone looking at images of the Los Angeles immigration protests has almost certainly seen the Mexican flag flying somewhere in the frame. Demonstrators have hoisted the red, white and green banner atop cars and while marching down streets and freeways. It's spilled into the corners of CNN live shots and been splashed across social media. To some, the flag — its bright colors standing out against dark smoke from burning cars and tear gas — is a powerful sign of resistance to President Donald Trump's mass-deportation agenda. To others, it is ammunition for conservatives aiming to paint the unrest as a 'migrant invasion.' Case in point: a National Review headline calling the Mexican flag the 'Confederate banner of the L.A. riots.' Protesters' prominent use of the flag evokes photos from more than 30 years ago, when thousands of demonstrators raised the same banner while fighting a ballot measure that sought to bar undocumented Californians from accessing public schools and other services. That 1994 initiative, Proposition 187, was a turning point for Latino political power in the state. It served as an awakening for some California protesters who later became prominent leaders, including former Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León. Angelica Salas, a prominent activist in the state and executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, noted protesters also hoisted the flag in 2006, during massive demonstrations against George W. Bush-era legislation to crack down on illegal immigration. 'When you attack the undocumented community, when you attack the immigrant community, there is a sense that — I mean, it's a reality — the majority of the folks are Mexican,' she said. Salas spoke with Playbook about why the Mexican flag continues to be an important symbol for demonstrators. On what the Mexican flag means to protesters … It's really about saying we're American, Mexican American, and we're not ashamed of being Mexican …There's a very popular refrain amongst our community that you can't just like our food and our culture — we also demand that you like the people. Because it's sort of a very, very strong sentiment that there's a like for what we produce and [for] our culture and our foods and everything else, but not of the people. So there's a sense of the deep level of discrimination against the Mexican people. So when people carry the flag, it's really a symbol of pride and a symbol of 'We're not going to be ashamed to claim our heritage, our Mexican heritage. We're not going to be bullied to hide an aspect of who we are.' On young protesters' attachment to the flag … When you see a lot of young people with their flags, it's also claiming and [showing] support for their parents. So many of the young people who are marching are U.S. citizens, they're second-, third-generation, maybe they are the first who were born in this country. Very much U.S. citizens by birth, but they want their parents to also know that they're standing with them. I feel like every time I ask a young person — whether they're carrying a Mexican flag, a Salvadoran flag, a Guatemalan flag, or any other flag — it's just about, 'I want people to understand I'm proud of who I am. I'm not ashamed to be Mexican, and I'm certainly not ashamed of my parents. And I want them to know that I will not reject them.' Because there's a lot of pressure to reject the Mexican heritage. On California's connection to Mexico … Thirty percent of the population is people of Mexican descent — 12 million individuals who live here. We are proudly a multigenerational community. That means that we have recent arrivals as well as people who are immigrants who've been here for many years. And then [the] majority of the people actually are second-, third-, fourth-generation Mexican American. There's a lot of pride in our deep roots in the region. IT'S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY 'NO MAN'S LAND': After being plunged into a week of uncertainty, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass today gathered a coalition of representatives from surrounding cities to show solidarity for her message: stop the raids. Mayors and city council members from cities in Los Angeles County and its surrounding areas recounted raids that have taken place as recently as this morning. Bass has been calling on the federal immigration officers and the National Guard to leave the city for days, but President Donald Trump has shown no sign of backing down. Meantime, Bass says she will continue to advocate on the federal level. 'The only alternative is to stay silent,' she said. 'We are stuck in this no man's land of not having any idea when the policy will end.' — Nicole Norman IN OTHER NEWS DRAWING A BLANK: Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth couldn't cite the law allowing the Trump administration to deploy troops to Los Angeles during a Senate budget hearing today, our Joe Gould and Connor O'Brien report. The Pentagon chief clashed with several lawmakers at a Senate budget hearing as he sought to defend Trump's decision to send thousands of troops, including 700 active-duty Marines, to California in response to mass deportation protests. But when asked to explain the legal underpinning that justifies the Marine deployment, the Defense secretary blanked. 'I'd have to pull up the specific provision,' he told Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). 'But our Office of General Counsel, alongside our leadership, has reviewed and ensured, in the order that we set out, that it's completely constitutional for the president to use federal troops to defend federal law enforcement.' When Baldwin pushed again, Hegseth said, 'It's in the order, ma'am, but we'll make sure we get it to you as well.' Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor who appears calm in front of the camera, faced a tougher time at Wednesday's Senate defense appropriations subcommittee than he did at a House budget hearing the day before. The Defense secretary argued the deployments to Los Angeles and along the southern border, where the military has 13,000 National Guard and active-duty troops, are necessary to protect the country. LOCATION SHARING OFF: Trump's aggressive response to the Los Angeles protests is fueling a Sacramento push to insulate state residents' personal data from Washington, our Tyler Katzenberger reports. Tech-skeptical lawmakers and activists fear the Trump administration will leverage tech tools to track and punish demonstrators accused of interfering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. One possible instrument at ICE's disposal: location data, a highly detailed record of people's daily movements that's collected and sold by everything from weather apps to data brokers. Democrats introduced at least a half-dozen measures this year aimed at bolstering the state's already-tough data protections, but several died as leaders deal with budget woes. Those efforts are taking on new meaning as the protests and ICE raids gain national attention. Assemblymember Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat, told POLITICO he may reintroduce a bill next year that failed this spring, which aimed to close a loophole on location data. California's existing privacy laws limit local law enforcement from sharing license plate data with ICE and other federal agencies, but standards for online location data are weaker. UNMERGED: Two major Bay Area business groups quietly announced this week that they are abandoning a planned merger announced last year. In a joint statement, the Bay Area Council and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group said they 'have jointly decided to conclude formal discussions about creating a unified organization.' The groups said they will continue to work together going forward. The council counts major companies like Apple and Airbnb among its many members, while SVLG's membership includes Amazon, Uber and many others. Read more in tomorrow's California Decoded. WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY — A UC Berkeley professor who wrote an influential 2020 paper on the impact of non-violent protests weighs in on the anti-ICE demonstrations in Los Angeles. (POLITICO) — Los Angeles police are investigating a Boyle Heights hit-and-run that witnesses say involved federal authorities driving unmarked vehicles. (ABC 7) — Tax experts say that because California residents and businesses pay the state and federal government directly, it is unclear how the state could withhold the taxes it pays to the federal government. (CalMatters) AROUND THE STATE — Los Angeles City Council members disagreed with Police Chief Jim McDonnell over the handling of protests downtown. (Los Angeles Times) — The San Diego City Council passed a budget that will not authorize the Mayor's proposed cuts to libraries and and recreation centers. (San Diego Union Tribune) — Initial results show that Huntington Beach voters may reverse a law that would create a children's book review board. (Orange County Register) — compiled by Nicole Norman
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former L.A. Councilmember Kevin de León faces ethics fine for voting on issues in which he had a financial stake
Former Los Angeles Councilmember Kevin de León is facing an $18,750 ethics fine for voting on city council decisions in which he had a financial interest and for failing to disclose income. De León has admitted to four counts of "making or participating in a decision in which a financial interest is held" and one count of failing to disclose income, according to a report prepared by the enforcement arm of the L.A. City Ethics Commission. The ethics report says that in 2020-21 De León voted on three city council issues that benefited the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and one that helped USC — all decisions that were made less than a year after he received more than $500 income from each. According to state law, elected officials must disclose each source of gross income of $500 or more received in the 12 months before taking office. Less than 12 months after receiving income from AIDS Healthcare Foundation, De León participated in three separate city decisions that affected the foundation in which he knew or had reason to know he had a financial interest, the ethics commission report said. But according to the ethics commission report, De León failed to disclose $109,231 in income he had received from the foundation before he took office. On Nov. 25, 2020, he voted for the foundation's application for historical designation of the foundation-owned King Edward Hotel. On April 22, 2021, he voted for an item regarding a city lease of the foundation-owned Retan Hotel. On May 4, 2021, he voted again for a city lease of the Retan Hotel. Read more: LA Times Today: Kevin de León says he deserves another chance. Critics say he's 'gaslighting' L.A. De León's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but The Times received a statement from a spokesperson for De León: "This matter centers on disclosure — not personal gain. The items in question provided homeless housing during a pandemic and health services to vulnerable Angelenos," the statement said. "They passed unanimously, and had Councilmember De León been advised that he should recuse himself, he would have done so without hesitation — the outcomes would have been the same." USC paid him $155,000 as an independent contractor from July 2019 to June 2020. Less than 12 months later, De León participated in a city decision that benefited USC, according to the ethics commission. In June 2021, De León voted to approve the Housing and Community Development Consolidated Plan proposed budget, which included a $1-million allocation to the USC Keck School of Medicine. In March 2020, De León was elected to represent Council District 14 on the L.A. City Council. In May 2020, while still a council member-elect, De León entered into a consulting agreement with the Healthy Housing Foundation, a division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and began providing services as a strategic policy advisor. The agreement said that De León was to "advise and strengthen strategy regarding partnerships and policy insights on behalf of HHF's programs and portfolio," and '[e]ngage with policymakers and regulators on all areas related to overall strategic goals of HHF," according to the ethics commission. De León took office in October 2020. He filed a financial disclosure form the next month, but did not disclose the AIDS Healthcare Foundation or its Healthy Housing Foundation as sources of income. In December 2020, he filed an amended financial form but did not disclose income from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which was "the true source of the income that he received under the consulting agreement," according to the ethics commission report. In determining the fine amount, the ethics commission said that De León cooperated with staff and that he has no prior enforcement history. However, the ethics commission noted the violations in this case are serious and that "the violations appear to indicate a pattern of conduct." Similar issues were highlighted in a 2023 Times story that found De León helped organized a meeting in