The Brief

The Department of Homeland Security said agents who attempted to speak with students at two South L.A. elementary schools last week were there to conduct “wellness checks” on unaccompanied immigrant children to ensure their safety.

Representatives from multiple immigrant children’s defense groups told LAist these efforts could be a tool for removing unaccompanied minors from the country.

“They can call them ‘wellness checks’ [or] whatever they want. ... But we see [them] for what they are,” said Lilit Melkonyan, a managing attorney at the Central American Resource Center's deportation defense unit.

In January, the Trump administration ended a longstanding policy that limited immigration enforcement actions at “sensitive locations,” including schools.

“It's not about the well-being of the kids,” said Gladis Molina Alt, executive director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. The “wellness checks,” she added, “are a cloak for immigration enforcement, [for] hunting down undocumented people in our communities and undoing reunifications that the government had previously approved.”

What happened at the schools 

According to Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, casually dressed individuals who identified themselves as Homeland Security agents entered Russell Elementary and Lillian Street Elementary — both in South L.A.'s Florence-Firestone area — on April 7 and asked to speak with a total of five students between the two schools.

When school staff tried to take down the agents' names and badge numbers, they “pocketed their IDs,” Carvalho said.

The principals denied those agents entry when they could not provide a warrant.

A Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed the visit, but said the purpose was to check on the health and welfare of students “who arrived unaccompanied at the border.”

Who's responsible for the welfare of unaccompanied children? And what’s a ‘wellness check’? 

When children cross the border without a parent or guardian, they are often initially taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, then transferred to the care of another federal agency called the Office of Refugee Resettlement, under the Department of Health and Human Services. The Office of Refugee Resettlement confirmed in an email to LAist that it places children in shelters until they can be connected to a “sponsor,” often a family member in the U.S. who can care for them while their immigration case is adjudicated.

Jason Boyd, vice president of U.S. federal policy at Kids In Need of Defense, said Refugee Resettlement is also responsible for administering legal and social services for children who have been released from custody and placed with sponsors.

Those legal services can include representation of unaccompanied children, he added, “so that they have an attorney to help ensure due process and fairness in their immigration cases” and protect them from trafficking and exploitation.

Federal law requires that "to the greatest extent practicable” these children have access to free legal counsel. (In March, the Trump administration ended a contract for an organization that provides these services for 26,000 unaccompanied migrant children.)

Other services are typically administered by social workers, who can help enroll children in local schools and connect them with medical providers, Boyd added.

Ongoing monitoring “consisted largely of follow-up phone calls to children and their sponsors,” he said. Children in especially vulnerable situations may get more intensive services, “including in-home engagement with children and their sponsors that serve as a useful check against potential abuse or other harm.” Central American Resource Center's Melkonyan and the Young Center’s Molina Alt echoed Boyd’s description.

In fiscal year 2024, DHS transferred 98,356 unaccompanied migrant children to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, according to the agency. This child is a Honduran immigrant who was staying with her extended family when pictured here on on April 25, 2021 in Sellersburg, Indiana. She spent nearly eight weeks in shelters in U.S. Health and Human Services custody.

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement confirmed that the agency’s care providers “must conduct a Safety and Well-Being Follow Up Call with an unaccompanied alien child and their sponsor 30 days after their release. The purpose of the follow up call is to determine whether the child is still residing with the sponsor, is enrolled in or attending school, is aware of upcoming court dates, and is safe,” the email added.

Melkonyan and the other immigrant children’s advocates noted that the officials who went to the two LAUSD schools are part of Homeland Security Investigations, which typically conducts criminal probes.

“Nothing that [the Trump] administration is doing under the guise of ‘wellness checks’ of unaccompanied minors is normal,” Melkonyan stressed.

The visits carried out by the Department of Homeland Security “are operationally distinct from ORR [Refugee Resettlement] services,” Boyd said.

He said his clients and partners have shared that, in many cases, Homeland Security “wellness checks” consist of four to six plainclothes officers arriving unannounced at unaccompanied children’s homes, asking to speak with the children and their sponsors.

The Chicago-based Young Center recently received a referral about one such case, Molina Alt said. Following a “wellness check,” a child was placed in federal custody after his eldest brother was detained, and his other family members — including his aunt, a lawful permanent resident — were not allowed to take over caring for him.

LAist reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for details about the “wellness checks” its officers attempted to carry out in Los Angeles, including what triggers them and what they involve.

