Recent march highlights threats from India in U.S.
By Mike Kai Chen | NPR
Published November 2, 2024 7:38 AM
Marchers walk the last 3 miles from Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple to the California State Capital after a 300 mile journey starting all the way from Bakersfield.
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For three weeks in October, a group of Sikhs have walked 350 miles up the spine of California’s Central Valley. The events commemorate a Sikh massacre that happened in India 40 years ago and call attention to growing threats the Sikh community says has followed them here.
About Callifornia's Sikh community: Sikhs have been farming in the Central Valley for over a century, but many fled here in the years after 1984. Jakara’s executive director, Naindeep Singh, says they intentionally traced the old 99 freeway that Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers walked during their 1966 strike.
A growing threat: Within the last year, two Indian nationals have been indicted, one of them a former Indian intelligence officer, for assassinations of Sikh activists. These incidents are both examples of alleged Transnational Repression, known as TNR. The FBI defines TNR as foreign governments working in the U.S. to silence, harass, or even kill people from the diaspora.
Why now: This year, Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, the first Sikh American elected to California state office, introduced legislation which aims to better track and explain Transnational Repression in California, including training local law enforcement on how to deal with the threats. However, the proposal of the bill was met with great opposition.
In the dirt path between a rural road and a persimmon orchard, around 30 people are walking, kicking up dust with each step. Children run towards the front of the march, where a group of older men with turbans and thick beards keep the pace at a steady clip.
For three weeks in October, a group of Sikhs — some joining for just an hour or a day — have walked 350 miles up the spine of California’s Central Valley, from Bakersfield to Sacramento. Stopping at Gurdwaras, or Sikh temples, along the way, they finished their journey on Friday, with a rally organizers say drew about 1,300 people at the state capitol. The events commemorate a Sikh massacre that happened in India 40 years ago. They also call attention to growing threats the Sikh community says has followed them here.
The Fearless for Justice march was organized by Jakara Movement, a Sikh advocacy group. Jakara’s executive director, Naindeep Singh, says they intentionally traced the old 99 freeway that Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers walked during their 1966 strike.
Sikhs have been farming in the Central Valley for over a century, but many fled here in the years after 1984. That is when former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent the army to occupy the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh sites, to rout out separatists who were agitating for their own Sikh state, a place they called Khalistan. In response, Gandhi’s Sikh bodyguards assassinated her. What followed were anti-Sikh riots that killed thousands, and a decades-long effort by the Indian government to stamp out an armed Sikh insurgency.
Last year, the California Legislature recognized what happened in 1984 as a genocide. A federal resolution to make the same recognition was introduced this month in Congress.
“My mom came to Modesto from Punjab in 1984, you know?” says Jakara’s Samirpreet Singh. “She lived through that.”
He says many younger Sikhs grew up in the shadow of that trauma.
“They left India to find protection here, to find peace here and now that same government they fled is sending folks here to the U.S. and Canada to essentially assassinate those same folks' children and grandchildren.”
Members of the Sikh community pray at the closing event at the California State Capital where the 300 mile march concluding starting from Bakersfield.
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A moral comprised of photos of the victims of the 1984 Sikh Genocide at the California State Capital. Sacramento, California. November 1, 2024. The Jakara Movement’s powerful "Nirbhau & Niyaa Morcha" (Fearless for Justice March), a 24-day, 350-mile on foot march from Bakersfield to Sacramento commemorates 40 years since the 1984 Sikh Genocide.
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A growing threat: Transnational repression
In Canada last year, a Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was assassinated in a Gurdwara parking lot. Canada alleges that India’s Interior minister, who is also the chief aide to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was behind the murder. In New York last year, the FBI says it stopped another assassination plot against a prominent Sikh activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannum. Two Indian nationals have been indicted, one of them a former Indian intelligence officer. India denies involvement in either case.
These incidents are both examples of alleged Transnational Repression, known as TNR. The FBI defines TNR as foreign governments working in the U.S. to silence, harass, or even kill people from the diaspora.
Standing in the Ceres Gurdwara after a long day of walking, Simarpreet Singh says it’s a scary time to be a Sikh. “We have evidence that the Indian government is going around literally naming people who are in this building today, calling them things like 'they're a terrorist,' because we represent something that they are trying to repress.”
