Tag: california

California Sanctuary Cities Ignored 8,901 ICE Detainers and Released Violent Criminals, House Judiciary Report Finds

A new House Judiciary Committee report states that authorities in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego ignored a combined 8,901 ICE detainers, allowing criminal aliens with records that included homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, weapons offenses, and child abuse to be released back into communities.

The 22-page interim staff report, led by Chairman Jim Jordan and Rep. Tom McClintock, was released on Thursday.

According to the report, the Los Angeles Police Department honored just four of the 4,177 ICE detainers it received between January 2020 and June 2026, a compliance rate below 0.1 percent.

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office rejected all 2,201 detainers it received between January 2020 and August 2026.

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office declined 2,527 detainers between January 2023 and June 2026, including 894 in the last year.

The report details:

The effects of Los Angeles’s longstanding pro-criminal alien policies have been devastating. Herbert Nixon Flores, an illegal alien from El Salvador, “had been ordered removed and physically deported from the United States 10 times” since 1990. His criminal history “included carrying a concealed weapon, trespassing, burglary, disturbing the peace, possession and transportation of a controlled substance, impersonation, driving under the influence, driving without a license, driving with a suspended license, resisting arrest, vandalism, criminal threats and illegal entry.” On September 7, 2020, he was arrested “for a domestic violence with injury charge by [LAPD].” The next day, ICE lodged a detainer with LAPD, but local law enforcement released Nixon Flores onto California streets. Four months later, Nixon Flores murdered his ex-girlfriend in front of their young child. In other cases, LAPD’s compliance with sanctuary laws meant declining detainers for criminal aliens who were later arrested for committing serious crimes, including murder.

Other examples used included David Mora Rojas, a Mexican national who overstayed a visa and was arrested five days before the February 2022 Sacramento church shooting in which he killed his three daughters and another man before killing himself.

ICE had requested notification of his release, but he was freed on bail.

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California’s High-Speed Rail to Nowhere Chief Abruptly Resigns Amid Questions About Multi-Billion Dollar Boondoggle

Ian Choudri, the CEO of California’s high-speed rail to nowhere abruptly resigned late Wednesday night amid questions about the multi-billion-dollar boondoggle.

Originally greenlit by the voters with the promise of linking Los Angeles to San Francisco in a modern, efficient bullet train system for a mere $33 billion with a completion date set for four years ago, the project has ballooned to an eyewatering $128 bilion to $130 billion, with no clear completion date in sight, according to abc30.

Ian Choudri, who came on board in summer 2024, claimed last year that the high speed train might be finished in twenty years. That would be the year 2045.

Via Cal Matters:

The CEO of California’s high-speed rail authority resigned late Wednesday, saying he needs to focus on “important personal and family priorities,” according to a copy of the emailed resignation obtained by CalMatters.

“This has not been an easy decision, as leading the Authority has been one of the most meaningful and rewarding chapters of my professional life,” wrote Chief Executive Ian Choudri.

He will be replaced by Joe Stephenshaw, who has led the state Department of Finance since July 2022 after working as a policy analyst in the state Legislature for more than a decade, the board announced Thursday morning following a closed session.

The abrupt announcement comes in the midst of a two-day meeting of the board that oversees the project, which continues Thursday. It follows Choudri’s tumultuous two-year tenure, which has been troubled by budget woes, project delays, transparency concerns and various scandals including the misuse of nearly $600,000 in taxpayer money for questionable trips by rail authority consultants.

In 2025, President Trump went off on California Governor Gavin “Newscum” and announced he is officially canceled funding for the state’s “failed” high speed railroad to nowhere.

“To the Law abiding, Tax paying, Hardworking Citizens of the United States of America, I am thrilled to announce that I have officially freed you from funding California’s disastrously overpriced, “HIGH SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE.” This boondoggle, led by the incompetent Governor of California, Gavin Newscum, has cost Taxpayers Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we have received NOTHING in return except Cost Overruns. The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump said.

