The Brief

Since last spring, Los Angeles community colleges have been rolling out a number of classes in Spanish — not classes to learn Spanish, but classes where Spanish speakers can learn other subjects.

The expansion of “in-language” classes is part of a national effort to better serve community college students whose first language isn’t English. This population is “a large and growing segment of the community college student population,” whose educational needs have not been widely evaluated.

And in California, the movement is also a reversal of nearly a century and a half of policy that has minimized Spanish, since the state’s constitution was ratified in 1879.

To understand the reversal at LACCD, though, one must start with a family’s move to Los Angeles.

Educated, but not in English

On a recent visit to his childhood home in South Los Angeles, 50-year-old Gabriel Buelna heard his parents talk at the dinner table about one of the biggest challenges they faced when they came to L.A. in the mid-1960s.

“I understood a little bit of English, not a lot,” his mother Lilia Buelna said. She had taken office skills classes in Mexico for four years and worked for an engineering firm in Tijuana before moving to L.A.

Her search for English classes had as much to do with navigating life in her new home, she said, as it did with continuing her education.

“[I wanted] to earn my high school diploma and from there study something else, like business,” she said.

She and her husband, Enrique Buelna, moved into the South L.A. house after they married in 1963. He’d lived there for about five years and also struggled to find classes beyond the rudimentary language skills. They said the classes they found at the local church, high school, and community college didn’t build on the education both already had.

A 1963 wedding portrait of Gabriel Buelna’s parents: Lilia and Enrique Buelna, who married in Tijuana, Mexico, where this picture was taken.

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“They didn’t teach well. I wasn’t satisfied [with the classes]. [Teachers] would tell you ‘Write dog 20 times,’” Enrique Buelna said.

In Mexico, he’d also taken office skills courses and worked in Mexico’s equivalent of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency. In the United States he worked for a furniture manufacturer that was eventually bought and run by the employees, including him. He said he wishes he could have overcome the English language barrier to take business administration classes, because that would have prepared him for the kind of decisions he’d have to make at the furniture business.

“Knowing what to do if someone gave you a bogus check or how to deal with vendors. I had little knowledge of buying and selling [at that level],” Buelna said.

It ended up costing him and the other owners of the company a lot.

Enrique Buelna, 90, went to various schools to learn English, but was unsatisfied with the quality of classes, he says. In 1983, the sofa factory he owned burned down and Buelna lost everything. “I wish I would’ve known more about insurance, and the laws — but there was always that language barrier that made it hard to know what I needed for myself and my business.”

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“We forgot to buy insurance,” Enrique Buelna said. A fire, he said, destroyed most of the business.

Their son, Gabriel Buelna, hears these stories differently now than he did when he was a kid. He practices family law, holds a doctorate in political science and teaches Chicano studies classes at CSU Northridge.

“Their capacity was hindered. There was an immigrant ceiling … they come from Mexico with some level of education … they're trying to enter the business class, they're trying to do that and the language component is the biggest anchor,” he said.

But it’s the hat he’s been wearing since 2017 that he’s used to turn his parents’ experiences, and his opinions and views of the immigrant experience, into change for public higher education. That’s when Buelna was elected trustee for the L.A. Community College District board, the policymaking body for nine campuses that enroll over 200,000 students.

“The narrative has shifted from [my parents’ time], which was ‘too bad, so sad, learn English … you're in the United States’ to where now I think the question is, do we as leaders have an obligation to allow all of our citizens to hit their maximum capacity … for folks to do that in a way that works for them,” he said.

Lilia Buelna, 78, studied business and accounting in Sinaloa, Mexico, where she is from. When Buelna moved to the United States, she taught herself English by reading the dictionary and frequenting Catholic parish ministries throughout South Los Angeles. Buelna still keeps English dictionaries around the house.

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Last year, in a one-year term as board president, Buelna expanded the number of career and technical classes offered in foreign languages, the vast majority in Spanish, and called them “in-language” classes.

Buelna and district administrators sidestepped a state requirement that students enrolled in these classes also be enrolled in English as a second language classes. They justified the action by saying that their institution should remove barriers that exist for students to enroll in career education classes, and if English is one of those barriers, then the classes should be offered in the students’ native language.

By the numbers

Classes are mostly in Spanish, but some are taught in both English and Spanish while others are in Armenian, Russian, Mandarin and Korean, Buelna said.

The classes first rolled out on a small scale this past winter, with 313 students enrolled in 15 language classes. Enrollment grew to almost 1,500 students in 59 classes in spring. Enrollment in this fall semester’s 30 in-language classes hit a high of 1,572 students as of Sept. 6, according to Buelna.