summer 2020 with a group of city department heads and high-ranking mayoral staffers to address issues facing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. At the time, De León had been elected but not yet taken office. Read more: Arellano: The sad, desperate, Hispandering end of Kevin de León's career In the months before the meeting, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation was pursuing a lawsuit alleging the city illegally denied funding for an affordable housing project that the foundation was proposing. An email from the mayor's then-deputy chief of staff to colleagues said De León 'wants to engage and come up with a solution.' Five city officials who attended the briefing or were involved in organizing it told The Times in 2023 they were unaware that De León was employed as a consultant for the foundation at the time — or of the more than $100,000 it was paying him in the six months before his taking office. Political ethics experts, meanwhile, told The Times that De León's relationship with the foundation and failure to disclose his financial ties raised a potential conflict-of-interest concern. They believed his actions could have left city staffers with uncertainty about whose interests he was serving — the city's or his then-employer's. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
19-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Former L.A. Councilmember Kevin de León faces ethics fine for voting on issues in which he had a financial stake
Former Los Angeles Councilmember Kevin de León is facing an $18,750 ethics fine for voting on city council decisions in which he had a financial interest and for failing to disclose income. De León has admitted to four counts of 'making or participating in a decision in which a financial interest is held' and one count of failing to disclose income, according to a report prepared by the enforcement arm of the L.A. City Ethics Commission. The ethics report says that in 2020-21 De León voted on three city council issues that benefited the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and one that helped USC — all decisions that were made less than a year after he received more than $500 income from each. According to state law, elected officials must disclose each source of gross income of $500 or more received in the 12 months before taking office. Less than 12 months after receiving income from AIDS Healthcare Foundation, De León participated in three separate city decisions that affected the foundation in which he knew or had reason to know he had a financial interest, the ethics commission report said. But according to the ethics commission report, De León failed to disclose $109,231 in income he had received from the foundation before he took office. On Nov. 25, 2020, he voted for the foundation's application for historical designation of the foundation-owned King Edward Hotel. On April 22, 2021, he voted for an item regarding a city lease of the foundation-owned Retan Hotel. On May 4, 2021, he voted again for a city lease of the Retan Hotel. De León's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but The Times received a statement from a spokesperson for De León: 'This matter centers on disclosure — not personal gain. The items in question provided homeless housing during a pandemic and health services to vulnerable Angelenos,' the statement said. 'They passed unanimously, and had Councilmember De León been advised that he should recuse himself, he would have done so without hesitation — the outcomes would have been the same.' USC paid him $155,000 as an independent contractor from July 2019 to June 2020. Less than 12 months later, De León participated in a city decision that benefited USC, according to the ethics commission. In June 2021, De León voted to approve the Housing and Community Development Consolidated Plan proposed budget, which included a $1-million allocation to the USC Keck School of Medicine. In March 2020, De León was elected to represent Council District 14 on the L.A. City Council. In May 2020, while still a council member-elect, De León entered into a consulting agreement with the Healthy Housing Foundation, a division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and began providing services as a strategic policy advisor. The agreement said that De León was to 'advise and strengthen strategy regarding partnerships and policy insights on behalf of HHF's programs and portfolio,' and '[e]ngage with policymakers and regulators on all areas related to overall strategic goals of HHF,' according to the ethics commission. De León took office in October 2020. He filed a financial disclosure form the next month, but did not disclose the AIDS Healthcare Foundation or its Healthy Housing Foundation as sources of income. In December 2020, he filed an amended financial form but did not disclose income from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which was 'the true source of the income that he received under the consulting agreement,' according to the ethics commission report. In determining the fine amount, the ethics commission said that De León cooperated with staff and that he has no prior enforcement history. However, the ethics commission noted the violations in this case are serious and that 'the violations appear to indicate a pattern of conduct.' Similar issues were highlighted in a 2023 Times story that found De León helped organized a meeting in summer 2020 with a group of city department heads and high-ranking mayoral staffers to address issues facing the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. At the time, De León had been elected but not yet taken office. In the months before the meeting, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation was pursuing a lawsuit alleging the city illegally denied funding for an affordable housing project that the foundation was proposing. An email from the mayor's then-deputy chief of staff to colleagues said De León 'wants to engage and come up with a solution.' Five city officials who attended the briefing or were involved in organizing it told The Times in 2023 they were unaware that De León was employed as a consultant for the foundation at the time — or of the more than $100,000 it was paying him in the six months before his taking office. Political ethics experts, meanwhile, told The Times that De León's relationship with the foundation and failure to disclose his financial ties raised a potential conflict-of-interest concern. They believed his actions could have left city staffers with uncertainty about whose interests he was serving — the city's or his then-employer's.