“This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED. Thanks to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, not a SINGLE penny in Federal Dollars will go towards this Newscum SCAM ever again. This was an ill-conceived and unnecessary project, and a total waste of Taxpayer money — But no more!” Trump said on Truth Social.

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Clinton Judge Denies DOJ’s Bid to Force California to Remove 20,000 Ballots Mailed to Non-Citizens

US District Court Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, denied the Justice Department’s effort to force California to remove 20,000 ballots mailed to non-citizens.

The Justice Department recently sued California and Los Angeles County over 20,000 suspected non-citizens registered to vote who have already been mailed ballots.

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said that voter rolls were compared to USCIS immigration, Social Security and passport records.

On Monday, the Ninth Circuit Court denied the government’s appeal because the DOJ improperly skipped over the district court judge so the DOJ was forced to attend a hearing on Tuesday with Judge David Carter.

On Tuesday evening, before he issued his decision, Judge Carter warned First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli and told that it would be wise that “any threats” to California elected employees “cease immediately.”

On Wednesday evening, as expected, Judge Carter denied the Justice Department’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO).

The Judge said that the Department of Justice can prosecute the individuals.

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Leftist Anti-ICE Reporter Memo Torres FIRED After Allegations That He Let a Democrat State Senator Write His Articles During Secret Affair

L.A. TACO, the leftist outlet known for aggressive coverage of ICE raids in Southern California, has fired its high-profile journalist Memo Torres over allegations that Democratic state Sen. Sasha Renee Pérez was writing his articles during a secret affair.

Torres’ firing follows an internal investigation the publication said lasted nearly five months and found repeated violations of its policies and journalistic standards.

The 46-year-old landscaper-turned-ICE reporter became one of the outlet’s most visible faces in immigration reporting through his “Daily Memo” videos documenting enforcement actions across the region.

The outlet publicly stated that it fired him for “repeated violations of our policies and our basic journalistic standards,” while insisting the decision had nothing to do with scaling back ICE coverage.

The statement read, in part:

Firing him was the last thing we wanted. On his final day, Memo told us himself he was ready to go independent, and that it was a better fit for what he wanted to do. We thought we left on good terms, and offered to publicly support his next chapter and give him a generous severance. We offered our support because we never stopped believing in his mission.

Instead, he told his followers a different story: that he was blindsided, which immediately led to speculation that L.A. TACO pushed him out to pull back on ICE coverage.

The rumor that we’ve turned our back on ICE coverage is a lie. And a dangerous one.

Memo built his name as a truth-teller and a community leader. But right now, a false narrative is being spread, and it’s dividing the very community he claims to serve.

However, according to a report from LA Material, citing sources close to the outlet, management concerns went beyond routine process issues and included Torres bypassing editors, making factual errors, and maintaining a romantic relationship with an elected official while covering her work.

The official, Pérez, 34, is the youngest member of the California Senate and a former mayor of Alhambra who has been outspoken against ICE operations.

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DOJ Rushes to Block California From Counting 20,000 Ballots Tied to Suspected Noncitizens Before Votes Are Mixed Forever

The Justice Department is seeking an emergency order from the Ninth Circuit to stop California from counting mail-in ballots linked to more than 20,000 people federal investigators have flagged as likely noncitizens, warning that once the ballots are separated from their envelopes, the damage cannot be undone.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and Attorney General Todd Blanche are leading the effort after a district court did not act on their earlier request to review the citizenship of individuals believed to be noncitizens.

The motion names California, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan as defendants and seeks a ruling by Saturday.

California and Weber oppose the request.

Federal officials say U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Homeland Security Investigations reviewed California voter registration data against federal immigration records and identified more than 20,000 registered voters who received mail ballots and are considered highly likely to be noncitizens.

Federal law, of course, bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

Essayli told Fox News that the 20,000 figure is the floor and that more names are expected.

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How the DMV Enabled Voter Fraud in California

California’s long-term shift from a competitive or Republican-leaning state to a Democratic stronghold has been driven primarily by demographic change through immigration.

In 2018, more than one million illegal immigrants received driver’s licenses from the California DMV, which automatically registered them to vote under the new “Motor Voter” program.