The classes have ranged from automotive, culinary, and sewing to a variety of office skills classes, such as intro to spreadsheets.

A survey conducted by the community college district suggested the classes are tapping into an unmet need. About 75% of respondents said they speak two or more languages at home, the most common by far (74%) being Spanish. Armenian, Tagalog, Russian, Chinese languages, and French each were spoken by roughly 3% of respondents.

Nearly two thirds of respondents said they would be interested in taking classes in a language other than English. The most popular subjects chosen were education, health sciences, business and arts.

The survey also revealed resistance. Nearly 20% of respondents said they would not take such a class.

“I’m totally against the classes being taught [in] other than English except foreign languages. We should be united using a language,” one respondent answered.

What an in-language class is like

There are two groups of people waiting to be admitted to the Mexican consulate next to L.A.’s MacArthur Park. The first group is there to process passports and other government documents. The second, much smaller group by an unmarked door, is waiting to be let into Vocational Education 320: Overview of Health Sectors & In Home Support Services, a class offered by East Los Angeles College in conjunction with the consulate.

“Yesterday we talked about the different nursing careers,” class instructor Adrianne Villalvazo said, in Spanish, to 16 people in one of the consulate’s meeting rooms as class begins.

Villalvazo finished medical school a few years ago, she said, and plans to practice family medicine. During the three-hour class, she shows students a video in Spanish that explains a phlebotomist’s training to draw blood, shows a chart listing the average pay for health careers, and listens as one of the students stands in front of the class with hand-drawn illustrations and explains the work of a physical therapist.

Dulce Guzman presented that last one. She moved to L.A. from Mexico City 15 years ago. “I like learning in general,” she said. “I also want to learn about the elderly because I notice that they’re among the most neglected in our communities.”

“I knew I had one year to get policies done,” Gabriel Buelna said, regarding his re-election for the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees in 2022. “With that one year, I took advantage.”

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Since arriving in L.A. she’s worked in restaurants and cleaning hotel rooms. She currently works as a caregiver, she said, for county-provided in-home support services. Her dream is to open a child care business and to earn her caregiving certification.

“My calling right now in my heart, the universe is telling me right now, to take care of older people, I think I’m good,” said Antonio Mungia, who moved to L.A. from central Mexico 23 years ago. He’s worked in restaurants and had an office job after taking an office skills course. His most recent job was taking care of a terminally ill woman who died while he was taking this class.

He hopes to learn how to take blood pressure, administer oxygen, and the ins and outs of adult diapers. He chose this class because it’s given in Spanish.

“There is nothing like learning in your own language, the language you were born with, the language that you speak,” he said.

Sacramento may scale L.A. offerings

By state law, English is to be the language of instruction in California community colleges; students who take classes in languages other than English (except those to learn a foreign language) must also enroll in English as a second language classes.

But that English-only policy was born out of xenophobic times in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“Many California community colleges are technically Hispanic-Serving Institutions,” which means they enroll a certain percentage of Hispanic students, said Federick Ngo, a higher education policy expert at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“Those institutions are kind of grappling with their identity and their mission in light of who they're actually enrolling, and so it does make sense that if you have a large Spanish-speaking population, that you would want to perhaps expand course offerings [in Spanish],” he said.

Other experts say that creating a learning space in a student’s native language increases the opportunities for learning success which in turn nurtures excitement about learning and understanding.

More community colleges may be on their way to creating such spaces.

California Assembly Bill 1096, authored by Assemblyman Mike Fong, is making its way through the legislative process. If approved, it would suspend the English as a second language requirement in community colleges.

LACCD Trustee Gabriel Buelna wants to see in-language instruction expanded to math, biology, literature, and other classes in order “to meet that need [to learn], and for language rights to be seen as equal and not second or third class,” he said.

The number of people in the U.S. who speak a language other than English has been rising. LACCD’s in-language classes are set to help adult learners enter work places where the ability to speak multiple languages is an asset.

“It seems to me to be a very student-centered approach, responsive to [LACCD’s] local labor markets and communities,” said Nikki Edgecombe, a research scholar at the Community College Research Center at Teachers College in New York.

Edgecombe added that LACCD is further along in this effort than other institutions of which she’s aware. The next step, she said, is to measure whether students taking these classes reached their job and education goals and, if so, what will expansion of these classes mean for the surrounding areas.

“How can we affirm the linguistic diversity of our communities and leverage that linguistic diversity to support healthy communities, to have more workers with some post-secondary training that can then work in support and serve those communities better?” she said.

“Una persona que sabe dos idiomas vale más,” said 90-year-old Enrique Buelna as he talked about making sure his kids spoke English and Spanish. The phrase translates to, “A person who knows two languages is worth more.”