Marchers, Amarjit Singh, center, and Karnail Singh, right, pray at Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple before finishing the last 3 miles of their 300 mile march to California State Capital all the way from Bakersfield.
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Both the assassination and the alleged assassination attempt were made on members of the group Sikhs for Justice. Earlier this year, someone fired at a car on a California highway. The three men inside were members of that same Sikh group, though the incident is still under investigation. Sikhs for Justice continues to advocate for an independent Sikh state of Khalistan. The Indian government says they are terrorists, but the group says they are activists who are using peaceful and legal means in a fight for Sikh self determination. That includes an ongoing non-binding referendum where Sikhs are voting to show support for a Khalistani state. But it isn’t just Sikh separatists facing threats, says Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, the first Sikh American elected to California state office.
“This is an attempt by the Indian government to annihilate and destroy an entire community,” she says.
This year Bains introduced legislation which aims to better track and explain Transnational Repression in California, including training local law enforcement on how to deal with the threats.
“Right now there are attempts by the Indian government to silence and to push back against the freedom of speech that is being carried out by Sikh Americans,” she says. Critics of the Indian government say democracy is faltering under Modi and his Hindu Nationalist government, which they say attacks and marginalizes other minority groups and religions, including Sikhs and Muslims.
Sacramento Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains speaks at the closing ceremony of the Fearless for Justice March at the California State Capital.
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Members of the Sikh community pray at the closing event at the California State Capital where the 300 mile march concluding starting from Bakersfield.
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Opposition to the Transnational Repression bill
After proposing the bill, Bains says she received death threats and other messages accusing her of protecting terrorists. She says the TNR bill was killed in committee after a flurry of opposition letters from Hindu advocacy organizations. They claimed that naming India in a list of countries engaged in TNR, would put a target on the backs of Hindu Americans. One of the opposing groups is CoHNA -- or the Coalition of Hindus in North America. “Anti-India hate or laws, if they came to be, would be used as a cover for anti-Hindu hate,” says CoHNA’s Pushpita Prasad.
After proposing the bill, Bains says she received death threats and other messages accusing her of protecting terrorists. She says the TNR bill was killed in committee after a flurry of opposition letters from Hindu advocacy organizations. They claimed that naming India in a list of countries engaged in TNR, would put a target on the backs of Hindu Americans. One of the opposing groups is CoHNA -- or the Coalition of Hindus in North America. “Anti-India hate or laws, if they came to be, would be used as a cover for anti-Hindu hate,” says CoHNA’s Pushpita Prasad.
Prasad points to a spate of vandalism incidents at Hindu temples across the Bay Area last year, including graffiti that called the Indian prime minister a terrorist, and said “Khalistan Zinzabad” -- which means “long live Khalistan.”
Prasad says hate towards Hindus has been largely ignored by the media and law enforcement. She worries that naming India as a country engaged in TNR could be used against her and groups like CoHNA.
Kamaljit Kaur, a volunteer of the Jakara Movement, poses for a portrait in front of a moral of the victims of the 1984 Sikh Genocide at the California State Capital.
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“We know that they won't go after people who attack Hindus, but they might start coming after Hindus who are advocating for equal treatment and human rights for Hindus, because whatever I say could be twisted into saying, ‘oh, I'm an agent of this and that.’”
Bains says that is not how the bill would work.
“This bill didn't call out any religion or dialect, it called out a country,” she says. “India belongs to a lot of different religions and dialects and ethnicities, not just one.”
Bains plans to reintroduce the TNR bill next session. In September, Congressman Adam Schiff introduced the federal Stop Transnational Repression Reporting Act, after the 2023 attempted assassination of Pannun.
Members of the Sikh community pray at the closing event at the California State Capital.
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A meeting and an accusation
Naindeep Singh, who helped organize the Fearless for Justice march, says the fight against TNR and other kinds of suppression of Sikh activism has become deeply personal in the last year. Singh says neither Jakara Movement nor he advocate for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state -- although he supports the right of others to speak out for that cause.
Singh was born and raised in Fresno, where he’s an elected school board member. He recalls learning about a meeting that happened last fall – a meeting he wasn’t at, but where his name was mentioned.
