Inland Empire Progressive

If the Trump administration invokes the  Insurrection Act , it will not happen in a vacuum. It will be enabled, normalized, and quietly tolerated by members of Congress who choose party loyalty over constitutional duty.  That enabling figure is Congressman Jay Obernolte. By refusing to draw a hard line against the use of domestic military force for political ends, Obernolte would effectively allow the Insurrection Act to be enforced in our own district. We already have ICE gestapo in Victorville and Hesperia. Now imagine the Marines from 29 Palms in Redlands and Loma Linda. The Insurrection Act gives the president extraordinary power to deploy federal troops inside the United States, overriding governors and local officials. Trump’s repeated threats to invoke it are not about restoring order but about asserting dominance over political opponents and bypassing local resistance. When a president frames protests, court rulings, or uncooperative local leaders as “obstructions,” th...

Donald Trump’s most recent blunder cultural blunder? His outrage at the selection of  Bad Bunny  to headline the 2026 Super Bowl LX halftime show and admitting he’s never heard of the artist, is a staggering display of how out of touch the Trump administration is with the 21st century culture. This isn’t simply one old man shaking his fist at cultural norms, it’s part of a broader pattern. The Trump administration has made deliberate incursions into cultural institutions: from attempting to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to orchestrating sweeping reviews of museums to whitewash the contribution of Black Americans, the message is clear: art, music, performance are for the people Trump chooses to approve. So, when the cultural moment of the halftime show meets Trump’s cultural gatekeeping, it’s no surprise he seems out of touch with modern times. Bad Bunny is one of the world’s most-streamed artists, and the first primarily Spanish-language s...

The recent death of  Ismael  Ayala-Uribe in an ICE facility was a preventable failure and shines a light on the lax oversight by Representative Obernolte. Ismael died within days after being held in the Adelanto immigration detention center. He complained of fever, pain, and shaking and his condition was flagged as life threatening. Yet an hour and a half after a “code blue”, which is a code for cardiac/respiratory arrest, GEO medical staff cleared him to return to his unit.  Three days later, he was pronounced dead. Oversight is meant to be the bulwark against these kinds of abuses. Rep. Jay Obernolte whose district includes these facilities, is supposed to provide oversight, demanding accountability, initiating hearings, pressuring federal agencies. But Representative Jay Obernolte has failed to meaningfully exercise that role, the consequence is that innocent lives are left exposed. There has been no public inquiry to obtain justice for Ismael coming from his office. T...

Apparently, the  Supreme Court  decided ICE agents weren’t harassing enough people. Because in 2025, the gravest threat to American liberty isn’t corporate monopolies or political corruption—it’s the horrifying possibility that federal agents might not have free rein to stop every brown person within a 20-mile radius of San Bernardino. Crisis averted. In their latest stunt, the justices blessed Trump’s immigration raids, giving ICE the authority to stop people for the crime of being brown on a Saturday night.  That’s not exaggeration—that’s the standard they just endorsed. For them, racial profiling is less a constitutional violation and more of a nostalgic throwback to the good ole Bracero days. ICE agents can now storm into job sites, grocery stores, bus stops, or even schools, and point to someone’s language or skin color as justification. Parents dropping their kids off at elementary school now live with the gnawing fear that a routine morning could end in detention a...

In 1994, California Republicans thought they’d found the perfect wedge issue: Proposition 187. The ballot measure promised to strip undocumented immigrants of health care, education, and other basic services. It was Pete Wilson’s cynical ploy to save his career, and for a moment, it worked. But in the long run, Prop 187 backfired spectacularly—it radicalized a generation of Latino and immigrant voters, turned California deep blue, and buried the state GOP in a grave of its own making. Enter Rep. Jay Obernolte, dusting off that same failed playbook and pretending it’s fresh. He wraps himself in MAGA’s flag and cheers on Trump’s war against immigrants: militarizing the border, cheering family separations, backing bans on asylum, and defending the grotesque spectacle of children in cages. He even backs Trump’s fantasy of mass deportations—a scheme so cruel and so costly it would make Prop 187 look like a bad dress rehearsal. Let’s be clear: Obernolte isn’t standing up for taxpayers. He is...

Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash Rep. Jay Obernolte lack of oversight of  ICE  detention facilities in our district threatens those facilities to become the Auschwitz of Adelanto and Dachau of Desert in California City. The reopening of California City Correctional Facility (CCCF) as an ICE detention center, operated by the private prison company CoreCivic, is a troubling development that demands oversight.  CCCF was once slated for closure as part of Governor Newsom’s broader effort to reduce California’s prison population. But with the federal government ramping up deportations under the Trump administration, the facility has been repurposed to detain immigrants—many of whom have no criminal record and are simply seeking a better life. Representative Obernolte has stated otherwise in a Facebook post when he visited the facility but provided no concrete evidence except to trust his word.   Economic gain should never come at the expense of human dignity. ...