The key word is worth. His son Gabriel believes Spanish speakers have been seeking the return of self-worth that nearly a century and a half of public policies have taken away from them.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

While deciphering posted parking regulations around L.A. lately, you may have noticed new signs.

“This property is owned or controlled by the city of Los Angeles,” the shiny red-and-white placards say. "It may only be used for its intended purpose and not used for immigration enforcement as a staging area, processing location, or operations base.”

The LA Local recently spotted them at Hollenbeck Park’s parking lot and at various parking lots close to Echo Park. The mayor’s office told The LA Local the city has installed 500 of them at various locations, including at MacArthur Park, Lafayette Park, the Los Angeles Zoo and Metrolink stations.

The city has received no reports that agents have used the city-owned spaces since the signs were installed. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said that the city could sue for a restraining order if federal agencies violate the prohibition.

Why were the signs posted?

Mayor Karen Bass ordered that these signs be posted on all city-owned property in February as part of her Executive Order 17. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said they placed the signs in locations “identified as more likely to be used for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] operational activity.”

Since the federal government began sweeping operations in Los Angeles last year, immigration advocates and community members have called for the city to do more to keep immigrant residents safer.

In response, Bass issued Executive Order 17, saying the “City must and can do more to protect our City and all who live, work and visit the City of Angels.”

A sign at MacArthur Park prohibits federal agents from using city-owned property to stage for immigration enforcement operations.

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How have federal immigration operations involved city property and employees?

In July 2025, about 100 federal agents conducted an operation in MacArthur Park. Days later, Bass issued a separate executive order clarifying the city’s property and resources could not be used for federal immigration enforcement. 

Meanwhile, LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell has made repeated statements that he doesn’t agree with or plan to enforce various state laws requiring federal agents to identify themselves and do their work without a mask. (After the Trump administration filed lawsuits, courts have blocked various provisions of those state laws in court anyway.)

Some advocates and Angelenos have called on LAPD to draw a clearer line between the local policing work they are responsible for and the immigration enforcement federal agents do.

Bass’ February order requiring the signs be installed came soon after.

The city has also prohibited its employees from working second jobs with federal immigration enforcement.

What else does Executive Order 17 do?

The order states that unless federal agents have a warrant or court order, they are not allowed to use city-owned or operated property to stage for operations. It also requires LAPD officers to identify federal agents and record their interactions with them. The police commission has since started to publicly report basic details about those interactions.

What happens if federal agents use the city spaces anyway?

The order does not establish what penalties federal agents could face if they are found to be using city property for staging. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said that the city could sue or pursue a restraining order if federal agencies violate the prohibition.

“Any necessary response will be handled in accordance with the Executive Order and applicable City protocols,” the city statement said.

Hundreds of organizations are rallying at MacArthur Park on Friday in one of many events recognizing May Day, which is expected to draw thousands of people. 

The rally began at 10 a.m. with speakers, and then the event will march to City Hall around noon. Westlake is no stranger to International Workers’ Day, said Victor Narro, project director with the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, which sits across the street from MacArthur Park.

“We’re dealing with so much this year, and I think May Day is going to be a chance for us to come together,” Narro told The LA Local ahead of the rally. 

Advocacy groups from different backgrounds, like immigrants’ rights, housing, LGBTQ rights, and economic justice, will unite for the cause of workers’ rights, Narro said.

“It’s really an inclusive march,” he said. “This really is unlike any other march.”

Organizers also hope to make the event safe for undocumented immigrants and emphasize that they are taking security seriously.

“You just don’t know with this administration,” he added. 

Organizers are calling for a boycott and will rally under the banner, “Solo El Pueblo Shuts it Down – No Work, No School, No Shopping” with the march ending at Gloria Molina Grand Park at the foot of City Hall. 

This year’s May Day also marks the 20th anniversary of La Gran Marcha, when millions of people took to the streets around the country to protest proposed legislation that would have included making it a felony offense to be an undocumented immigrant.

The event is still fresh in a lot of people’s minds, including Juan Aguilar, a supermarket worker who came to the United States in 1989 and participated in the 2006 march in downtown L.A.

“I was really impressed by the number of people there. And I didn’t feel afraid. People weren’t afraid,” he said at a sign-making event for this year’s May Day rally at the Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates in Koreatown. 

He feels it’s so much different now. Back then, Aguilar said, people were only afraid near the border.

“Once you were inside the country, you could move freely. Now it’s everywhere,” he said. “People are afraid because raids can happen at any moment. At work, on the street, leaving court, anywhere.”

The fear in the community has prompted Aguilar to participate in this year’s rally.

Friday will also be Jay Lee’s first time participating in the May Day rally and march. He pointed to the role labor movements have played in shaping migration and identity within Korean communities.

