Last week, San Bernardino Diocese Bishop Alberto Rojas issued a decree exempting faithful Catholics from attending weekly Sunday Masses and holy days of obligation, if it is due to “genuine fear of immigration actions,” the Bishop stated in a letter July 8.

While there were no recent reports of ICE activity at parishes in the widespread San Bernardino Diocese, which consists of parishes across San Bernardino and Riverside counties, Mass attendance has gone down significantly since enforcement raids ramped up across Southern California in early June, said diocese spokesperson John Andrews. Nearly 2,800 people were arrested in the greater Los Angeles region since the raids intensified, including at workplaces and several local churches.

“Attendance of our Spanish language Masses was down about 50% on average, since the raids began,” Andrews said.

In late June, the diocese saw immigration activity at two of its parishes, in Montclair and Highland, prior to the bishop’s decree. ICE detained multiple people in the parking lot of St. Adelaide Church, in Highland, who were neither employees of the parish nor parishioners, Andrews said. Agents also took one male parishioner into custody at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Montclair on the same day.

Andrews said there were no other reports of known ICE activity at churches in the diocese.

With the faith community on edge amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, many church officials and religious leaders have urged sympathy for immigrant communities during this time. Catholic Bishops across San Bernardino, Riverside, L.A. and Orange counties have criticized immigration enforcement, which they say is only adding to widespread fears and keeping people from leaving their homes.

“Since we are the first Diocese in California to grant this dispensation, the decree has had a strong impact of solidarity … and a measure of just how concerning we find the current immigration enforcement tactics,” said Andrews.

The surrounding Archdiocese of L.A. and Diocese of Orange have not issued any Sunday Mass exemptions, as of mid-July, but officials said both have seen an overall dip in attendance as a result of immigration fears.

The vast Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which serves 4.3 million Catholics and has over 73,000 students enrolled in its schools, reported a noticeable loss of Sunday Mass congregants. Some areas saw declines of “as much as half, for some Masses,” said spokesperson Yannina Diaz. There were no recent reports of ICE at any of L.A. church properties, Diaz said.

Jarryd Gonzales, head of communications for the Diocese of Orange, said that some parishes in Orange County cities with large immigrant populations “saw Mass attendance dip by as much as 20%.”

“However, in the weeks since, attendance has steadily rebounded, and is now approaching normal levels,” Gonzales said.

Immigration advocates said that enforcement during this time has largely been affecting Latinos, many of whom are also practicing Catholics. Nationally, 43% of Latino adults identify as Catholic, according to Pew Research Center, though this number has been in a steady decline over the years.

As a result of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, many parishes across all three Catholic dioceses have continued livestreaming Masses in multiple languages, mainly on Facebook or YouTube.

In the San Bernardino Diocese, following Bishop Rojas’s decree, some churches reached out to diocesan officials for technological support, including iPads, for streaming purposes, Andrews said, to help fill any gaps.

While one cannot “participate fully in a Catholic Mass online” because they wouldn’t be able to receive communion, Andrews said, the free, easy-to-access virtual option allows people the opportunity to pray, listen to the priest’s homily, and participate in the Mass from their homes.

Most Catholics supported the decision to exempt people from in-person liturgies for the time being, with some online calling it “compassion for people living in fear,” or a “good move” by Rojas “for making sure his flock is safe.”

Some criticized that “if parishioners were here legally, there should be no problem” going to church, one commenter said. Others believed that the decree is “somehow an endorsement of people entering the country without documentation,” said Andrews, who disagreed.

“The Diocese does not support illegal immigration, and we are fully supportive of removing violent criminals who have come here without documentation,” Andrews said. “What we are seeing, however, is that a majority of people who are being deported are good, hardworking people whose only issue is that they are here without documentation.”

Officials across all three dioceses said they are providing immigration and financial resources and community outreach to those in need, such as “Know Your Rights” workshops and handouts, recommendations for parishes should ICE agents show up, coordinating priests and deacons to accompany people at immigration court hearings to offer support, and having working partnerships with immigrant-rights coalitions.

In Orange County, priests have brought the holy communion and celebrated Mass for those afraid to leave their homes, Gonzales said.

Leaders recognized that having faith-based, trusted pastoral support is “crucial.”

Gilberto Esquivel, who attends Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Riverside, said that while he hasn’t noticed a huge decrease at the churches he attends, “a lot of faces that I used to see, I don’t see them anymore.”

He hopes more parishes start and continue offering livestreaming options, since he said he can imagine many are afraid to go anywhere.

“Whatever the church can do to support immigrants in our community, I’m all for,” Esquivel, 85, said. “What’s going on isn’t good for any community, so support is needed right now.”

The Rev. Mario Torres, pastor of Saint Thomas the Apostle Church in central L.A., said that in the first few weeks since the ICE raids began, attendance was “noticeably down,” but over the last weekend has “surprisingly gone back up.”

“The first weekend ICE came to LA, it was around half or two-thirds of the normal crowd gone,” Torres said. “Now, the amount of people is starting to rise up again. It’s still not to the level it was before, but it is steadily rising.”

He said that livestream access to Masses is “really needed” during this time.

“We have to take people where they’re at, we can’t judge anybody,” he said. “We’re going back a bit, similar to during COVID, when people were too afraid to leave their houses. So I think the livestream is helping the people to stay home, but still pray and get spiritual nourishment that they need right now.”

They appeared in plain clothes outside a San Diego hotel, wore camouflage as they raided a Los Angeles factory and arrived with military gear at a Ventura County farm.

The presence of thousands of hard-to-identify federal agents is a new fact of life in Southern California this summer as the Trump administration carries out the president’s promised deportations.