The meeting was between a group of Hindu residents, the Fresno mayor and then-police chief, Paco Balderama.
“I do recall meeting with a group in the fall of 2023,” Balderrama tells NPR.
Balderrama says during his tenure as police chief it was common to meet with representatives from Fresno’s diverse communities. What was uncommon were the accusations being made in this meeting -- that Singh and two other prominent local Sikh community members were somehow involved in criminal activity, even potentially violent. He says he felt like he was being pushed to investigate them.
“There’s no smoking gun,” Balderrama says. “I'm not going to go out there and go after these three people that they named because simply -- I don't have enough information to say that they've committed any crime.”
He says back then he didn’t understand the tensions between some in the Hindu and Sikh communities.
“Now, understanding the political impact that it has, you know, I maybe see a reason for them coming forward and saying, hey, ‘they did this’ when maybe they didn't,” Balderrama says.
Earlier this year another Hindu advocacy group, the Hindu American Foundation or HAF held a training on Hinduphobia for some California police chiefs and DA’s. According to HAF’s LinkedIn, some representatives from the Justice Department and Homeland Security were also there. HAF’s training material calls Sikhs for Justice a hate group, and suggests law enforcement “monitor the social media platforms for US-based groups and individuals with ties to Khalistan terror groups who advocate violence and fundraise in furtherance of Khalistan." They also ask law enforcement to "investigate Khalistan attacks against Hindu temples and devotees as hate crimes." In a public statement, leading Sikh advocates say the trainings push potential misinformation, adding that there is "no evidence that pro-Khalistan or Sikh individuals are responsible" for the vandalization of Hindu temples in California. HAF declined to comment for this story, and has strongly denied they have any connection to the Indian government.
Marchers pray at Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple before finishing the last 3 miles of their 300 mile march to California State Capital all the way from Bakersfield.
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Mike Kai Chen
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NPR
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Marchers walk the last 3 miles from Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Temple to the California State Capital after a 300 mile journey starting all the way from Bakersfield.
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Mike Kai Chen
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NPR
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At heart is who gets to define who is a terrorist, Singh says. He says training around Transnational Repression, is best left in the hands of the Justice Department.
In the more than two months since the Department of Justice released its latest batch of files on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors have not brought any new charges based on the documents, despite federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continuing to demand accountability.
The backstory: Since the release of the files in 2025 and 2026, there have been no related arrests in the U.S. However, the disclosures have led to some resignations and other reputational repercussions for some high-ranking Americans. The lack of arrests in the U.S. contrasts to the fallout in the U.K., where investigators have pursued charges related to corruption, not sexual abuse, in their dealings with Epstein. Two former government officials — former Prince Andrew and ex-ambassador Peter Mandelson — were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Lack of evidence: In the U.S., top Justice Department officials have said that they found no evidence compelling enough to pursue further charges related to Epstein, and that the public can make their own assessments based on the disclosed documents. In a statement to NPR, Justice Department spokesperson Katie Kenlein said that "there have not been additional prosecutions beyond Epstein and Maxwell because there has not been credible evidence that their activities extended to Epstein's network."
In the more than two months since the Department of Justice released its latest batch of files on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors have not brought any new charges based on the documents, despite federal lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continuing to demand accountability.
The more than 3 million pages of documents include accusations by alleged victims of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell's abuse and thousands of emails and photos showing Epstein associated with prominent figures. The files indicate that many of these people maintained contact with the disgraced financier long after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to sex crimes that involved minors. Appearing in the files is not necessarily an indication of criminal wrongdoing.
The release of the Epstein files came after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which forced the Justice Department to make public all documents it held related to Epstein.
The lack of arrests in the U.S. contrasts to the fallout in the U.K., where investigators have pursued charges related to corruption, not sexual abuse, in their dealings with Epstein. Two former government officials — former Prince Andrew and ex-ambassador Peter Mandelson — were arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he is now known, has denied wrongdoing and has not been formally charged. Mandelson has also not been charged, and lawyers for Mandelson have said that the arrest was prompted by a "baseless suggestion."
