This week we are cutting through the headlines to look at what is actually happening on the ground: government propaganda aimed at kids’ media, escalating violence against our youth, and record-shattering detention numbers.

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The White House Memes Mass Deportation

This week, the official White House social media accounts published an altered image titled “The Magic Deportation Bus,” parodying the classic kids’ educational cartoon The Magic School Bus. The graphic showed Ms. Frizzle driving a bus filled with handcuffed brown men, captioned with the show’s catchphrase: “Please let this be a normal field trip...”

The post linked directly to reports praising an ICE operation in the D.C. area, turning an iconic piece of childhood nostalgia into a punchline for detention and removal. This is part of an ongoing strategy from the administration to package immigration enforcement as viral internet content. Turning the reality of deportation into cartoon memes is meant to desensitize people and reinforce the narrative that everyone rounded up is an inherently dangerous criminal.

Using a children’s show that taught generations of kids about science and empathy to mock the destruction of families is cruel. It reduces human beings to props for social media engagement while glossing over the actual toll these operations take on our communities.

We need to be clear in naming for everyone that this is wrong and we should not accept this type of propaganda as normal. Official government channels should be used for updates on policy and what not; not for this kind of cruel messaging.

Zero De-escalation, Total Aggression

Viral video out of Texas captured ICE agents violently grabbing a 17-year-old American citizen on the side of the road.

The teen and his family had arrived to retrieve his father’s truck after his father was arrested during an immigration stop. Because the son is a U.S. citizen, the family thought he would be allowed to drive the vehicle home. Instead, agents escalated the encounter immediately. Footage shows officers grabbing the teenager by his hair, trying to force him to the ground, and slamming him hard against the truck while he repeatedly shouts, “I am a minor.”

Watching an armed federal agent violently manhandle a teenager whose father was just taken away is sickening. There was zero attempt to de-escalate. Instead of basic protocol, they met a teenager with brute force.

This is what aggressive, unchecked enforcement looks like in practice. It creates pure terror for families, regardless of citizenship status. A kid who just watched his father get taken is now left with the physical and emotional trauma of being attacked on the street.

We have to keep documenting and sharing these encounters. The only way to push back against this kind of abuse is to make sure it is seen, call it out directly, and organize locally to protect our neighbors and youth.

50,000 Detained, 30,000 Deported

The official July numbers are in, and they show the scale of what our communities are dealing with right now. ICE detained roughly 50,000 people in July alone. That makes it the single highest month on record under this administration, jumping significantly from the numbers we saw just a few months ago.

On top of the arrests, more than 30,000 people were deported in the same 30-day window.

The detail that cuts right through the administration’s talking points is who is actually being picked up. The majority of people detained have zero criminal record. Reports show that most of these arrests did not happen through targeted, complex investigations. They happened right out on the street, at traffic stops, and during everyday routines.

This is what happens when federal agencies are pushed to hit arbitrary daily quotas of 2,000 arrests a day. They are not focusing on public safety or only going after the worst of the worst. They are casting a wide net and grabbing anyone they can find just to drive up their metrics.

Familia, look out for one another and stay informed on your rights. Share resources, keep emergency contact plans in place, and double down on community defense networks.

Personal Update:

This week was exhausting in a lot of ways. I received multiple messages from the community sharing messed-up encounters, from people threatening to call ICE on their neighbors to straight-up hate.

Toward the end of the week, I had a moment of clarity after wrapping up an MMA training session. More than anything, I just felt deep gratitude that you all trust me to share your stories. When I started building these platforms, the goal was always to show up for the community. I feel incredibly blessed that you found this space and use it to share info, hold people accountable, learn something new, or just stay grounded. I am committed to this work, to growing, getting better, and continuing to take up space.

When I started creating content years ago, there was a clear lack of people with my background and lived experience doing this type of content creation. Seeing where this platform is now reassures me that we are moving in the right direction. I don’t always know what the long-term sustainability looks like, but I am committed to putting in the work. Thank you, y seguimos pa’delante.

A special thank you to everyone who upgraded to a paid Substack subscription this week. Your direct support makes it possible for me to keep chasing these stories and running this platform independently. And if you aren’t able to upgrade right now, no worries at all. I am just glad you are here, reading, and sharing this work with your circles.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

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This week, we saw what happens when the lines of basic human decency are completely erased; from hospital trauma to early-morning ambushes and the messed up language caught on tape when agents think nobody is paying attention.