Alex Padilla was California Secretary of State.

Back in 2015, Padilla told the Los Angeles Times, “At the latest, for the 2018 election cycle, I expect millions of new voters on the rolls in the state of California,” with “new voters” code for ineligible voters. Remember what happened in 2018?

AB 60 by former Democrat Assemblyman Luis Alejo, was just one of the many attempts over the past decade to authorize illegal immigrants with driver’s licenses. Alejo said AB 60 would reduce fatal crashes and improve public safety. AB 60 followed another law from 2012, AB 2189, which granted California driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants who came to California as children.

AB 60 was similar to bills authored by former Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, a Los Angeles Democrat, to give illegal immigrants the legal right to drive in California. Cedillo tried unsuccessfully seven or eight times to get his bill passed, but not without a fight. Cedillo’s bill was passed by the Legislature three times, but vetoed twice by then-Gov. Gray Davis.

Davis finally signed one of Cedillo’s bills in 2003, and it became an issue during his historic recall election. Davis was hammered on the issue by candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was elected to replace Davis. The Legislature then signed a repeal of the bill, and Schwarzenegger signed it into law.

Republican lawmakers said the 50 individual states should not be writing piecemeal immigration laws, as it is something Congress needs to handle at the federal level.

Not one lawmaker could answer how does a state government provide a document to drive legally, if the person came here illegally?

But even before then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 60 in 2013 to require California DMV offices to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, the fix was in.

Longtime Democratic political consultant and lobbyist with deep United Farm Workers ties (he worked with Cesar Chavez), Richie Ross openly boasted of targeting the Latino community’s fear of anti-illegal immigration measures, to drive the community even further into the arms of the Democratic Party, I explained in my book co-authored with attorney James Lacy, “California’s War Against Donald Trump; Who Wins? Who Loses?”

Ross, and now-State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, who once led the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, a group of self-proclaimed socialist and Communist California labor officials, and Democrat Party operatives created a program in the 1990s to target Latinos and immigrants, illegal and legal, to permanently drive California politics far to the left. They tripled registered Latino voters, increased the Democrat share of that vote substantially, and roughly doubled Latinos’ share of total votes cast in California.

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Trump DOJ Nails Los Angeles Medical Fraud Ring Accused of Stealing Nearly $2 Billion — Sham Rehab Lured Homeless and Addicts, Unnecessary Surgeries Injured Patients, Phony Hospice Billed for Non-Dying Seniors

Federal agents and prosecutors under the Trump administration struck another massive blow against California’s runaway healthcare fraud industry Thursday, charging 15 defendants, including six medical professionals, in schemes that collectively submitted over $1.8 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare, private insurers, and other programs.

The Justice Department’s announcement, led by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald, targeted what prosecutors described as the largest substance abuse treatment fraud scheme the department has ever prosecuted, along with unnecessary invasive artery procedures that injured patients and multiple hospice fraud operations where beneficiaries were not terminally ill, New York Post reported.

Eight defendants were arrested, with others charged and expected in court.

The cases include a father-son operation and Texas recruiters accused of trafficking vulnerable people, including the homeless and those in recovery programs, to Southern California for sham treatment, according to the DOJ.

Nathan Young, 39, and his father David Young, 71, both of Los Angeles, along with Honey Phipps, 42, and Cody Phipps, 36, of Greenville, Texas, face charges in a years-long scheme that billed private insurers more than $1.6 billion.

Prosecutors allege they controlled dozens of purported treatment facilities and used “body brokers” to lure addicts and unhoused individuals with free flights, apartments, cash, drugs, and other inducements.

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California Officials Blame ‘Vendor Error’ For Sending Thousands Of Duplicate Ballots

A California county sent duplicate mail-in ballots to thousands of voters in what officials have characterized as a printing error, raising questions about election security amid heightened federal scrunity.

Tulare County, which includes part of Sequoia National Park, acknowledged the “error” in a statement posted on its website, blaming a government vendor for security lapse.