Many residents may assume these masked agents are officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But that’s not always the case.

Many of them belong to the Border Patrol, the agency that traditionally has policed the nation’s border with Mexico. But the Trump administration sent officers from other agencies to Los Angeles, too, including the FBI and special tactical teams from the Department of Homeland Security not widely seen until now.

Democrats in California’s Legislature have proposed measures to unmask the federal agents.

Senate Bill 627, the “No Secret Police Act,” seeks to prohibit all local, state and federal officers from using masks with some exceptions. SB 805, the “No Vigilantes Act,” would require that officers clearly display their name or badge number. It’s disputed whether the state can regulate federal officers and law enforcement agencies are lobbying against the proposals.

Federal regulations state that ICE and Border Patrol agents should identify themselves when arresting someone “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.”

And the public is allowed to ask federal agents to identify themselves.

But David Levine, a professor at UC Law San Francisco said, “they can ask but it doesn’t mean they’ll get the information.”

The number of sweeps and detentions appeared to slow this week after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, finding that agents stopped people based on someone’s race, language, accent, presence at a specific location or job. For ensuing stops, agents must have “reasonable suspicion” that doesn’t consider those factors “alone or in combination,” according to the judge’s order.

While ICE is a different agency than Border Patrol, both are part of the Department of Homeland Security and carry out immigration enforcement.

The difference may not always matter much, but misidentifying an agency can confuse the public, as it did with the sighting of federal agents outside Dodger Stadium in June. The agents reportedly had no visible names or badges and attempted to enter the stadium’s parking lots. The Dodgers put out a statement that “ICE agents” had been denied entry to the stadium. ICE denied it was ever there; the Department of Homeland Security then clarified that it had been Customs and Border Protection agents at the venue.

Images on social media show a constellation of federal agencies supporting immigration sweeps in Southern California. Here’s how you can identify them.

Border Patrol far from the border

Border Patrol agents often wear green uniforms and “Border Patrol” and “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” might be labeled on their badge, vest, shoulder, back, bucket hat or cap, and usually in yellow text over blue.

Their marked vehicles tend to be white with a green slash, reading “Border Patrol” on the side.

Some might confuse Border Patrol with Customs and Border Protection officers. Those officials wear blue and usually stay stationed at ports of entry.

You may be wondering why Border Patrol agents are conducting immigration operations deep into Los Angeles neighborhoods, rather than staying closer to the border.

Border Patrol agents can search vehicles without a warrant throughout much of the country. They’re allowed to operate 100 miles from any edge of the country and coastline, reaching roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to a CalMatters investigation and documentary produced in partnership with Evident and Bellingcat.

Since its creation by Congress in 1924, the Border Patrol’s role has been to prevent unauthorized entry into the United States. The agency polices trade, narcotics, contraband and combats human trafficking.

The agency has a SWAT-like unit known as BORTAC, or Border Patrol Tactical Unit, which has also been documented in immigrant hubs such as MacArthur Park, Los Angeles’ Toy District, and Bell. Border Patrol sources describe the unit’s use for “high-risk” purposes.

In fatigues, the unit wears a “BORTAC” patch on the left shoulder with, at times, black undershirts.

Customs and Border Protection also deployed its tactical Special Response Team in Los Angeles’ North Hills late June, executing a federal search warrant at a “human smuggling hub” tied to national security threats, arresting two, according to the agency.

ICE in police vests

ICE agents might wear an “ICE” patch on the front or back of their vest, usually in black-and-white, though they also can carry a badge of the same design in gold. The ICE emblem features the U.S. Department of Homeland Security eagle seal.

ICE agents might display “police” on their uniform. The ACLU wants ICE to stop using the word “police” on uniforms, contending the agency is impersonating local law enforcement officers

After 9/11, the Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement within it shortly thereafter. ICE is tasked with enforcing trade and immigration laws, including within the interior of the country.

The Cato Institute found that ICE booked over 200,000 people into detention between October 1 and June 14. More than 93% of book-ins had no violent conviction and 65% had no criminal conviction whatsoever.

ICE itself has a few enforcement divisions. That’s why some ICE uniforms might read ERO—part of their “Enforcement and Removal Operations” team—or HSI for “Homeland Security Investigations.”

In 2024, ICE launched a rebrand and created the investigations unit to develop cases, and improve public outreach, including with local law enforcement, an HSI official told ABC News.

According to its website, HSI combats a broad array of transnational-related crime, ranging from narcotics smuggling to cybercrime, and from human trafficking to intellectual property theft.

ERO meanwhile manages all aspects of the typical immigration enforcement process: identifying, arresting, GPS monitoring, and deporting unauthorized immigrants. Their site description also says they seek to deport priority undocumented immigrants after they are released from U.S. jails and prisons. They can also assist multi-agency task forces in arresting unauthorized immigrants without any other criminal history who are “deemed a threat to public safety.”

ICE also deployed its Special Response Team (SRT), decked in military wear and weaponry, in San Diego late May. It sent a dozen or more of those officers to the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet near southeast Los Angeles in June, detaining two people for deportation.

Agents from those teams will often feature their logo on the shoulder and will be seen in heavy military-like uniforms. The teams are meant to engage “high risk” situations, according to ICE.

Rare National Guard deployment

National Guard troops had been most visible outside a federal building during protests in downtown Los Angeles, but have also accompanied a few immigration enforcement operations. In mid-June, National Guard soldiers accompanied federal agents raiding marijuana farms around Thermal, a desert town near Coachella, where about 70 undocumented immigrants were arrested, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

On July 7, about 90 California National Guard soldiers swept through the Los Angeles immigrant hub of MacArthur Park, a defense official said, to protect immigration agents from potentially hostile crowds, according to the Associated Press. They also were on site in Carpinteria last week.