Here is what went down this week, why it matters, and why we refuse to look away!

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Even Emergency Rooms Aren’t Safe From ICE

If you’ve seen the footage coming out of Central Florida this week, you know the feeling in the pit of your stomach doesn’t go away easily.

Grace and her daughter Giulianna had just survived a violent car crash that left their vehicle flipped over on a Florida highway. Rushed to the Hospital, Grace was sitting in a cervical collar being treated for serious neck trauma while Giulianna was suffering from an acute panic attack and seizures.

That’s when ICE agents walked straight into the emergency room.

What followed is something out of a nightmare: agents physically pulling apart a terrified mother and daughter in front of medical staff and patients, ignoring pleas from the person filming demanding to see a warrant. Grace has a pending asylum case and an active work authorization; Giulianna holds a valid visa. None of that mattered in the room.

For decades, medical facilities, schools, and places of worship operated under federal “sensitive locations” protections; an unspoken and formal baseline recognizing that human beings need emergency care without fearing state capture. But since the revocation of those directives, the baseline has collapsed.

When survival requires weighing emergency medical care against detention, the message being sent isn’t about the rule of law… it’s about terrorizing communities into the shadows. Nobody surviving a rollover accident should have their emergency room turned into a holding cell.

He Woke Up Like This

Imagine waking up in a hospital bed completely disoriented, walking to the bathroom mirror, and barely recognizing the reflection staring back at you.

That was the reality for José Mejía Hernández.

His face was heavily battered, swollen, and bruised beyond recognition. When he stepped back into his room, ICE agents were stationed at the foot of his bed→ monitoring his every move and refusing to let him speak privately with his own doctors. Worse, nobody in the room would give him a straight answer about what actually happened to him.

Here is what we know: José was starting his workday at 6:00 AM when an unmarked truck screeched to a halt and two unidentified men rushed toward him. Terrified, he ran. Moments later, agents deployed a Taser into his back. José lost consciousness on impact. When he finally opened his eyes, he was in the hospital.

Let’s be completely clear: the extent of his severe facial fractures and head trauma is completely inconsistent with a simple fall from a taser discharge. That level of blunt force destruction speaks to brutal physical violence while he was incapacitated.

Instead of answers or an internal investigation, federal agents fitted José with a GPS ankle monitor upon discharge and sent him on his way. He is now living with traumatic brain injuries, memory loss, and constant, debilitating pain; with zero accountability from the agency responsible.

When law enforcement can ambush a worker at dawn, inflict life-altering head trauma under zero oversight, and guard the hospital door to control the narrative, it isn’t enforcement. It’s state violence operating without a shred of transparency.

La Migra Was Using Slurs

We’ve all heard the official talking points about “targeted operations” and going after the “worst of the worst.” But when the body cameras and bystander footage keep rolling, the reality behind those talking points is impossible to ignore.

Investigative reports and video evidence surfaced this week showing immigration enforcement officers using vile, dehumanizing slurs while actively detaining people. On audio and video recordings, agents can clearly be heard throwing around terms like “wet” and “tonk”; a well-known, historically violent slur used by border officials derived from the sound of a flashlight striking a human skull.

This isn’t just about offensive language; it’s about the underlying mentality driving these operations.

When agents casually toss around racial slurs on the job, it shatters the lie that these detentions are precision-targeted, intelligence-driven operations based on warrants. It exposes what community members have known for generations: people are being profiled, hunted, and targeted simply because of the language they speak, the color of their skin, or how they look.

Dehumanization is the precursor to violence. If the culture within these agencies encourages officers to view community members as subhuman targets rather than human beings with constitutional protections, unchecked abuses of power are inevitable.

Public servants drawing taxpayer-funded salaries to enforce the law cannot operate with impunity and blatant racial animus. True accountability means naming the systemic culture that protects this behavior and demanding real consequences for those in uniform.

Personal Update:

Familia, earlier this week I had to call out a manager for a grupo who was dropping misogynistic and colorist comments about women in one of his videos. It was completely out of line. I made a response and some homies did as well; so at least the antention he got hopefully curbs his behavior.