In the U.S., top Justice Department officials have said that they found no evidence compelling enough to pursue further charges related to Epstein, and that the public can make their own assessments based on the disclosed documents.
In a statement to NPR, Justice Department spokesperson Katie Kenlein said that "there have not been additional prosecutions beyond Epstein and Maxwell because there has not been credible evidence that their activities extended to Epstein's network. However, if prosecutable evidence comes forward, the Department of Justice will of course act on it as we do every day in sexual trafficking and assault cases across the count[r]y."
On Thursday, President Trump announced that Attorney General Pam Bondi is out of the top job at the Justice Department, following bipartisan criticism over her handling of the Epstein files.
NPR asked four former prosecutors and one former law enforcement officer why there may not have been enough evidence to levy additional charges. Here's what they said.
Prosecutors must prove guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt"
Prosecutors must prove to a jury that a person committed a crime "beyond a reasonable doubt," according to Barbara McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School.
"One of the biggest misconceptions people have is how difficult it is to charge and convict somebody for a criminal case," said McQuade, who served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.
A prosecutor's ethical responsibility is to charge cases only if they believe there is enough evidence for a conviction, McQuade said. Documents, including emails, jokes, and even plane itineraries, can be a place to start, but, alone, they are not enough to prove guilt, McQuade said.
"What you would need [is] rock solid evidence," McQuade said. "You can't charge someone for a crime without sufficient evidence, and I have yet to see evidence of a crime involving an Epstein associate that has gone uncharged."
Based on his understanding of the case, Paul Butler, a professor at Georgetown Law, said he agreed that prosecutors who investigated Epstein's alleged associates "may have believed that they couldn't persuade a jury beyond a reasonable doubt." He said problems with witness credibility or certain forensic evidence can prevent a case from moving forward.
The U.K. cases are focused on corruption
In the U.K., the two people arrested are being investigated on suspicion of "misconduct in public office." McQuade said the U.S. does not have a single equivalent federal law. Instead, the U.S. prosecutes public corruption through statutes that focus specifically on crimes such as bribery and extortion.
After the release of the latest files, British police began investigating Andrew's correspondence with Epstein when Andrew was a U.K. trade envoy. At that time, Andrew allegedly shared government itineraries, investment plans and notes from official foreign trips with Epstein. The information may have been covered by the United Kingdom's Official Secrets Act.
Similarly, Mandelson has been accused of passing confidential government information to the late sex offender when Mandelson was a U.K. Cabinet minister.
Meeting the burden of proof is especially challenging for sex crime cases
Victim statements are essential for establishing basic elements, such as the timeframe of events, required to build sexual assault cases, said Diane Goldstein, a retired police lieutenant from California and the executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. But a victim may be reluctant to come forward because of a fear of retaliation, not believing the police can help, believing it is a personal matter, or not wanting to get the perpetrator in trouble.
McQuade noted that in some sex trafficking cases, especially those in which a perpetrator is in a position of power, victims may experience intimidation or threats that prevent them from speaking out.
Victims also may be hesitant to move forward with allegations because they fear having to testify at trials where defense attorneys may attempt to poke holes in their allegations, McQuade said.
Goldstein said that for sex crime cases to advance, investigators need to follow certain policies and procedures. "If you don't have a legitimate police investigation to start, you're not going to get any type of criminal filing," Goldstein said.
Other potential charges are also a difficult path
Prosecutors may have considered pursuing charges of criminal conspiracy related to sex trafficking against people associated with Epstein, said Jessica Roth, a professor at Cardozo School of Law. FBI documents in the files relating to its investigation into Epstein's crimes identify certain people as "co-conspirators."
But Ankush Khardori, a senior writer and columnist at Politico magazine who worked as a federal prosecutor on financial fraud cases, told NPR those identifiers are not "formal accusation[s]" and are simply part of "interim documents."
"The FBI does not determine who is a co-conspirator," Khardori said. "That is a legal judgment that prosecutors make."
But for those conspiracy cases, "criminal intent," in particular, is difficult to establish, said Roth, who worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York for seven years. Criminal conspiracy charges "would require knowledge and intent on the part of each individual who was charged," Roth said. If a person who communicated with Epstein had some suspicion that he was engaged in illegal activity, that alone would not be sufficient evidence to press charges, she said.