“Korea’s got this huge history of labor,” Lee said. “The existence of the Korean diaspora here is inherently tied to the labor movement in Korea.”

For Lee, a Korean American, this year’s May Day is especially significant. It marks the first year South Korea has designated May 1 as a mandatory public holiday for all workers, including those in the public sector. Previously, only private-sector workers had the day off.

He said this year’s march is also about solidarity across communities.

“We’re going to be marching with Black workers, the Latino centers, the Filipino centers,” Lee said. “We’re going to be all marching together as one voice, and I think that’s really cool.”

The LA Local has reporters on the ground. Check back for updates, and see more photos and video on our Instagram.

The two chicks growing in Big Bear’s famous bald eagle nest have been named.

The offspring of famous parents Jackie and Shadow will be called Sandy and Luna, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley, the nonprofit that runs a popular YouTube livestream of the nest and is working to preserve acres of land in the area.

The organization announced the results of this year’s chick naming contest Friday after inviting the eagles’ fanbase to submit suggestions with a donation last month.

Keeping with tradition, the final votes were left up to Big Bear Valley third-grade students. A list of names was selected randomly from the nearly 64,000 public fundraiser submissions and delivered on ballots to the students, who are studying bald eagles in school, earlier this week.

Sandy was the most popular name entered into the contest with more than 3,700 submissions, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.

The name is an homage to Sandy Steers, an environmental advocate who helped launch the eagle livestream and the nonprofit’s late executive director. She died in February, a few weeks before the pair of eggs were laid.

“Please know that although Sandy would not have wanted us to outright name one of the eaglets Sandy, she would have been honored that you and the students went through the process and named one of the 2026 eaglets after her,” the organization wrote on Facebook Friday to its more than 1.2 million followers.

Chick naming traditions

Sandy and Luna have been known as Chick 1 and Chick 2, respectively, since they hatched in early April.

Once the eaglets arrived, Friends of Big Bear Valley was swarmed with hundreds of requests to name one of the chicks “Sandy.”

But it’s a right of passage for the Big Bear third graders to name the chicks, and the tradition was “one of Sandy’s greatest joys,” according to Jenny Voisard, Friends of Big Bear Valley’s media manager.

Jackie and Shadow, the adult birds whose parenting saga each nesting season has captured human attention around the world, have had previous chicks named Stormy, BBB (for Big Bear Baby), Simba, Spirit and Cookie through a similar process.

“Last year, because Jackie and Shadow did not have chicks the previous two seasons, she opened it up to the other grades that didn’t get to participate when they were in the third grade,” Voisard said in a statement. “That was Sandy. Education was extremely important to her.”

Last season’s eaglets were dubbed Sunny and Gizmo by the Big Bear elementary students, who voted on 30 finalists pulled from about 54,000 name choices crowdsourced in a week-long fundraiser.

What’s next for Sandy and Luna

The nonprofit asked people to submit gender neutral names because the sex of each eaglet is not yet known.

Sandy and Luna are nearly 4 weeks old as of Friday, but once the eaglets reach around 9 to 10 weeks old, there should be signs that can help Friends of Big Bear Valley make an educated guess.

One of Jackie and Shadow's chicks peaks out from behind its parent on April 5.

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Big Bear's famous bald eaglets on April 7.

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The chicks in the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake on April 12.

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Sandy and Luna, formally known as Chick 1 and Chick 2, stretching in the nest on April 30.

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Some of the signs the nonprofit looks out for include the chick’s size, ankle thickness and vocal pitch.

Generally speaking, female bald eagles are larger than males. Female bald eagles also tend to have larger vocal organs — the syrinx — which leads to deeper, lower-pitched vocalizations, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.

The only definitive way to know the eaglets’ sex is through a blood test, which nonprofit officials have said is unlikely. There is no human intervention in the nest during nesting season, according to Voisard.

When the eaglets are around 10 to 14 weeks old, they could fledge, or take their first flight away from the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake.

But as the nonprofit often reminds fans, nature is in charge of the timeline — a previous eaglet named Simba took 16 weeks to fledge.

Fledglings from Southern California have been spotted as far north as British Columbia, as far east as Yellowstone and as far south as Baja California, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley.

Big picture progress

Friends of Big Bear Valley is continuing to lead a $10 million fundraiser to buy more than 62-acres near the nest to preserve it from a planned housing project called Moon Camp.

Instead, the organization and the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust want the land to be placed under a permanent conservatorship.

Officials say “Save Moon Camp” is the most ambitious fundraising effort in the history of Friends of Big Bear Valley. It’s raised more than $2.3 million as of Friday.