I wanted to share this because so much of our work here is about reclaiming our language and holding unapologetic pride in our roots, our heritage, and the depth of our skin. Colorism has run deep in our communities for generations, and one of the ways I actively push back is by turning the insults meant to diminish us into something of honor.

Para darles un ejemplo y created a collection of shirts around the term “Prieto y Chulo” (Also Prieta and Prietx) . It’s more than just a shirt; it’s a statement that reclaims our narrative, takes back words used to demean us, and affirms that our brownness is powerful, dignifying, and beautiful.

You can grab your shirt. I have some with a nopal, a rose or an avocado! Estan chidas

Thank you all so much for holding down this space, supporting the work, and standing loud with me. It’s because of this community that we can demand accountability, shift perspectives, and remind everyone that brown is beautiful.

LOS QUIERO!

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

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Appreciate you being here, familia. We’ve got a heavy but important set of stories lineup this week; from state violence and workplace power trips to the real crisis inside our classrooms. Please check it out, leave a comment and if this work resonates with you, don’t forget to hit that Subscribe and to upgrade your subscription if you want to go above and beyond in supporting my work <3.

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Electric Gloves for ICE

DHS announced plans to equip ICE officers with electric shock gloves to force “compliance” from people they detain.

And the price tag? Up to $20 million of our taxpayer dollars! Que no se pasen de lanza.

The device is called the “G.L.O.V.E.” (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), manufactured by Compliant Technologies. At the push of a button, it delivers up to 380 volts of painful electric current directly through an officer’s touch. While these have quietly floated around some local police departments and jails, DHS now wants to wholesale them to thousands of federal agents.

The quiet part that should alarm everyone: law enforcement officials who use them have bragged about how these gloves inflict severe pain without leaving visible marks. It inflicts maximum agony while leaving zero physical evidence behind for witnesses or courtrooms… the absolute opposite of the transparency and accountability we’ve been demanding.

The manufacturer’s own warning label says the tech should never be used on children, pregnant women, the elderly, or folks with disabilities. It’s also not supposed to be used for punishment or against someone who is just verbally arguing.

Let’s be real though; when has ICE ever shown that kind of restraint? We have years of documented abuse proving how quickly agents escalate force against innocent, defenseless people. Asking our community to just “trust” that agents won’t abuse a concealed pain button is insulting.

This isn’t theoretical harm, either. Amnesty International has documented how unregulated shock devices are routinely weaponized for torture and human rights abuses. There’s already a pending wrongful-death lawsuit from an incident where a man died after being shocked with these exact gloves over 20 times while in custody.

Border Czar Tom Homan went on TV to defend the purchase, claiming these shock gloves will prevent agents from having to jump straight to deadly force. But giving agents a covert weapon that shocks people into submission isn’t de-escalation… it’s just another taxpayer-funded, dehumanizing tactic designed to terrorize our people under the radar.

We also already know about these gloves being abused; there is a pending lawsuit explaining how a man died after being shocked dozens of times with these. I just don’t trust it… What about you all?

Warehouse Managers Lock Workers In for ICE

This has to be one of the most infuriating stories I saw this week.

Out of a warehouse in Arizona, a rumor started spreading across the floor that ICE was on its way. We still don’t know who started the tip, and as it turned out, it was a false alarm, but you can imagine the panic in the room. When workers naturally tried to pack up and get to safety, the managers did something completely unhinged: they tried to physically lock everyone inside.

Video footage from the scene is wild. You see workers desperately pushing their way out while management tries to block the exits. In the recordings, you can literally hear the managers threatening people: saying they’ll press “assault charges” on anyone pushing past them, demanding that workers stop filming, and one manager even yelling that if they ran, “we will find you anyway.”

Familia, let’s be real about the law here: holding people against their will is false imprisonment. It is flat-out illegal. And trying to bully workers out of documenting abuse with their phones? Pure intimidation.

The wildest layer of irony to this whole mess? The two managers pulling this stunt are a couple who are reportedly immigrants themselves, from Canada. The wild cognitive dissonance of an immigrant boss acting like an unofficial border patrol warden over their own crew is sickening.