“And its [Republicans] only future path to the White House will lie in stoking white resentment to fever levels to produce the highest turnout possible, while dividing the country even further—but solidifying the cultural idea of “the party,” which is what really matters most to them.” Today’s GOP vs. Tomorrow’s GOP on Immigration - The Daily Beast

Imagine what it take to leave you country to move to a foriegn land because the opportunities there are so much greater than your home. On a local level, I think about it all the time. San Bernardino is not the safest city, public meeting places (third spaces) are few and far between, there are not that many job prospects for a person of any skill set. Yet, I choose to stay here because I want to fight make this city a better place. It would be hard for me to leave Now imagine again what it takes for someone from Jalisco, Juarez, or even Mexico City to pick up, travel to the border, pay a coyote (someone who smuggles a person across the border), and risk being abandoned or killed in the process. It is a great sacrifice. The person might be the sole bread winner in the household. And when they get here the propects aren't that great, but they are greatful because they can send money back home to feed their extended families. In addition, they do jobs that most Americans will ...

Rep. Gary Miller's stance on Immigration is this: Deport them from home, kill them abroad. Why else would Mr. Miller maintain a silence on immigration and the 14th Amendment. His silence is a sign of disrespect for the Mexican immigrants who came here for a better life and helped build the Inland Empire. And this is just at home. His steadfast and unwavering support for the NRA and a bastardized interpretation of the 2nd Amendment allows gun manufacturers to supply Mexican Drug Cartels with no impunity. Killing approx. 60,000 Mexican citizens in violence.

Does Rep. Gary Miller think the 14th Amendment is a legal loophole? I think he does. Here is his stance on Immigration from his website: "Congress must continue efforts to strengthen enforcement along the southwest border, remove loopholes in current law that invites manipulation of our laws , and shut down the job magnet that encourages individuals to enter our country illegally." Here is the 14th Amendment: All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. Rep. Gary Miller’s euphemistic language on Immigration are just dog whistle politics to extremist conservatives  who consider persons born of undocumented immigrants “anchor babies”. This is why Rep. Gary Miller is dangerous for the 31st Congressional District. With Mexican immigrants making up more than a plurality of the district, Rep. Gary Miller’s policies will be anti-immigrant in nature and u...

What Conservatives don’t understand is a big role that immigration plays in the Mexican community. I have a large family and many cousins (my cousin Jose is pictured above).  As a third generation bi-racial Latino, I could only imagine what my great grandparents went through to get here. My Great Grandmother came here during the ‘50s when she was a little girl illegally and did not get her citizenship until the Reagan Amnesty of ‘86. She lived in East Los Angeles all her all until my Nana had dragged her from her little apartment on Soto St. when she was too old to walk. So when Conservatives attack “illegal” immigrants, I feel like they are attacking my family. In the Mexican community, we all know someone who is undocumented. They all come seeking a better life.

  Since “moving” into the Inland Empire and escaping the rolling hills of Diamond Bar, Rep. Gary Miller has really had an “oh shit” moment. He must be thinking to himself: “Not only am I a carpet bagger who just moved here to get elected. I am also fucking richer than most Tribal Members. I also cater to Wall Street interests because I sit on the Financial Services Committee and will repeal Dodd-Frank faster than a federal government bailout. Finally, I live in a district full of ‘brown people’ y no hablo espanol and don’t want to either (English only baby!). But these illegals make up 49% of the Congressional District. Oh what am I to do? I know! Say nice things like this:” Immigration: “ Congress must continue efforts to strengthen enforcement along the southwest border, remove loopholes in current law that invites manipulation of our laws, and shut down the job magnet that encourages individuals to enter our country illegally .” When I really mean this (you can’t hide from...

Martha Vasquez, 22, Highland Park, July 2011 Photographer: Gabriel Louis Acosta, The Sun With all the pressure that the Latinos have been under from both visceral extremists on the Conservative side, and an aggressive deportation policy by the Administration, it was only a matter of time before folks become radicalized. (Note: This policy was later amended to ensure more accurate deportation screening) What puzzles me is why are Inland Empire Democrats taking a middle of the road position and moving to the Right? The Progressive position is that the undocumented citizens deserve clemency under the law! The Latinos of the Inland Empire helped build it. They have paid in full their debt to society through hard work, long hours, low pay, and other laments. They deserve to be released from the bondage of second class citizenship and brought more transparently into the law. There have been more than one protest in the streets of San Bernardino about the need for immigration reform...