Los Angeles efforts to help Mexico, a report takes us to the far reaches of the U.S.-Mexico border, how the law enforcement is anticipating protests at the wall.
How Angelenos are helping earthquake relief efforts in Mexico
Relief work has begun in Mexico and there’s a lot to do.
“We’ve heard they’re some towns in Morelos where as much as 80 percent of the town’s buildings have been destroyed,” said Miguel Angel Perez president of the board of Council of Mexican Federations in North America (COFEM).
This L.A.-based organization has launched a fundraiser, which has already raised $20,000. They hope to raise more money in the upcoming weeks. Perez said most of the donations and media attention so far has been focused on Mexico City, so his organization plans to focus on the state of Morelos.
“There’s a lot of people [in Morelos] who have been displaced, who’ve lost their homes. And they’re in need of some kind of temporary shelters, food, water and medicine.”
They plan to visit Mexico in the upcoming weeks and deliver the money to aid organizations on the ground that are working directly with those affected.
Other members of the Mexican community in Los Angeles have expressed desire to go to Mexico themselves and help. Carlos Garcia de Alba, the Mexican Consul General in L.A., says airports are open and encourages family members to assist their relatives. However, there are some limitations.
“I have to say, sadly, yesterday one person asked if it was possible to travel to Mexico. The person who called had not legal status in the US. He was asking if we could help to go to Mexico and return safely to the US,” said Garcia de Alba. “Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Mexican consulate cannot help in those cases. We have some limits in our capacity. “
Garcia de Alba also thanked the County of Los Angeles for sending a rescues team to Mexico City. For Angelenos that are able to help out financially, he suggests donating to organizations like the Mexican Red Cross. He hopes that all Angelenos will come together and help Mexico in it’s time of need.
“To the Mexicans — but also not just to the Mexicans — to the whole Angelino community, to be close to Mexico in these difficult times and also to help. Now, the most urgent thing is to rescue the people that are still alive.”
The US-Mexico border is already dangerous to cross, even without a wall
A border wall was a signature part of Donald Trump presidential campaign.
The president was never very specific. He just described it as big and beautiful.
That's his vision – and then there’s the reality. And in reality, building any kind of wall along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border is incredibly difficult.
"If you've never visited the border, if you live away from somewhere in the interior of the United States, it's really hard to visualize what it's like," says Daniel Gonzalez, a reporter at the Arizona Republic.
Gonzalez contributed to a documentary project from the USA TODAY Network called "The Wall," which examined the U.S.-Mexico border.
For the project, several journalists recorded their journey over the entire 2,000 mile length of it, both by car and by helicopter.
"When you see some of that footage," he says, "you can see there are areas where miles and miles and miles, as far as you can see, is nothing but desolate desert and rugged mountains."
These remote areas would be incredibly hard to develop, much less build a wall. But they're also not easy to travel over afoot, either.
Gonzalez saw this first-hand when he reported on an area in Organ Pipe Cactus Monument, located near Mexico's border with Arizona.
For people crossing the border on foot, it's incredibly dangerous. Those who are sick or hurt are often abandoned by the smugglers leading them across, without water.
In his reporting, Gonzalez found that this wasn't an isolated occurrence.
"As the border has become more fortified, it drives migrants to use more and more remote, treacherous areas of the desert to enter the country illegally," he says, "and as a result, more people are dying."
That's despite the number of people crossing illegally is at historically low levels.
"What that suggests is that the death rate, the chances of dying, are actually increasing," says Gonzalez.
To listen to the full interview, use the blue media player at the top of the page.
Border Patrol concerned wall-building site could draw Keystone Oil Pipeline-scale protests
The Otay Mesa is east of Tijuana. It will serve as the building site of prototype walls commissioned by the Trump administration.
It could also be a staging area for mass protests. Alicia Caldwell is an immigration reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and she spoke to A Martinez about how law enforcement agencies are anticipating large-scale protests as construction begins on the wall prototypes.
Concrete and "other materials"
Construction is expected to begin next week on Sept. 26, according to an internal Homeland Security memo. Six companies won the bid to build the eight prototypes which will be about 30 feet long and up to 30 feet tall.
"The first set will be concrete. Solid. Can't see through. Brick and mortar, if you will...walls. The second set will be of so-called, 'other materials.' We don't have a lot of details on that but that could include something that is see-through."
Caldwell clarified that though these prototypes may sound experimental, like they're not here to stay. That's not the case.
"They are permanent. So what will happen is, they will build a lifesize to-scale model, if you will, of what each company proposes to build if they win the ultimate contract or a piece of the ultimate contract to build President Donald Trump's proposed border wall.
So, the exact specifications that each company proposes will be out on the border. It will be fully functional for as long as it holds up."
Anticipating protests
"The concern from CBP is that there could be a large-scale protest, that could, in fact, be similar to the Keystone Oil pipeline project in the Dakotas. And for those that don't recall, that was a massive protest that basically became an encampment, through the winter in South Dakota.
... A large-scale protest also could disrupt construction ... disrupt border operations but also had the potential to become violent.
Protests could also spark up on the south side according to the memo. They're sort of looking at all potential contingencies."
To hear more about the wall prototypes and how the state attorney general's lawsuit might affect construction, click the blue play button above.
Trump-backed bill would hinder families' legal immigration to US
National Skydiving Championship descends on Riverside County
In the world of sports, there's one competition that literally stands above the rest: the National Sky-Diving Championship.
More than 500 daredevils have dropped into the town of Perris in Riverside County this month to compete in the games.
"Anyone who comes out can see lots of colorful parachutes descending from the sky," says Nancy Koreen, director of sports promotions for the U.S. Parachute Association which puts on the championship.
"You can't really see the formations from the ground," she says, "but the teams have videographers who jump."
The videographers, who are members of each skydiving team, record the jump on cameras attached to their helmets.
The footage is then reviewed by the judges for scoring.
The criteria varies depending on the category of jump.
For the wingsuit competition earlier this week, it all came down to airtime.
"[You] get scored on the amount of time and also how far across the ground horizontally, how much distance [you] can cover," says Koreen. "It takes practice. Just like any other sport would."
To listen to the full interview, use the blue media player above.
Some want CSULB's Prospector Pete to head for the hills
Go team!
But at Cal State Long Beach, some are telling team mascot Prospector Pete, "Go away!"
The school was founded in 1949, a century after the famous 49ers came to the state looking for riches. That's why administrators at the time thought he'd be a good mascot.
"In 1949, Prospector Pete seemed to be an innocuous representation of the founding of the state," says CSULB's provost Brian Jersky.
There's even a statue dedicated to Pete on campus.
But some students see him as a symbol of people who came to California for gold, and also displaced native people and discriminated against other minorities.
"There were many laws during the Gold Rush that prevented Chinese from owning property, that prevented Mexicans from also prospecting," says Griselda Suarez, who lectures at the school about Chicano and Latino studies.
And from the 1960s to this very day, some students have wanted Pete to head for the hills.
"They were being quite dramatic," says Jersky. "On the first day of our semester, the statue was draped – a theatrical, dramatic gesture to show that some people didn't want this."
He and Suarez are part of a newly formed team looking at the future prospects of Prospector Pete.
"One of the many futures is that he would remain as our mascot," he says. "One of the many others is that he would not remain as our mascot."
It's also possible the school might update his story by placing information around Pete's statue to describe what 49ers did to indigenous people in history and the story of those people as well.
But even as some students pan him, in the eyes of others at Cal State Long Beach, Prospector Pete remains golden.