Fortunately, local police eventually showed up and had to explain basic reality to these managers: you cannot hold your staff hostage. ICE never showed, but the damage is done.

If you’re running a warehouse or managing a shift, you don’t get to strip people of their basic civil rights just because you have a quota to hit. And above all, you don’t use fear as a weapon against vulnerable folks.

Stay aware, document everything, and keep each other safe out there.

The Literacy Crisis We Keep Ignoring

A video went viral recently of educator and creator Darius Williams breaking down in tears after a shift in his classroom. He described asking his 17-year-old seniors to write a single sentence. He even gave them the sentence stems to get them started; and several of them still couldn’t finish the thought.

Let that sink in. At 17, students should be structuring full five-paragraph essays with critical analysis. Instead, high school seniors are hitting walls on basic sentence mechanics.

Having spent years in the education system as both a teacher and a principal, this heartbreak isn’t new to me→ it’s a reality we’ve watched grow for a long time. The literacy crisis didn’t happen in a vacuum. A toxic mix of uninterrupted screen addiction, the compounding fallout of COVID-19 disruptions, systemic underfunding, and the raw stress of poverty has hollowed out foundational learning.

Too often, folks want to slap lazy labels on these kids, calling them unmotivated or incapable. That couldn’t be further from the truth. These students are sharp, funny, creative, and curious. They aren’t broken: the system serving them is.

From day one, the American schooling model was built around compliance and producing compliant workers, not cultivating lifelong curiosity or deep, critical thinking. Throw in an economy where parents are working multiple jobs just to keep the lights on, and the capacity for at-home academic intervention drops to zero.

The real tragedy is what happens next: these young people will walk across a graduation stage into an unforgiving world without the core literacy and analytical tools they need to navigate it or advocate for themselves.

We cannot keep dumping the entire burden onto the shoulders of exhausted teachers at the tail end of K–12. Early, aggressive, community-backed intervention is the only way out of this hole. Our kids deserve more than being passed along through an assembly line that sets them up to struggle.

Personal Update:

Hey familia, before I let you go…huge love and shout-out to my good friend Leslie Priscilla, who is officially dropping her new book, Chancla, this week.

If you know Leslie’s work with Latinx Parenting, you know she has been leading the charge on breaking intergenerational cycles, healing old wounds, and transforming how we show up for our families.

Even without having kids of my own yet, this book hit home. I have nephews I adore, and I want to make sure we’re building a future rooted in safety, love, and the kind of care every young person deserves. Whether you’re a parent, a tío, a caregiver, or just someone doing the inner work to heal your own inner child, this is an essential read.

Check out a quick excerpt below, along with the links to grab your copy and support her work.→

For anyone in our community who grew up with “la chancla” as a household reference point, this book asks a harder question: what if that fear wasn’t culture, but something inherited from colonization? And, what if we could actually finally put the chancla down… or hold it up the the systems that make parenting hard?

Leslie Priscilla founded Latinx Parenting to help families do exactly that, through workshops, coaching, and advocacy rooted in nonviolence and generational healing.

CHANCLA is available for pre-order now!

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

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¿Qué pasó, familia? Welcome back to another newsletter. This week, we’re breaking down a presidential narco pardon, tragic fatal neglect in ICE custody, and a rich guy finding out the hard way how the system really works. Let’s jump into it! As usual; thank you for being here.

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Former President, Present Narco: The Pardoning of Juan Orlando Hernández

Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández went back to Honduras following a full pardon from Trump.

Hernández, who led Honduras from 2014 to 2022, was sentenced in a U.S. federal court to 45 years in prison for massive weapons and drug trafficking charges. According to federal prosecutors, Hernández and his associates trafficked over 400 tons of cocaine(roughly 800 million pounds) into the United States during his time in power. Throughout his presidency, he faced widespread, documented accusations of state-sponsored drug conspiracy, systemic corruption, and human rights abuses.

Before his fall from grace, the U.S. government heavily backed Hernández’s political rise, praising his administration as a key partner in the “War on Drugs.” In reality, U.S. prosecutors noted he once boasted he would “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.”

