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Border Patrol Confirms National City Parents In Custody, No Criminal Charges Filed

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Special to North of the Fence

Last Friday, North of the Fence published information about the apprehension of the Francisco Duarte and Rosenda Perez who are currently in custody pending immigration hearings, leaving their four children on their own in National City.

The facts unfolded almost moment-to-moment last week, not all of them immediately accurate. On Wednesday morning, the National City Elementary Teachers Association, run by volunteer teachers who also work full-time, received calls and information saying a mother and father had been detained by ICE while dropping their students off at Las Palmas Elementary School.

Later, it was found ICE was not involved. Instead, U.S. Border Patrol confirmed they were the ones who arrested Francisco Duarte at 7:30am as he was exiting a liquor store near the intersection of Palm Avenue and E. 18th Street in National City.   [Read more…]

ICE Raids Near National City Schools, Parents Arrested, Children Left Unattended

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The National City Elementary Teacher’s Association issued a disturbing media advisory on Wednesday, May 24th. With a total population of approximately 60,000 in National City, 63% of National City residents identify on census records as Hispanic and another 18% as Asian. The median household income is $38,849. (See these Fast Facts)

[UPDATE 5/27/2017: Protestors gathered at 2pm on Friday, May 26th at Otay Mesa Detention Center. Several media outlets covered the protests and uncovered additional information. According to two reports, the Duarte parents were apprehended near their home, not near a National City school.

In addition, 10 News reported: “Duarte says undercover federal immigration agents, in unmarked cars, showed up outside their home in National City Tuesday and arrested his parents. ICE denies that claim to 10 News.   [Read more…]

CCR President, Herman Baca, Alleges Voter Suppression in National City

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The Committee on Chicano Rights President asks if National City is ‘chopped liver’

On November 3rd, Herman Baca, President of the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR), wrote a letter to Michael Vu at the San Diego County Registrar of Voters asking: Why doesn’t National City have a Mail Ballot Drop-Off Location?

Imperial Beach has a population of 26,324 and offers one drop-off location. Meanwhile, National City—with a population of 58,582—has none. Baca explained that National City has a 63% hispanic population and a media household income of $38,849. (By comparison, Imperial Beach’s median household income is $52,148.) What’s more, National City has one of the highest sales tax rates in the county —— at 9%.   [Read more…]

Six Candidates Compete for National City Council Elections

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The First United Methodist Church of National City had planned to host a City Council Candidates Forum on Monday, September 26th. They wanted to have a meet-and-greet, allow candidates to give a presentation and then have time for questions & answers.

Unfortunately, First United had to cancel the event. They explained only two candidates had responded to the invitation, even though this forum was the only one planned for the entire city.

Last week, I emailed & called each candidate. I asked them to answer 5 questions relating to National City. Of the six candidates, Jerry Cano (currently Vice Mayor) and David Garcia did not respond.

Fortunately, four other candidates agreed to send their answers: Jose Rodriguez, Luis Natividad (former City Councilmember and also endorsed by the San Diego Democratic Party), Candy Morales and Alejandra Sotelo-Solis (currently city council member of National City and endorsed by the San Diego Democratic Party).   [Read more…]

San Diegans Voice Concerns to State Officials About Air Quality, Environmental Justice, and Climate Change

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By David Harris / San Diego 350

What do you get when you bring together 120 environmental activists and residents from environmental justice communities in a room with a dozen state regulators? If you’re lucky, dozens of ideas for incentivizing renewable energy, improving public transit, and protecting neighborhoods from toxic industrial fumes.

This is exactly what happened on July 14th when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) sponsored a workshop on climate change at the beautiful new Cesar Chavez campus in Barrio Logan. Local residents, whose voices are rarely heard by policy makers in Sacramento, came out in force to speak out about air pollution from local industry, the need for better transit options, and the impacts of climate change on communities already impacted by poor air quality.
  [Read more…]

Raising the Bar for Healthy Communities in National City

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Carolina Martinez / Environmental Health Coalition

Located in San Diego County’s second oldest city, Old Town National City remains a primarily low-income Latino neighborhood with evolving surroundings. Over the past 50 years, the community has changed from a mainly residential neighborhood to a mixture of auto-related businesses located around schools and homes. Auto-body shops in residential neighborhoods burden the health of the community by emitting toxic pollution into the air we breathe.