Investigators may have considered charges related to criminal tax violations, McQuade said. But the statute of limitations has likely ended on those cases, she said, meaning that prosecutors can no longer bring charges.
The current evidence lacks context
Legal experts say the haphazard way the documents were released and redacted makes it difficult for the public to understand why no additional charges have been filed.
Roth, the Cardozo law professor, said the information is in "isolation," without the appropriate context. "We'll see an individual photograph that looks perhaps incriminating. We'll see an email that looks incriminating, but we don't necessarily have everything that was said before and after that email and that exchange," Roth said.
One document that could explain why no charges were pursued, according to Butler, is a heavily redacted DOJ memo naming "potential co-conspirators" of Epstein. "The parts that should indicate why the department declined prosecution on any alleged co-conspirators other than Ghislaine Maxwell [are] redacted," said Butler, the Georgetown law professor and a former federal prosecutor.
Butler said those redactions are "unusual" because they do not appear to follow the permissible reasons for redactions in the Epstein documents. Those reasons include confidentiality for Epstein's alleged victims, or anything that would compromise an ongoing investigation, Butler said.
"When the Justice Department grudgingly releases information when pressed by politics or forced by Congress, it also creates the impression that they have something to hide," Butler said. "That there is some cover-up going on."
Copyright 2026 NPR
Nearly 30% more students in Los Angeles County experienced homelessness from 2022-23 to 2023-24, making it the county’s highest rate in the past five years and far outpacing the rate of homelessness across the state in the same timeframe, as the resources to identify and support this student population have decreased.
Norwalk-La Mirada Unified: Researchers found that Norwalk-La Mirada Elementary Unified School District had the highest rate of student homelessness in the county — 1 in 3 students, meaning that over 4,700 students were identified as experiencing homelessness during the 2023-24 school year out of a total cumulative enrollment of about 15,600.
Underidentifed students: Researchers also found that the Transformation of Schools focuses on the lack of dedicated funding for school staff to identify and support homeless students. Students and families facing homelessness do not always self-identify, whether due to fear, shame or being unaware that their housing situation is considered homelessness
Nearly 30% more students in Los Angeles County experienced homelessness from 2022-23 to 2023-24, making it the county’s highest rate in the past five years and far outpacing the rate of homelessness across the state in the same timeframe, as the resources to identify and support this student population have decreased.
Researchers found that Norwalk-La Mirada Elementary Unified School District had the highest rate of student homelessness in the county — 1 in 3 students, meaning that over 4,700 students were identified as experiencing homelessness during the 2023-24 school year out of a total cumulative enrollment of about 15,600.
The city of Norwalk, where the district is located in the eastern region of the county, was sued by the state in 2024 for banning emergency shelters and other support services for people experiencing homelessness. Last year, the state reached a settlement with the city, which was forced to overturn the ban and put $250,000 toward building affordable housing.
Student homelessness is defined differently under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, a federal law that requires every public school to count the number of students who are living on the street, in shelters, in motels, in cars, doubled up with other families, or moving between friends’ and relatives’ homes.
As a result of this expanded definition, McKinney-Vento includes doubled-up students in the count of homelessness. Doubled-up is a term used to describe children and youth ages 21 and under living in shared housing, such as with another family or friends, due to various crises.
There were a few other patterns seen in the L.A. County data analyzed by the UCLA researchers:
Latino students were disproportionately more likely to experience homelessness: they represent 65% of the county’s student population, but 75.5% of student homelessness
A third of homeless students were in high school
Many districts with the highest rates of homelessness had higher school instability but lower dropout rates
While McKinney-Vento has an expanded definition that includes more types of homelessness than several other definitions, identifying students remains difficult.
The second report from the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools focuses on the lack of dedicated funding for school staff to identify and support homeless students. Students and families facing homelessness do not always self-identify, whether due to fear, shame or being unaware that their housing situation is considered homelessness under McKinney-Vento.
“A lot of these young people are dealing with a lot of trauma, so they don’t want to be identified. They don’t want to be pointed out; sometimes it’s scary for them, because they think we’re going to report them to the Department of Children and Family Services,” said L.A. County Office of Education staff interviewed for this report.