Despite the overwhelming evidence and federal conviction, Trump granted him a full, unconditional pardon, claiming Hernández was treated unfairly and set up. While Hernández still faces fraud and money laundering charges back in Honduras, a local judge recently granted him release ahead of trial, sparking outrage among human rights advocates who fear he will walk away with complete impunity; and potentially clear a path back into political life.

This whole saga exposes the raw hypocrisy of Washington’s foreign policy. Trump’s rhetoric about going after “the worst of the worst” collapses the moment it becomes politically inconvenient. Time and again, the U.S. empire backs, protects, and ultimately excuses corrupt authoritarians, proving that criminal records don’t matter as long as you once served Washington’s interests.

Delayed Care, Early Death: The Loss of Prisciliano Trejo Ricano

This story is infuriating, and it deserves every bit of anger it brings out. Prisciliano Trejo Ricano died on July 24 at just 29 years old. He didn’t die simply from an aggressive form of leukemia; he died because of the horrible medical neglect he experienced while locked inside an ICE facility.

Prisciliano became severely ill while being held at the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Around the Fourth of July, his symptoms spiked: he was coughing up blood and covered in unhealed bruises. Despite his repeated asks for help, staff forced him to wait. ICE didn’t finally transfer him to a hospital until July 13… at which point he was already in a terrible state. ICE then hastily released him from custody while he lay in a hospital bed, and he passed away less than two weeks later.

Let’s be hella clear about what detention centers are supposed to be: they are civil processing facilities, not death rows or torture chambers. The staff and the private operators running Stewart had a basic, mandatory duty to keep Prisciliano safe, healthy, and cared for. Instead, they ignored a dying 29-year-old until it was far too late to save him.

Prisciliano deserved to live. This system failed him, just as it continues to fail hundreds of others whose suffering happens behind locked doors. How many more people have to die in medical neglect before we stop treating this as business as usual?

ICE Doesn’t Care About Your Status, Money, or Tax Bracket

When I first came across this story, I’ll be honest: I was hella annoyed. It felt like another classic case of a privileged person completely ignoring the horrors of our immigration system until it landed directly on his own doorstep.

The story involves a 70-year-old businessman whose 45-year-old fiancée was suddenly snatched by ICE at the airport. According to him, agents grabbed her, refused to answer any basic questions, and took her. She had entered the country legally, they were planning to get married, and she was already in the middle of adjusting her status.

Listening to him interview, it was hard not to roll my eyes at how much he centered himself; talking about how he pays taxes, owns businesses, and couldn’t believe this could happen to him. But past the frustration, the reality is still horrifying. The real focus should be on his fiancée, who had to endure the horrible reality of being grabbed without explanation and thrown into detention.

It’s sad, but hopefully, it’s a wake-up call for people in those circles. ICE isn’t a respectable law enforcement agency that respects wealth, compliance, or due process. It’s an indiscriminate machine. While it’s frustrating that it took a personal crisis for this man to care, at least he’s finally using his platform to speak out against what’s happening.

Personal Update:

There were multiple times this week where people came at me with pure fragility and threats. One guy straight up threatened to call ICE on me and sue me… while he’s out here living in another country! Another got upset at my attempt to uplift local businesses that support immigrants (because I don’t support MAGA businesses→ which, let’s be real, I don’t).

This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it definitely won’t be the last. But it gives me a great excuse to remind everyone: I will not be deterred, and my mission is clear.

For every person out there trying to silence me, there’s one of you going above and beyond to hold it down and support this work.

If you appreciate what I do, please support me across all my platforms! And if you want to go above and beyond, consider upgrading your Substack subscription to keep this independent work going. As always, dropping a comment, liking, and sharing helps tremendously!

Gracias! Los quiero!

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

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Saludos! Gracias for being here and riding with me. Before we jump into this week’s newsletter, I want to give a massive thank you to everyone supporting the page, sharing the posts, and holding space for these conversations. If you find value in this work and want to help keep it independent and going strong, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription today. Your support makes all the difference and allows me to continue to do this!

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They Hurt An Elderly Asian Man

It happened right in my backyard. A place I know well. Having lived in San Jose for a while, seeing the video that came out of a local laundromat recently caught something that genuinely made my stomach turn.

In the clip, a group of young people wanders up to the building. They start off messing with an unhoused person outside before walking in and going straight after an elderly Asian man who was just doing his laundry. What followed was one of the worst beatings I’ve ever seen.