In 2005, our community decided to combat conflicting land use and bring health back to the community with a vision for a vibrant and toxic-free neighborhood. Our plans included affordable housing within walking distance of a transit center, construction that wouldn’t damage Paradise Creek and a healthy community park to replace polluted grounds.   [Read more…]

Term Limits on November Ballot for National City

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By Mona Rios

The city of National City, where I serve on the City Council, is the second oldest city in the County, surpassed by the City of San Diego by a mere six months. However, in the last 50 years we have only had four mayors, while San Diego has had 14.

Because of this lack of turnover in the Mayor’s office, in 2004 the voters of National City approved Proposition T by an overwhelming vote of 70%, which enacted mayoral term limits by capping at three the number of consecutive mayoral terms one can serve. Today there is a stealth campaign underway to repeal those term limits so that the current mayor, Ron Morrison, can perpetuate himself in office.   [Read more…]

Dream Big: Why Voting for Sanders Still Matters, Despite the Electoral Math

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What struck me the most about the recent Sanders rally in National City was how much the crowd embodied the notion of the beloved community.

As opposed to the corporate media caricature of Sanders’ supporters as a group of mostly angry, white “Bernie bros,” this huge gathering of over ten thousand people was diverse in age, gender, sexuality, race, and class. It was also a kind, gentle crowd that fell silent when Sanders, in a moving gesture, stopped his speech when someone fainted and waited patiently for the EMTs to come to the rescue before he continued and interrupted chants of “Bernie Cares” by saying “no, WE care.”   [Read more…]

Roger and Norma Cazares: Four Decades of Chicano Activism

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Norma and Roger Cazares are known for their political activism which began while they were both young. They first met each other on a picket line during the Grape Boycott. Chicano politics brought them together and love soon followed.

Last month’s introduction to the activist lives of Norma and Roger provides insight into how they have changed the civic landscape of San Diego. This concluding article fills in more of the details of their commitment to their community and each other.   [Read more…]

Roger and Norma Cazares: ‘Action Matters’

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Norma and Roger Cazares together and individually have helped change San Diego. They usually share the same political views although there have been a few exceptions. Norma supported Hillary, Roger supported Obama. Once again they are split with Norma once again supporting Hillary and Roger supporting Bernie.

Roger says that he is totally amused with the Republican party. They’re destroying the Republican party similarly to what Pete Wilson did in California. He is concerned that we will not have a two party system. Roger believes this is dangerous. Both agree there needs to be a two party system in order to hold each other accountable. Roger says both Trump and Cruz have helped bring the closet racist out of the closet.   [Read more…]

Declining Enrollments In Three South Bay School Districts: What Does It Mean?

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Declines in class sizes could be positive, especially when over 80% of students qualify as low-income or English language learners, but administrators are left constrained

By Barbara Zaragoza

While the decades-old stereotype may be that illegal aliens are fleeing over the border and saturating American schools, three districts in the South Bay are currently experiencing declining enrollments: San Ysidro, South Bay Union and National School District. Of these three, two lie directly along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Over 80% of students in all three districts are classified as either English-language -learners, low-income students, or both (also referred to as the unduplicated pupil percentage or UPP). All three also have high percentages of students classified as homeless.   [Read more…]

North of the Fence: The Skybridge Opens and Wagon Man Dies

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The Skybridge opened on Wednesday, which crosses from San Diego into the Tijuana International Airport. The bridge requires a toll, a passport and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol inspection. The skybridge was built with investor money that included Chicago billionaire Sam Zell who is also known as the chairman of Equity LifeStyle Properties, the largest mobile-home landlord.

Will this be the beginning of more bridges in U.S.-Mexico relations? In 1959 entrepreneur Allen Parkinson set out to create an international skyride that would cross from San Ysidro into Tijuana, relieving congestion and becoming a tourist attraction at the same time. Plans were foiled by construction of the I-5 freeway. During the 1970s a monorail was planned between San Diego and Tijuana, but the project that also went nowhere.   [Read more…]

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