“As a result of a printer vendor error during the ballot replacement procedure, some Tulare County voters received duplicate vote-by-mail packets,” county officials wrote.

The California officials said that the issue affected a portion of voters centered in the City of Tulare. According to ABC 30, nearly 7,800 voters were sent the duplicate ballots.

“The vendor has accepted full responsibility and worked with County officials to send voters a mailer with accurate information and guidance,” the county added.

Tulare officials warned voters that state law only allows for one ballot to be cast per election and are ordered to destroy the duplicate ballot.

“DO NOT RETURN OR ATTEMPT TO VOTE THE DUPLICATE BALLOT,” Tulare County officials wrote in all caps.

ABC 30 reported that the error specifically affected 7,791 voters in a county with approximately 227,000 registered voters. California voter registration documents show that as of 2025, roughly 31% of registered voters were Democrats, compared with 39% who were Republicans.

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In LA, More Evidence That Single-Party Rule California Is A Madhouse Where Nothing Ever Works

A transportation project in Los Angeles may start to serve passengers next year, or it may collapse into financial chaos, abandonment, and a desperate search for someone to start running the thing after lenders bail out and it all falls apart. But first, the courts will have to work through the allegation that an engineer spied on a legal strategy session, and the builders will have to figure out why electrical arc flashes are charring the tracks.

It’s not the state’s infamously late high-speed rail project, but all of the same themes are there. Democrat-run California is the place where delivery never has any relationship to the promise, the cost estimate never comes close to suggesting the actual cost, the scheduled completion date is an open joke, and the failures and misunderstandings descend into allegations so bizarre they seem like a series of Mad Libs answers.

With the summer Olympics bringing crowds to Los Angeles in 2028, the City of Los Angeles decided to reduce traffic congestion at its famously nightmarish airport, LAX, by at-long-last linking the terminals and off-site rental car facilities with an automated train. The 2.25-mile SkyLink project was approved in 2018 and broke ground in 2019, with a promised opening date of 2023, at a budgeted construction cost of $1.9 billion. A larger dollar figure cited in that approval, totaling just under $5 billion, was supposed to be the cost of construction plus the cost of operating the system, covering the first thirty years of the project.

Today, the project is hoping to start serving passengers sometime in 2027, and construction costs alone are expected to top $3 billion. The empty trains slowly circle the airport, being tested again after recent structural failures that caused damage and uncertainty.

To understand everything that comes next, you’ll need to know the abbreviations for the two entities that make up SkyLink’s public-private construction partnership: Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), an agency of the City of Los Angeles, and LAX Express Integrated Solutions (LINXS), a Delaware LLC created in 2018 by the consortium of construction and engineering contractors who are building the project.

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A Majority of California Wildfire Relief Funding Went to Low Income Housing Without Requiring Them to House a Single Victim

Here is the latest edition of Democrats being Democrats.

California Democrats spent over half of the a billion dollars the US government allocated to wildfire relief funding on low-income housing in the state without requiring the developers to house a single fire victim.

Of course, this does not surprise anyone.

The funding took place in 2019 when Gavin Newsome was

The New York Post reported via Victory Girls Blog.

California funneled nearly $369 million in federal aid intended for victims of its deadliest wildfire year to low-income housing developers — without requiring them to house a single wildfire survivor, a California Post investigation found.

The staggering sum was awarded to developers while thousands of Californians struggled to rebuild their lives after the devastating 2018 fires, which killed 103 people and damaged or destroyed more than 24,000 structures.

Victory Girls continue:

Eventually, over a billion dollars was given to California from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The $1,017,399,000 allocation from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was intended to cover recovery costs not paid by insurance or other assistance.

California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) oversees the money, dividing it between helping homeowners rebuild and financing affordable rental housing in fire-ravaged communities.

Of the $222.4 million earmarked for homeowners, just $38 million had been spent rebuilding 110 homes by the end of 2023, according to state records. The Camp Fire alone destroyed 14,000 homes.

An NBC4 investigation found that only a portion of the $2.5 billion announced after the 2025 fires has been spent. Much of the money has been routed through state agencies.

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