When the first hit landed, I kept waiting for someone in the group to step in—to pull the guy back and say, “Nah, fall back.” Instead, they jumped in. They literally held the old man down on the floor so the attacker could land harder hits.

Once the video went viral, people online tried to make excuses, claiming the victim said something about ICE. Reports showed that wasn’t true, but even if it were, nothing justifies a group of young guys pinning down a defenseless elder.

Word is these kids were allegedly gang-affiliated. Growing up near these neighborhoods, I know how that goes, but there used to be rules. Elders were off-limits. There was zero respect in jumping an old man. Whatever code used to exist out here completely broke down that night.

They’ve since been arrested, and I hope everyone involved is held accountable. But jail time doesn’t fix the root issue. This was an ugly reminder of how far off track some of our youth are. When kids can look at an elder, feel nothing, and turn a laundromat into a beatdown, something in our community is deeply broken. We have to reach these kids before they lose their humanity entirely.

They Took Another US Citizen

It happened again just a few days ago out in New Jersey. ICE agents grabbed a U.S. citizen right off the street and hauled him straight to Delaney Hall detention center.

He was held for five hours before they finally let him go. But the part that should make everyone stop and think is how it started: according to him, they didn’t ask for his ID. They didn’t ask his name. They just took him based entirely on how he looked. It wasn’t until he was already locked inside that agents admitted they made a mistake and turned him loose.

A five-hour “mistake” where a citizen gets stripped of his freedom for doing nothing at all.

If this can happen to a U.S. citizen with zero probable cause, imagine what life is like for people in far more vulnerable situations. Imagine the constant fear for folks without status when agents can snatch you up first and ask questions later.

Looking brown or speaking another language isn’t a crime. It doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong, and it shouldn’t strip away your constitutional right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure. When racial profiling replaces due process, nobody’s protections are actually real.

They Pretended to Be ICE to Assault Her

Out of Oregon, a report dropped that is as terrifying as it is infuriating. Three men drove an unmarked SUV with fake police lights, pulled over a family, covered their faces, brandished a rifle, and forced the passengers out under the guise of an ICE operation. Once they had them isolated, they sexually assaulted a woman in the back of the vehicle before taking off.

How does something this horrific happen? Because the system makes it absurdly easy to pull off.

For years, community organizers and advocates have warned about the danger of ICE agents operating with zero transparency. Unmarked cars, plain clothes, hidden faces, no badges, no warrants shown. When an official agency is allowed to move like a shadowy militia, they create the exact playbook for predators to exploit.

ICE put out a statement reminding the public that their officers wear basic gear—like khakis and blue shirts. But you can buy a khaki outfit, a vest, and a mask online right now. A generic dress code isn’t accountability. When agents are allowed to conceal their identities and operate with total impunity, nobody can tell the difference between actual federal agents and fake ones targeting vulnerable people.

This isn’t an isolated incident. It’s a direct consequence of a system that refuses to hold itself to basic standards. At a bare minimum, agents should never be allowed to cover their faces, and clear identification must be mandatory. Until the administration forces real transparency, predators will keep using the agency’s own tactics as cover for horrific crimes.

Personal Update:

f you own a small business or know of one that deserves some love, let me know. I want to help bring attention to them whenever I can-especially if you’re in or around the Bay Area. If it’s a business that ships, hit me up too. I’ll try to get through as many messages as I can, though I can’t promise I’ll see every single one since notifications get wild sometimes.

There is so much trauma floating around our communities right now, so if I can use this space to bring a little joy and positivity, I’m all in.

Los quiero, and gracias for being here. If you appreciate the work and want to support it, please consider upgrading your subscription so I can keep doing this.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

  Subscribe now

Familia, thank you so much for continuing to tune in, read, and support this work. Keeping this platform independent means we can dive deep into the issues that matter without corporate sponsors telling us what we can or can’t say.

If you find value in these breakdowns and want to help us keep building, consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Your support directly powers the research, editing, and independent coverage we do every week.

Let’s get right into it.

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The Flock System: When Automated Surveillance Meets Zero Oversight

At least 24 police officers across the country have been caught using license plate reader networks, specifically Flock Safety systems, to track exes, romantic partners, and their families.