In an email response, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did not answer these questions. She said her department’s officers “made it clear” that they were not at LAUSD schools to take enforcement actions.

Who can access students at school? 

Access to students by people other than their family, guardians, school staff, contractors or authorized visitors is limited by federal law and state education code. For example, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act limits access to students’ public school education records.

"Any visitor seeking to enter a school must have lawful business to be on campus. If a visitor seeks access to a student or pupil record information, they must provide legal authorization for their request,” wrote an LAUSD spokesperson in a statement. “Typically, this is in the form of a judicial warrant, subpoena, or other court orders."

Carvalho said in an interview with NPR that there is no record of federal agents attempting to conduct a “wellness check” in LAUSD schools “going back a number of years.”

The California attorney general's office, which instructs schools to contact one of its departments in the event that law enforcement agents attempt to enter a school or talk to students related to immigration, declined to comment on whether it is aware of any attempted enforcement actions at schools since the start of Donald Trump’s second term as president.

Two of the region's other largest school districts, Long Beach Unified and Santa Ana Unified, said through spokespeople that there have been no immigration enforcement incidents on their campuses. LAist also requested information from San Bernardino City Unified which has yet to respond.

LAUSD guidance acknowledges that law enforcement officers, including immigration agents, may visit campuses as part of their investigations, to subpoena student records, and serve a search warrant.

The district tells school administrators to follow a series of steps if federal immigration officers arrive on campus. They include:

• Notify district administrators and the Los Angeles School Police Department. 
• Ask the agent about the purpose of their visit, their name and badge number, and the phone number of their supervisor. 
• Obtain and copy any documentation such as a subpoena, search warrant or court orders and share a copy with district administrators. 
• Tell the officer that they cannot respond to their request without direction from the district, including legal counsel. The exception would be an “exigent circumstance,” for example those related to national security, terrorism, imminent risk of death, violence or physical harm, or pursuit of a “dangerous” felon. 

The only scenario where an administrator may grant agents access to a student without consultation with district higher-ups is when the agent presents a signed federal judicial warrant (i.e., a search-and-seizure warrant or arrest warrant).

In an email statement, a Long Beach Unified spokesperson said: “We want to emphasize that our district remains committed to protecting the rights and privacy of all students and families, regardless of immigration status.”

The spokesperson also said that training on how to respond to inquiries or visits from immigration or enforcement officials “will be extended to include teachers and school support personnel, ensuring that every school is informed, prepared, and equipped to support our students and families.”

They added that the district has previously shared immigration-related protocols and resources with staff since January, and has done trainings and provided resources for students and families around their rights.

LAUSD, Long Beach Unified and Santa Ana Unified also noted that they do not collect information about a student’s immigration status.

‘Look at the whole picture’ 

With regard to Homeland Security visits at schools, the Young Center’s Molina Alt said it’s crucial to look at the wider landscape.

“Just because the [Trump] administration says ‘we're doing that for the well-being of [children],’ we cannot take that at face value. We have to look at the whole picture. And what we see are increased obstacles for undocumented sponsors, and even family members with documents, to reunify with unaccompanied minors,” she said.

“The second thing we see is the taking away of legal services for unaccompanied kids to fight their cases and be able to get permanent status,” Molina Alt added, in reference to the Trump administration’s efforts to strip legal aid for these children — a move that’s been criticized by members of both parties.

“If the administration's ultimate aim is to safeguard unaccompanied children from trafficking and exploitation, the most important measure that it can and should take is to ensure legal and social services for as many unaccompanied children as possible,” Boyd said.

“In many cases, attorneys are an unaccompanied child's most critical line of defense against trafficking and exploitation and can actually help guide a child's cooperation with law enforcement officers in the detection and prosecution of human traffickers and other bad actors,” he added.

Boyd noted that a federal court issued a temporary restraining order against the termination of core legal services for unaccompanied children. Since then, the Trump administration has “made representations to the court that it is actively taking steps to achieve compliance with that order.” But, to date, funding and services have not been fully restored.

“Every day that goes by in which that funding is not restored, in which those services do not resume, is another day in which these children are at grave risk,” Boyd said.

Topline:

The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.

The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.

What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."

What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."

Every year in Santa Ana, Luis Cantabrana turns the front of his home into an elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe that draws hundreds of visitors.