The National Guard troops in L.A. wear Army uniforms. Soldiers in the state units have patches on their left shoulder that show a raven, a sunburst, or a sunburst on top a diamond, each in black and green color schemes. Troops will also have a full color U.S. flag on the right shoulder. The patch under that, if any, can vary and may be based on a soldier’s past deployments.

Part of the U.S. military, the National Guard is able to serve both domestically and globally for state and federal duties, assisting with natural disasters, border security, civil unrest, overseas combat, counter-drug efforts and more. Soldiers largely stay in their home state and can be called on by the state governor or president.

Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed President Trump’s decision to send the troops to Los Angeles, and the assignment marked the first time that a president has deployed the National Guard over the objections of a governor since the Civil Rights era.

More federal law enforcement officers

In January, a Homeland Security memo called for Justice Department agents to carry out immigration enforcement, according to ABC News. Deputized bureaus include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons receiving the “same authority already granted to the FBI.”

Officers’ affiliations can be seen on their vests, jackets, or at times, their shoulder patches.

Agents wearing FBI fatigues were most visible in the worksite sweep at Ambiance Apparel in LA’s Fashion District, arguably the first major operation of the current wave of raids.

On June 10, FBI Los Angeles’ X account touted its collaboration with an ICE operation in Ventura County. They have also participated in other immigration raids across the country.

A spokesperson with the Justice Department declined to comment on how it deployed agents from various agencies. In early June, the FBI told KTLA that it is participating in immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and nationwide “as directed by the Attorney General,” supporting with SWAT, intelligence and more.

The ATF was also seen at the Ambiance Apparel raid. The DEA was there, too, and has since collaborated with ICE in the region.

On X, U.S. Marshals touted themselves as “on the front lines of immigration enforcement” in Los Angeles while showing officers interviewing a man on a bike. Marshals were also on site at a Ventura County marijuana farm raid where more than 200 people were arrested.

Can California unmask federal agents?

The use of masked agents without clearly identifying uniforms has confused the public, including local police receiving reports of kidnappings.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned in March that reports of ICE impersonations were growing. Alleged federal agent impersonations have occurred in Huntington Park, Wisconsin, Philadelphia and elsewhere.

“We don’t even know who these people are. It’s so dangerous, it’s so horrific, and it’s time to put standards in place,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who is backing two proposals that would compel law enforcement officers to go without masks and display identification.

The Trump administration maintains that the masks are necessary to protect officers’ identities as they carry out investigations.

“So, I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line and their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” said acting ICE Director Todd Lyons in a press conference early June.

And some law enforcement experts say the federal government has that authority.

“Certain legislators are giving a false sense of hope that California can legislate laws to control the practices of federal agents,” said Ed Obayashi, a longtime sheriff’s deputy in California and policy adviser to the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office.

“They cannot do that—bottom line. Plain and simple. Federal law is supreme.”

Acknowledging potential legal disputes, Wiener said he’s willing to test the “time-sensitive” bills in the courts.“Federal employees can’t just come in and ignore all California laws,” he said. “There are laws that they have to follow.”

The data requests went out to sheriffs in “multiple major California counties,” including Los Angeles and San Francisco, on Thursday, July 17, the announcement states.

“Removing criminal illegal aliens is this Administration’s highest priority,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “I look forward to cooperating with California’s county sheriffs to accomplish our shared duty of keeping Californians and all Americans safe and secure.”

The Department of Justice stated it “hopes that California sheriffs will voluntarily produce the requested information,” but also warned that it would “pursue all available means of obtaining the data, including through subpoenas or other compulsory process.”

The new requests mark the latest battle between the federal government and California over their opposing immigration policies.

The state, known for its sanctuary cities and counties, passed a law in 2017, the California Values Act, that largely prohibits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities without a court order. Many of the most populous counties and major cities, including Los Angeles, have enshrined similar laws and policies locally.

Andrés Kwon, senior policy counsel and organizer with the ACLU SoCal, said the DOJ’s action “opens the possibility for sheriffs across the state to violate, if not the letter, the spirit and intent of the California Values Act.”

The California Attorney General’s Office, in a statement in response to Bondi’s announcement, fired back that it would review the federal agency’s request and “monitor its implementation for compliance with the law.”

“President Trump and his Department of Justice cannot bully our local law enforcement into breaking the law,” the statement reads. “The California Values Act — or SB 54 — ensures that our limited state and local resources are focused on public safety, not immigration enforcement, and promotes vital community trust in local law enforcement.

“SB 54 allows county jails to transfer an individual into ICE custody if ICE presents a criminal arrest warrant for a violation of a federal criminal immigration law, but it does not allow for the wholesale notification to DOJ of individuals housed in county jails, regardless of whether or not they have even been found guilty of a crime.”

Kathryn Barger, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said she would work closely with county counsel and the Sheriff’s Department to evaluate the “scope of this request and determine how best to move forward in a manner that protects public safety, respects due process, and complies with all legal requirements.”

“I support the deportation of individuals who are in this country illegally and have committed violent crimes — our laws must be enforced, and public safety must remain a top priority,” she stated. “At the same time, we must take a balanced, compassionate, and lawful approach that upholds state and federal law without creating fear among our immigrant communities who are following the rules and contributing to our county.”

A copy of the letter sent to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna included a warning suggesting that the U.S. Department of Justice would seek to use the terms of past consent decrees against L.A. County’s jails to ensure it provides the immigration data.