School staff, known as homeless liaisons, who work with homeless students received a historic influx of federal funds during the Covid-19 pandemic — $98.76 million for California, out of $800 million nationwide, from the American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth.
That funding has since ended, and there is no other dedicated, ongoing state funding set aside solely for the rising number of homeless students. This has led districts in California to “heavily depend on highly competitive and unstable federal streams,” the UCLA researchers wrote. Those federal streams have become increasingly precarious as the federal administration last year sought policy changes that would shift how they are structured.
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Updated April 3, 2026 4:07 PM
Published April 3, 2026 1:59 PM
The Springs Fire around 11 a.m. in east Moreno Valley.
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Multiple evacuation orders are in place for residents near the Springs Fire burning east of Moreno Valley in Riverside County. The fire was first reported around 11 a.m.
Multiple evacuation orders are in place for residents near the Springs Fire burning in east of Moreno Valley in Riverside County. The fire was first reported around 11 a.m.
As of this afternoon, the fire has reached over 2,800 acres.
West of the Springs Fire, a separate bush fire near Acton also began Friday afternoon. The Crown Fire has burned 280 acres and is 20% contained.
Evacuation orders have been issued by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for the following areas:
MOE-0507
MOE-0747
MOE-0745
MOE-0641
MOE-0746
MOE-0744
RVC-0748
RVC-0826
RVC-0825
Evacuation warnings
Authorities say those who require additional time to evacuate and those with pets and livestock should leave immediately.
MOE-0504
MOE-0505
MOE-0506
MOE-0633
MOE-0636
MOE-0637
MOE-0638
MOE-0639
MOE-0640
MOE-0743
MOE-0822
MOE-0823
Evacuation shelters
Valley View High School 13135 Nason St. Moreno Valley, 92555
Animal Shelter
San Jacinto Animal Shelter 581 S. Grand Ave. San Jacinto 92582
Road closures
Gilman Springs Road is closed from Alessandro Road to Bridge Street, according to Cal Fire.
What we know so far
The Springs Fire was first reported around 11 a.m. Friday near Gilman Springs Road as a 5-acre fire that grew to 1,000 acres by 1:45 p.m.
VEGETATION FIRE - rpt @ 10:59AM. 15900 block Gilman Springs Road, east of Moreno Valley. Firefighters are on-scene of 5-6 acres burning in light flashy fuels. Gilman Springs Road is closed from Alessandro Road to Bridge Street. #SpringsIC@RivCoNowpic.twitter.com/KsTOq4QxM5
— CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department (@CALFIRERRU) April 3, 2026
Conditions are fairly windy and dry in that area, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts reached 20 to 30 mph from the east.The Santa Ana wind event is expected to last into tomorrow.
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The president’s budget request released Friday didn’t provide a dime of the $2 billion the countywide transportation agency seeks.
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The Trump administration did not include funding in its federal budget proposal for Los Angeles Metro’s key plan to use thousands of buses to transport fans to scattered venues hosting the 2028 Games.
The plan: Metro plans to essentially double its bus fleet for the 2028 Games by temporarily acquiring, operating and storing nearly 1,750 additional buses for spectators. The agency says that will cost about $1 billion. The remainder of the $2 billion appropriations request would be for pedestrian improvements and designing a network of roads for Games vehicles, among other uses.
Final opportunity? California Democratic congressional representatives have repeatedly appealed to the Trump administration to provide funding for Metro. In their latest letter from February, they said this budget process is the “final opportunity” to secure Metro’s funding request.
Read on … for more details on Metro’s plan, how buses were used in the 1984 Olympics.
The Trump administration did not include funding in its federal budget proposal for Los Angeles Metro’s key plan to use thousands of buses to transport fans to scattered venues hosting the 2028 Games.
L.A. Metro’s Board and California Democrats have repeatedly appealed to the administration to provide federal dollars for the region’s "transit-first" Games. The president’s budget request released Friday didn’t provide a dime of the $2 billion the countywide transportation agency is seeking.
The 92-page document is a signal of the administration’s priorities for the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Ultimately, the U.S. Congress decides how federal dollars are spent.