Along the front of the house, the multi-colored altar is filled with lights, flowers and a stained-glass tapestry behind a sculpture of the Lady of Guadalupe. Cantabrana’s roof also is lit up with the green, white and red lights that spell out “Virgen de Guadalupe” and a cross.

Visitors are welcomed with music and the smell of roses as they celebrate the saint, but this year’s gathering comes after a dark year for immigrant communities.

Luis Cantabrana stands in front of the stunning altar he built in front of his home in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Every year, his display draws hundreds of visitors.

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Why do they celebrate? 

In 1513, the Virgin Mary appeared before St. Juan Diego between Dec. 9 and Dec. 12, asking him to build a church in her honor. Her image — a brown-skinned woman wearing a green veil with her hands together in prayer and an angel at her feet — miraculously appeared on his cloak.

To celebrate in Santa Ana, worshippers gathered late-night Wednesday and in the very early hours Dec. 12 to pray the rosary, sing hymns and celebrate the saint.

Cantabrana has hosted worshippers at his home for 27 years — 17 in Santa Ana.

The altar started out small, he said, and over the years, he added a fabric background, more lights and flowers (lots and lots of flowers).

“It started with me making a promise to la Virgen de Guadalupe that while I had life and a home to build an altar, that I would do it,” Cantabrana said. “Everything you see in photos and videos is pretty, but when you come and see it live, it's more than pretty. It's beautiful.”

The Santa Ana home's elaborate altar in honor of La Virgen de Guadalupe draws hundreds of visitors each year.

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Gathering in a time of turmoil 

Many also look to the Lady of Guadalupe for protection, especially at a time when federal enforcement has rattled immigrant communities.

“People don’t want to go to work, they don’t want to take their kids to school, but the love we have for our Virgen de Guadalupe,” Cantabrana said. “We see that la Virgen de Guadalupe has a lot of power, and so we know immigration [enforcement] won’t come here.”

Margarita Lopez of Garden Grove has been visiting the altar for three years with her husband. She’s been celebrating the Virgencita since she was a young girl. Honoring the saint is as important now as ever, she said.

“We ask, and she performs miracles,” Lopez said.

Claudia Tapia, a lifelong Santa Ana resident, said the Virgin Mary represents strength.

“Right now, with everything going on, a lot of our families [have] turned and prayed to the Virgen for strength during these times,” Tapia said. “She's a very strong symbol of Mexican culture, of unity, of faith and of resilience.”

See it for yourself

The shrine will stay up into the new year on the corner of Broadway and Camile Street.

California’s unemployment agency kept paying cellphone bills for 4 1/2 years without checking whether its workers actually were using the devices.

That’s how it racked up $4.6 million in fees for mobile devices its workers were not using, according to a new state audit detailing wasteful spending at several government agencies.

The Employment Development Department’s excessive cellphone bills date to the COVID-19 pandemic, when it shifted call center employees to remote work and faced pressure to release benefits to millions of suddenly unemployed Californians.

It acquired 7,224 cellphones and wireless hotspots by December 2020. State auditors analyzed 54 months of invoices since then and found half the devices were unused for at least two years, 25% were unused for three years and 99 of them were never used at all.

The investigation, which auditors opened after receiving a tip, identified 6,285 devices that were unused for at least four consecutive months, and said the department spent $4.6 million on monthly service fees for them.

From the beginning, the department had about 2,000 more cellphones than call center employees, according to the audit. The gap widened over time after the pandemic ended and the department’s staffing returned to its normal headcount.

As of April, the audit said the department had 1,787 unemployment call center employees, but was paying monthly service fees for 5,097 mobile devices.

“Although obtaining the mobile devices during COVID-19 may have been a good idea to serve the public, continuing to pay the monthly service fees for so many unused devices, especially post-COVID-19, was wasteful,” the audit said.

Department officials told auditors they were unaware of the spending, but auditors pointed to regular invoices from Verizon that showed which phones were not being used.

“We would have expected EDD management to have reconsidered the need to pay the monthly service fees for so many devices that had no voice, message, or data usage,” the audit said.

The unemployment department began acting on the auditors’ findings in April, when it canceled service plans for 2,825 devices. It has since implemented a policy to terminate service plans for devices that go unused for 90 days.

The California state auditor highlighted the mobile devices in its regular report on “improper activities by state agencies and employees.” The audit also showed that the California Air Resources Board overpaid an employee who was on extended leave as he prepared to retire by $171,000.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.