“I also remind you that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is currently subject to multiple judicially enforceable settlement agreements with the Department of Justice that require you to provide access to certain documents and data upon request, including one that requires you to give the Department of Justice ‘full and complete access to the jails’ and to certain jail-related documents and data,” Bondi wrote in her letter to Luna.

The federal agency and Los Angeles County entered into a settlement agreement in 2015 requiring the Sheriff’s Department to implement reforms that would protect prisoners from suicide risks and excessive force within the jails. The enhanced data collection mandated under that agreement does not include anything related to immigration.

Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a statement that Los Angeles County “will not be pressured by the Trump Administration into actions that violate SB 54, the California Values Act, and County policy, or compromise the principles of due process and equal treatment under the law.”

During a press conference Thursday, Luna said he had not officially seen the letter yet and would need to review it with county counsel to determine how LASD responds. The department does not know how many inmates in its custody are undocumented immigrants.

“Because we don’t ask somebody if they’re here legally or illegally, it would be impossible for us to provide a list like that unless we redo our system one way or another,” he said.

He noted that he has already received multiple threatening letters from DOJ stating that he could be arrested criminally if his agency does not assist immigration authorities.

The Sheriff’s Department cooperates with ICE only when it receives a federal arrest warrant signed by a judge, he said. The agency complies fully with the California Values Act and the county’s policy, which “prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials, except under very specific and lawful circumstances,” he said. The agency does not honor requests from ICE to detain individuals for immigration violations.

In 2024, the department received 995 civil detainer requests and, so far this year, 435 from ICE and did not comply with any of them, Luna said.

The department “cannot do our jobs” without the trust of the public, he said.

“And as a matter of fact, that is something that greatly concerns all of us, because we don’t want people to stop calling us when they see something that occurs, or, worse yet, they’re a victim of a crime because they believe that we are involved in some immigration enforcement,” he said.

However, anyone arrested by the agency does have their fingerprints scanned into a federal database and the release dates for inmates are publicly accessible on LASD’s website, he said. Luna also acknowledged that L.A. County does turn over inmates to federal authorities, but only if a court-approved warrant is obtained.

“This isn’t the ice cream vendor, this isn’t the lady making tacos on the street, this is somebody who has committed a violent or serious crime,” Luna said.

Luna also criticized the federal government for sending officers to chase “people around a car wash or Home Depot.” “That’s something we should all be concerned about,” he said.

It is unclear which other counties were contacted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Neither San Bernardino nor Riverside counties had received any requests from the federal agency. In a statement, San Bernardino County indicated it would “respond accordingly” if it does.

Announced by President Donald Trump and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday, July 16, the decision comes about a month after a scathing federal report found there was “no viable path” to complete even a partial section of the long-delayed rail project. Trump, who canceled nearly $1 billion in federal funding for the project during his first term in the White House, had threatened to revoke federal funds again this go-round.

“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,’” a post on Trump’s Truth Social account said Wednesday. “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.”

Duffy, in his own statement, also blamed California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state Democrats.

“Federal dollars are not a blank check – they come with a promise to deliver results. After over a decade of failures, (California High-Speed Rail Authority’s) mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget,” Duffy said.

Duffy said he’s also directed the Federal Railroad Administration to review other grants related to the high-speed rail project. He said the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of Justice, will consider other moves, “including potentially clawing back funding related to” the project.

Voters first authorized $10 billion in borrowed funds in 2008 to cover about a third of the estimated cost, with a promise the train would be up and running by 2020. Five years beyond that deadline, no tracks have been laid, and its estimated price tag has ballooned to over $100 billion.

But Newsom, responding to the news, said the California High-Speed Rail Authority is “entering the track-laying phase and actively building across 171 miles – with 50 major railway structures and 60 miles of guideway already completed.”

“We will be exploring all options to fight this illegal action,” Newsom said.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Dave Cortese, who chairs the legislature’s Transportation Committee, said the federal funding loss won’t “derail this project,” maintaining it has enough support from state funding. And the state legislature, he said, will consider whether to allocate $1 billion per year from the state’s cap-and-invest program into the project with a goal to complete the first phase of the section, connecting San Francisco to Anaheim, and attract private investment.

“You can’t stop this kind of momentum in an innovative, can-do state like California,” Cortese, a Democrat, said. “The California High-Speed Rail Authority is also working on a plan to address potential funding gaps and continue construction.”

California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Ian Choudri suggested in April that private investors could step in and fill the funding gap for the project that promised nonstop rail service between San Francisco and Los Angeles in under three hours. At the time, he acknowledged that even if funding is secured, it might take nearly two more decades to complete most of that segment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

As part of the honor, Philbin selected NPR as the recipient of the award’s $500,000 pay-it-forward grant. The funds will be shared among NPR and its Los Angeles member stations, KCRW and LAist, to support arts and culture programming, officials said.

Philbin, who has led the Hammer Museum at UCLA for 25 years, was praised for transforming it into a globally respected institution known for innovative exhibitions, free public programming and support for emerging artists.

“I am humbled to accept the Getty Prize, which has honored so many inspiring agents of change for the arts in Los Angeles and beyond,” Philbin said in a statement.

“To be able to award NPR as the recipient of the $500,000 grant is a thrill. In addition to their in-depth coverage of the arts and culture, they represent the epitome of fearless and essential journalism in a time when threats to free expression and the suppression of diverse voices is rampant.”

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to advance a Republican-led plan to cut $9 billion in federal spending, including $1.1 billion from public broadcasting funds for NPR and PBS, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

“This generous grant supports one of the unique and founding purposes of public media — to provide Americans with free access to cultural programming through a cooperative network of local public radio stations,” said Katherine Maher, president and CEO of NPR.