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, who represents Culver City and parts of Los Angeles, wrote a letter with her California Democratic colleagues to the administration in February calling this budget process the “final opportunity” to secure Metro’s funding request.
U.S. Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove is one of the California Democrats leading advocacy in Washington, D.C., to secure L.A. Metro's $2 billion federal funding request.
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In a statement to LAist, Kamlager-Dove said she was “incredibly disappointed” that Metro was excluded in the president’s budget request.
“At the end of the day, Congress has the power to appropriate money,” she said. “Despite the president’s lack of foresight, I will continue to advocate to ensure this funding is included so L.A. Metro has what they need to succeed.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar, who has a seat on the Congressional subcommittee overseeing federal transportation appropriations, said President Donald Trump has talked about the Olympics “time and time again,” pointing to the most recent State of the Union as an example.
“Our charge is to ensure that they adequately fund this and that they put the resources behind it so they aren't just using it as a talking point, but they're actually leaning in,” Aguilar told LAist in an interview before the president’s proposed budget request was released.
What would the money be used for?
Metro plans to essentially double its bus fleet for the 2028 Games by temporarily acquiring, operating and storing nearly 1,750 additional buses for spectators. The agency says that will cost about $1 billion. The remainder of the appropriations request would be for pedestrian improvements and designing a network of roads for Games vehicles, among other uses.
Seleta Reynolds, Metro’s chief of innovation and Games mobility planning, said at a January Metro Board meeting that finding and preparing the real estate where the buses will be staged involves a lead time of two years, meaning the agency would need a “chunk of funding available by this summer.”
Initially, Metro had asked for $3.2 billion to support a plan to temporarily use 2,700 buses. Metro reduced the estimate for the number of buses needed after LA28, the Games organizing committee, refined the venues and schedule for events.
That reduction, plus other federal funding that Metro has received to partially support station and light rail improvements, brought the total amount of money in the federal appropriations request down to $2 billion, the countywide transportation agency said.
“Without the full level of funding requested, the complete scope of the [Games Enhanced Transit System] would not be feasible, as the cost of operating this temporary system exceeds Metro’s available operating resources,” the agency said in its statement.
Jacie Prieto Lopez, a spokesperson for LA28, told LAist in a statement before the president released his budget request that the organizing committee was supporting partners in Congress and the administration, who are leading the budget and appropriations process.
"With the full support of federal transit money for the games, we can collectively create a positive commuting experience," Prieto Lopez said.
Success with buses during LA84
A bus system similar to the one Metro is planning for 2028 was critical to the success of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Metro's predecessor, Southern California Rapid Transit District, deployed 550 additional buses, hundreds of new drivers and 24 routes to move people around the city for the Olympics.
A view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the closing ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles, 12th August 1984.
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In the run-up to those Games, one California Highway Patrol official warned the L.A. Times that congestion around the L.A. Memorial Coliseum would be so extreme that drivers would abandon their cars on the freeway. Headlines warned of "traffic woes."
Rich Perelman, who led press operations for the 1984 Olympics and edited the official report on the Games, told LAist that in 1984, no public funds were used for the additional bus fleet. Bus tickets and some donations and corporate sponsorships covered the cost.
Perelman said organizers pulled off the bus system by staying focused on the areas where parking was sparse, such as the Coliseum. According to the official report, nearly 80% of rides on the bus system were to Exposition Park.
" It was a transit-smart approach," Perelman said. " If there was plenty of parking, we didn't say you have to take the bus. We didn't make any nonsensical claims of 'no-car Games' or 'transit only Games.’"
Security funding from the federal government
Transportation funding is just one bucket that the federal government is expected to contribute for the Olympics.
The budget released by the Trump administration Friday contained major increases for the Department of Homeland Security, including some linked to Olympics preparations. It asks for additional funding for the FBI and Secret Service, which leads security planning for the Games.
But exactly how that money will be distributed has yet to be determined — and L.A. politicians have expressed concern that the funds may come with strings attached that the city of L.A. will find hard to swallow.
It's also possible that money could face delays that could disrupt Olympics planning. The federal government was late in awarding hundreds of millions of dollars that it promised for security for the World Cup this year — a delay the Trump administration attributed to the Homeland Security shutdown.