“NPR and member organizations like KCRW and LAist exist to serve communities. There is no greater recognition or validation of that work than when a member of the community chooses to give back to the mission of public media, and it is especially meaningful at this moment.”

The Getty Prize recognizes individuals whose work broadens public understanding and appreciation of the arts. Past recipients include architect Frank Gehry, artist Mark Bradford and curator Thelma Golden.

Philbin, NPR, KCRW and LAist will be honored at the Getty Prize dinner on Sept. 29 at the Getty Center.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Two California Republican state lawmakers launched a campaign Wednesday to place a measure on the 2026 ballot that would require voter identification and proof of citizenship at the polls.

The proposal would require the state to verify proof of citizenship when a person registers to vote, and voters would have to provide identifications at the polls. Those who vote through mail-in ballots would have to give the last four digits of a government-issued ID such as a Social Security number.

“We do not want to make it harder to vote. In fact, our initiative makes it easier to vote because it streamlines the process to verify someone’s identity,” Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, who’s leading the effort, said at a Wednesday news conference.

The Republican lawmakers said the measure would help restore trust in elections where they said people have complained about outdated voter rolls and an inadequate signature review process, with some also casting doubt on election results.

While voting by noncitizens has occurred, research and reviews of state cases have shown it to be rare and typically a mistake rather than an intentional effort to sway an election. Voter fraud is also rare.

California is among 14 states and the District of Columbia that do not require voters to show some form of identification at the polls or to register to voter.

The California campaign came as congressional Republicans were working to advance their own legislation to overhaul the nation’s voting procedures at the urging of President Donald Trump. Across the country, lawmakers in 17 states have introduced legislation this year to require proof of citizenship for voters, according to National Conference of State legislatures.

Opponents argued that the requirements make it more difficult for people to vote, especially the elderly, those with disabilities and those without driver’s licenses. The NAACP and other civil rights groups have argued that it disproportionately harms Black and Latino voters. Democrats in the California Legislature, who hold supermajorities in both chambers, in April rejected a bill by DeMaio aiming to enact similar voting rule changes.

The statewide proposal also came as the state continued to challenge a local measure passed by voters in the city of Huntington Beach to require voter identification at the polls. The state last year sued the city over the new rule, and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law to prohibit local governments in California from establishing and enforcing laws that require residents provide identification to vote in elections.

Sen. Tony Strickland, who helped pass the Huntington Beach measure as a city councilmember last year, said he expects a similar fight from state Democrats over the issue.

“The courts would be on our side because we carefully drafted this initiative. It’s constitutional,” he said.

Becoming a doctor will likely become even more difficult under the new tax bill Congress approved after lawmakers slashed the amount of money medical school students can borrow in federal loans.

The extra burden may mean fewer students choose careers in medicine, particularly low-income students. Patients, in turn, may see fewer doctors practicing family medicine.

The new rules, part of the sweeping Republican-backed “big, beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump signed into law July 4, cap federal debt for professional degree students at $50,000 annually and $257,000 for the life of a student’s college journey, including undergraduate debt.

Previously graduate students could borrow up to the cost of their programs to afford their degrees with so-called Grad PLUS loans. Starting next year, those loans will disappear. While all graduate programs are affected by the new law, medical school lasts four years and regularly requires more than $300,000 for tuition, housing, food and other expenses for a degree.

Without public loans, many students will have to borrow from private lenders, which provide far fewer protections for loan repayment and, unlike federal plans, don’t offer loan forgiveness.

Public service loan forgiveness, which can occur after 10 years of employment in nonprofit settings, is a particular draw for medical school graduates who choose to work in government or nonprofit hospitals and care facilities that pay less but have a mission of treating the poor.

Private lenders may also deny some students loans or charge higher interest rates based on their financial history. Private loans typically require cosigners, which not all borrowers are able to arrange.

Martha Santana-Chin, chief executive of the insurer L.A. Care Health Plan, said the cost of college, medical school and loan repayment already presents “financial barrier after financial barrier” that prevents many from pursuing medicine. Reliance on private loans will make it even harder for low-income students in particular to become doctors, she said.

“If you don’t have access to loans, if you don’t have access to preferred loan terms, it’s going to be that much more difficult for you,” Santana-Chin said.

The rules kick in for new students July 1, 2026. A student who has Grad PLUS before that date can continue to use it for their remaining program term, up to a maximum of three years.

The lower borrowing limits are a key way Congress tried to record savings in the tax bill. By capping how much graduate students can borrow, limiting how much loan debt is forgiven and increasing in many cases how much borrowers of all degrees pay monthly, taxpayers cover less of the tab. But the Republican bill includes huge tax and revenue cuts that, even with other budget savings, add more than $3 trillion to the national debt in the next decade. The higher-ed savings were about $300 billion.

”Straightforward economic logic would suggest (the new rules) are going to make it less likely for some of those students to be able to pursue graduate degrees than they are now,” said Jordan Matsudaira, a professor at American University. He was also chief economist at the U.S. Department of Education during the Biden administration.

“I don’t think we’ve ever been in a position where we’ve sent students to the private loan market looking for loans on this scale to be able to finance their education,” he added.

California medical school debt levels

U.S. Department of Education data from the Biden administration that Matsudaira shared with CalMatters show California’s largest producer of doctors, the University of California, regularly graduates students with debt in excess of $200,000, the most the new law says a graduate student in a professional program may borrow from the government.

• At UC Irvine’s school of medicine, the median debt from federal loans for med students was $195,000 for the years 2019-20 to 2022-23. That means that half of the students borrowed more and likely almost all of the new students in those situations would need private loans. Twenty-five percent of students there borrowed at least $254,000 and 10% borrowed at least $284,000.
• Every UC medical school had at least 10% of graduates with debt above $200,000. For UC Riverside, it was $270,000. At UCLA and UC San Diego, 10% of graduates borrowed more than $255,000.
• Many new graduates in similar situations would need $55,000 to $70,000 or more in private debt to finance their education.
• Four of the six UC medical schools had at least 10% of students borrowing more than $73,000 in a single year; new students in similar situations would need to find at least $23,000 in financing from private loans or some other support.
• At the private University of Southern California, 50% of graduates borrowed more than $260,000, and 25% borrowed in excess of $328,000, so a large chunk of new students would need to borrow at least $128,000 in private loans or find other ways of paying. A spokesperson for the school said no one was available to answer CalMatters’ questions.

There were 1,334 students graduating with medical degrees and 361 with similar doctor of osteopathic medicine degrees in 2023, a UC San Francisco report found. The UCs accounted for nearly 800 medical degree graduates.

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The UC perspective

Calvin Yang, a rising senior at UC Berkeley, said attending medical school has been his dream since he was a child. The new caps on federal borrowing won’t deter him from becoming a doctor, but they’ll slow him down and may force him to attend cheaper schools.

He plans to take at least one gap year after he graduates next spring and work to save as much as he can to avoid private loans.

“It’s frustrating to see restrictions on our ability to simply want to pursue an education in order to help the world, right?” he asked. “Long COVID persists. Mental health remains a major issue, diabetes, obesity — those all require medical professionals.”

He thinks some students will “reconsider the medical school pathway.” The loan caps are a concern among his friends with medical school ambitions.

“We do think that the private market will meet a lot of the needs of those students,” said Shawn Brick, associate vice provost of student financial support for the UC Office of the President. “Approval rates are fairly high for medical students.”

Still, “we do share the concern … about the student who may not have credit that would give them access to loans in the private market.”

Brick said the UC has time to work with private lenders on financial products that “would be more accessible to students who maybe don’t have the best credit.”

The median loan size UC med students have had to borrow has declined by about $50,000 over the past four years, adjusted for inflation, UC data show. At the same time, UC grant aid for med students has grown by about 50%.

Nearly 3,000 UC med students receive an average of $32,000 in UC grants to support their education. The UC also issues its own loans, but in small numbers.

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Doctors and advocates weigh in

Even before these changes, Dr. Julián Restrepo said medical school leaves doctors with so much debt that he knows people who are paying off loans decades after graduating, surgeons who work multiple jobs and resident physicians who pick up extra shifts to make ends meet.

“It is a huge burden for us, and it very well determines where we live, where we work, how we work and how we manage our practices,” Restrepo said.

Restrepo graduated from Texas A&M University’s medical school in 2012 and did his residency at Los Angeles County Medical Center. He now works as a primary care physician at a federally qualified health center in Los Angeles and said public service loan forgiveness is an effective way to recruit high quality physicians and specialists to underserved areas.

With interest, Restrepo’s loan of about $230,000 grew to more than $300,000. He made payments on the loan as part of the public service loan forgiveness program for about seven years until a Biden-era loan forbearance program temporarily kicked in.

An L.A. Care program aimed at recruiting physicians to underserved areas will pay off the remainder of his loans, and Restrepo said he’s extremely fortunate. At many points in his career he was forced to defer his loan payments because he couldn’t afford it.

The Association of American Medical Colleges also thinks the impending reliance on private loans may lead to fewer future doctors. “We are concerned that this added barrier could deter qualified candidates from pursuing a medical degree altogether, which could ultimately worsen the existing and expected physician workforce shortage,” said Kristen Earle, director of student financial services at the association, which oversees the medical school entrance exam. The association projects a national shortage of 86,000 physicians by 2036. California, like much of the country, has a shortage of primary care physicians, with the Central Coast, Central Valley and Southern Border regions projected to have the most severe shortages.

More pressure on medical residents

And while medical degrees eventually lead to relatively high salaries that are typically $220,000 a year to more than $400,000 depending on the specialization, early career doctors earn much less in residency, a training period of three to sometimes seven or more years. As residents, doctors work 60 to 80 hours a week for salaries of about $70,000 to $100,000, depending on the region and whether residents are unionized.

Private lenders offer a wide range of interest rates for medical school, from about 3% to more than 14%. Federal rates fall in the middle of that range, are less variable and pegged to inflation. Some private lenders indicate online that they don’t require borrowers to pay while they’re in residency for a few years, while others require only a small payment. In either case, the unpaid interest grows the overall debt a borrower will have to pay off.

Earle said she hopes that private lenders keep interest rates fairly low for medical school students because they’re a good bet to pay off their debt given the higher earnings potential.

Dr. Mahima Iyengar is in her final year of residency at the massive Los Angeles General Medical Center to become a primary care physician.

She said she borrowed $250,000 in federal loans to attend medical school — $50,000 above next year’s maximum — and has no idea how someone like her would have avoided private loans. She wanted to study at the public University of Maryland, a less expensive option in her home state, but wasn’t admitted. Instead she attended the University of Rochester, another highly competitive but pricier private medical school hundreds of miles from home.

“I could have tried to live cheaper in med school, but I don’t think it would have been much more possible than how I was living with three, four roommates,” said the 31-year-old, who’s also a leader in her union.

Like a majority of medical school students, Iyengar knew she’d use public service loan forgiveness.

Now that option will be gone for professional school debt above $200,000.

“We want a diverse group of people taking care of patients, because we know that patients have better outcomes from providers that understand where they’ve come from,” she said. But that diversity might ebb if lower-income students, who are more likely to be students of color, feel priced out of med school.

UC agrees. “We don’t know for sure, but we are concerned about this slowing the efforts to build the physician workforce across the country, and especially in California, where we’ve got significant needs in primary care in rural areas,” said Heather Harper, spokesperson for UC’s medical operations.

L.A. Care has invested $255 million since 2018 in scholarships for medical students and loan repayment for physicians to try and recruit doctors, but Santana-Chin said it’s not enough money to meet the need. She hopes that medical schools see the federal changes as a “call to action” to make education more affordable, she said.

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

Approximately 50 security officers and Disneyland employees escorted the vice president through the park, Mickey Visit reported.

Vance’s presence sparked protests. Around 100 to 150 demonstrators gathered on Harbor Boulevard near the Disneyland entrance on Friday evening, and a crowd of protesters formed again on Saturday.

Social media video showed Vance’s motorcade arriving at the Disneyland resort around 6 p.m. on Friday and the vice president walking with his family through Bayou Country at Disneyland around 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Vance party rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and toured Tom Sawyer Island, according to the posts. They also said Vance rode the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and dined at the exclusive 21 Royal with his family.

Disneyland officials declined to confirm any individual plans out of respect for the privacy of all guests.

But on Friday, internet sleuths noticed temporary flight restrictions had been placed around the theme park for the weekend.

Matt Desmond, who goes by Disney Scoop Guy on Instagram, posted a social media video of a newly installed staging area tent at the entrance to Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel on Friday.

“They definitely have a staging area at the front of the Grand Californian and there’s a very heavy police presence here,” Desmond said on Instagram.

The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A weekend schedule was not posted and no fundraising events were announced.

Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, whose office said the vice president’s advance team was in the area recently, noted the vice president’s visit comes amid the Trump administration’s continued aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, particularly in Southern California.

“I welcome any policymaker to come to our community and see for themselves how hardworking our immigrant communities are and how they make our country great,” Sarmiento, who represents the Second District, said. “It is my hope that the administration would come to the table and work with us on reversing these policies that seemed designed to crush our communities and our state.”

“I have respect for the office, but I just don’t respect their polices,” Sarmiento said.

Vance has spent a bit of time in Southern California of late.

He visited Los Angeles on official business last month, where he stood by the administration’s immigration raids and arrests and said the military presence in the area would remain. Then, Vance also toured a multi-agency Federal Joint Operations Center and a Federal Mobile Command Center and met with Marines who had been deployed to the area.

More recently, Vance was in San Diego for fundraisers and a $2,500-a-seat dinner hosted by a conservative think tank.

Earlier Friday, second lady Usha Vance visited Camp Pendleton as part of the Blue Star Books program, which donates books to military children, base libraries and Defense Department schools, to name a few.

The second lady grew up in suburban San Diego, in the community of Rancho Peñasquitos.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, was in Texas on Friday to survey the damage from the catastrophic flooding that killed at least 120 people — with many more still missing — earlier this month.

Harbor-area leaders such as Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, L.A. City Councilmember Tim McOsker, and Assemblymembers Mike Gipson and Al Muratsuchi joined community organizers to highlight how a portion of federally owned land on the island has been used for U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement activity. The land houses a federal prison and a U.S. Coast Guard base.

“…There’s a Constitution in the United States of America,” McOsker said. “The Constitution needs to hold, and what we need is an end to these ICE raids that are in violation of constitutional principles.

ALSO SEE: What was lost on LA’s Terminal Island after forced evacuations of local community

“We’re making a political demand, a community demand that is coming from the people and coming from elected officials, that we do not want this island — that’s part of our community, that is part of our livelihood, that’s been part of our history — to be complicit in these unconstitutional raids,” he added.

He urged ICE to “get off this island” and to “get out of this community.”

Federal immigration enforcement operations began in Los Angeles June 6 and have spread across the county.

In response to ongoing raids, several cities in the region and the county have announced they would join a proposed class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the federal government on behalf of people who allege they were unlawfully stopped or detained by federal agents.

The lawsuit alleges that federal agencies, including ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, have engaged in unconstitutional and unlawful immigration enforcement raids by targeting Angelenos based on their perceived race and ethnicity and also denying detainees constitutionally mandated due process.

White House officials have previously defended ICE activity in Southern California.

“The brave men and women of ICE are under siege by deranged Democrats — but undeterred in their mission,” the White House said in a statement. “Every day, these heroes put their own lives on the line to get the worst of the worst — criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, gangbangers, and other violent criminals — off our streets and out of our neighborhoods.”

The Department of Homeland Security has also denied allegations that such enforcement has been discriminatory.

“Claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE. DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence,” according to DHS.

On Friday, Hahn again insisted that ICE raids over the last weeks have been conducted by groups of agents who are “masked, always armed, (and) pull up to everyday places in everyday neighborhoods.” These agents target and detain “everyday working people,” she added.

“It is a sad, tragic irony that ICE and CBP have chosen this spot as a launching pad for those illegal raids and sweeps that have terrorized communities across L.A. County,” Hahn said.

Starting in 1906, a Japanese American fishing community flourished on Terminal Island in an area known as East San Pedro. Residents worked in the fishing industry and because the island was somewhat separated from the mainland they also developed their own culture and even their own dialect.

The village had a Fisherman’s Hall, where Japanese martial arts were taught, a Shinto Shrine, stores and billiard parlors.

After the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, which sent 120,00 Japanese Americans to internment camps. Approximately 62% were second and third generation Japanese Americans, and the remaining 38% were Japanese migrants.

Terminal Island residents were the first Japanese Americans on the West Coast to be forcibly removed from their homes, according to reports at the time. The village was later bulldozed and destroyed.

“…I stand here for those hard-working immigrants who are today — just like the Japanese Americans were 80 years ago — being scapegoated and wrongfully accused of being a threat to our communities,” Muratsuchi said.

He echoed his colleagues’ call for ICE to leave and to stop their enforcement operations in the region.

Maya Suzuki Daniels — whose grandfather and family were impacted by the events of World War II — is a member of San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice and said she felt compelled to speak on the issue.

“My grandfather taught me the values of peace, justice, equality and compassion,” she said. “These are the values that guide me today, and that I see reflected in my neighbors here in San Pedro.”

Her group, with support from Union del Barrio, launched the Harbor Area Peace Patrols in June, which inform residents of their rights and monitor ICE activity.

“We’ve documented license plate swapping, faces being covered with balaclavas in the heat of the summer and other efforts to avoid accountability,” Daniels said. “If residents must follow traffic laws, why are these armed agents allowed to break them with impunity?”

CAMARILLO — Federal immigration authorities said Friday they arrested about 200 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally in raids a day earlier on two California cannabis farm sites. Protesters engaged in a tense standoff with authorities during an operation at one of the farms where a farmworker was gravely injured.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that authorities executed criminal search warrants in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, on Thursday. They arrested immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally, and there were also at least 10 immigrant children on site, the statement said.

Four U.S. citizens were arrested for “assaulting or resisting officers,” the department said. Authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents. At least one worker was hospitalized with grave injuries.

During the raid, crowds of people gathered outside Glass House Farms at the Camarillo location to demand information about their relatives and protest immigration enforcement. A chaotic scene emerged outside the farm that grows tomatoes, cucumbers and cannabis as authorities clad in military-style helmets and uniforms faced off with the demonstrators. Acrid green and white billowing smoke then forced community members to retreat.

Glass House, a licensed California cannabis grower, said in a statement that immigration agents had valid warrants. The company said workers were detained, and it is helping provide them with legal representation.

“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” the statement said.

It is legal to grow and sell cannabis in California with proper licensing. State records show the company has multiple active licenses to cultivate cannabis.

Worker hospitalized after fall

At least 12 people were injured during the raid and protest at the farm in Camarillo, said Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for the Ventura County Fire Department. Eight were taken to Saint John’s St. John’s Regional Medical Center and the Ventura County Medical Center, and four were treated at the scene and released. Dowd said he did not have information on the extent of the injuries of those hospitalized.

On Friday, about two dozen people waited outside the Camarillo farm to retrieve the cars of loved ones and speak to managers about what happened. Relatives of Jaime Alanis, who has worked picking tomatoes at the farm for 10 years, said he called his wife in Mexico during the raid to tell her immigration agents had arrived and that he was hiding with others inside the farm.

“The next thing we heard was that he was in the hospital with broken hands, ribs and a broken neck,” Juan Duran, Alanis’ brother-in-law, said in Spanish, his voice breaking.

It was not immediately clear how Alanis was injured. A doctor at Ventura County Medical Center told the family that those who brought Alanis to the hospital said he had fallen from the roof of a building.

Alanis had a broken neck, fractured skull and a rupture in an artery that pumps blood to the brain, said his niece Yesenia, who didn’t want to share her last name for fear of reprisal. He is on life support, she said.

“They told us he won’t make it and to say goodbye,” Yesenia said, crying.

The hospital did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Confrontation with authorities

After immigration agents arrived at Glass House’s farm in Camarillo on Thursday morning, workers called family members to let them know authorities were there. Relatives and advocates headed to the farm some 50 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles to try to find out what was going on, and began protesting outside.

Federal authorities formed a line blocking the road leading through farm fields to the company’s greenhouses. Protesters were seen shouting at agents wearing camouflage gear, helmets and gas masks. The billowing smoke drove protesters to retreat. It wasn’t clear why authorities threw the canisters or if they released chemicals such as tear gas.

Ventura County fire authorities responding to a 911 call of people having trouble breathing said three people were taken to nearby hospitals.

At the farm, agents arrested workers and removed them by bus. Others, including U.S. citizens, were detained at the site for hours while agents investigated.

The incident came as federal immigration agents have ramped up arrests in Southern California at car washes, farms and Home Depot parking lots, stoking widespread fear among immigrant communities.

Federal investigations

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Friday that the investigation into immigration and potential child labor violations at the farm is ongoing. No further details of the allegations were provided.

The agency said hundreds of demonstrators attempted to disrupt the operations, leading to the arrest of four Americans.

“We will prosecute to the fullest extent of the law anyone who assaults or doxes federal law enforcement,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection were both part of the operation, the statement said.

Family members search for answers

Relatives of other workers said they got similar calls Thursday. The mother of an American worker said her son was held at the worksite for 11 hours and told her agents took workers’ cellphones to prevent them from calling family or filming and forced them to erase cellphone video of agents at the site.

The woman said her son told her agents marked the men’s hands with ink to distinguish their immigration status. She spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because she feared reprisals from the government.

United Farm Workers said in statement that some U.S. citizens are not yet accounted for.

Maria Servin, 68, said her son has worked at the farm for 18 years and was helping to build a greenhouse. She said she spoke to her son, who is undocumented, after hearing of the raid and offered to pick him up.

“He said not to come because they were surrounded and there was even a helicopter. That was the last time I spoke to him,” Servin, a U.S. citizen, said in Spanish.

She said she went to the farm anyway but federal agents were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets and she decided it was not safe to stay. She and her daughter returned to the farm Friday and were told her son had been arrested Thursday. They still don’t know where he is being held.

“I regret 1,000 times that I didn’t help him get his documents,” Servin said.

Taxin reported from Orange County, California, and Rodriguez reported from San Francisco.