Without needing a warrant, probable cause, or even supervisor approval, these officers accessed real-time vehicle locations, historical route data, and precise timestamps. In multiple instances, this tech was weaponized for personal intimidation and stalking.

This isn’t a glitch in the software; it’s a feature of how these systems are deployed. We’re repeatedly told that automated license plate readers exist to curb crime and keep communities safe. Yet, private vehicle data is routinely funneled into state-accessible databases with zero meaningful oversight… and zero public consent.

There is a slight shift happening on the ground: roughly 30% of cities using Flock have recently moved to cancel their contracts or push for stricter safeguards. But that brings us back to the core question: Can a system built on passive, warrantless mass surveillance actually be reformed with a few internal policy tweaks, or is the technology itself fundamentally incompatible with basic civil liberties?

He Wants To Send Mayor Mamdani To Guantanamo

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama recently took to the airwaves to suggest that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani should be arrested and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay.

Noticeably absent from Tuberville’s rhetoric was any evidence of an actual crime, due process, or baseline logic. Instead, he relied on predictable political playbook tactics: tossing around labels like “anti-American,” claiming we’re “losing the country,” and leaning into Islamophobic fearmongering to manufacture outrage.

Why resort to extremes like Guantanamo? Because it’s easier to sell fear than to compete on results.

In reality, Mamdani won the NYC mayoralty by campaigning on material, everyday conditions and he’s actively delivering on them. From expanding free childcare and raising wages to freezing rents and improving public transit infrastructure, his administration is focusing on direct working-class relief.

That progress is exactly what makes politicians like Tuberville nervous. Rhetoric about “losing the country” falls flat when working-class voters start seeing government actually work for them. While Tuberville focuses on talking smack about NYC from Washington, his home state of Alabama ranks 43rd in education, with over 15% of its residents living below the poverty line.

When you can’t deliver tangible improvements for your own constituents, manufactured fear is the only product you have left to sell.

Trump Running in 2028?

At the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Donald Trump capped off his speech by putting on a red “Trump 2028” hat and announcing he intends to run for a “fourth term”… repeating his claim that he won in 2020 and declaring, “I’m going to do it again.”

As usual, the response split down predictable lines. Many dismissed it as typical trolling or classic dinner joking. Others took it as a soft launch; a deliberate attempt to normalize an idea that directly violates the 22nd Amendment.

What’s most telling is how conservative media handles moments like this. It’s the ultimate Schrodinger’s statement: it’s just a harmless joke when questioned by critics, but a dead ass serious signal of strength when pitched to the die-hard base. They get to test public reaction, and keep the spotlight firmly locked on him; all while maintaining plausible deniability.

Whether it’s a joke or a serious ambition, a sitting president treating constitutional term limits like a bit is exhausting. But more than that, it highlights a massive double standard: if Barack Obama stood up tomorrow in a “2028” hat and joked about taking a third term, the very same commentators calling Trump a comedic genius would be screaming about a dictator destroying democracy.

Personal Update:

Familia, I’m back to streaming live on TikTok!

Catch me Tuesday through Thursday at 5:30 PM PST for about an hour and a half. We spend most of the time just kicking it and having fun, but the goal is to keep building out space for real conversations and debates; even with the ops.

Check out the clip below for a taste of us just having a good time with the homies. Hope to see you all in the chat!

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

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• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

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Saludos familia!

We are back this week looking at ICE once again. The patterns of overreach and absolute disregard for human dignity aren’t slowing down, and the three stories we talk about today expose just how lawless things are getting on the ground.

Scroll down to dive into the full breakdown.

Before you do, if you appreciate my work, deep dives, and community advocacy we do here, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription. Your support is what keeps this newsletter entirely sustainable and independent.

Let’s get into it.

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They Detained Her On Her Way to Chemo

We learned about a devastating story this week that highlights just how broken and heartless the enforcement system can be. An elderly Latina was detained while traveling to her chemotherapy appointment.

She was driving near the New Mexico and Texas border when she noticed a pickup truck following her. Terrified, she pulled into a gas station and went inside to ask for help. Instead of finding safety, she was ambushed. The agents following her stepped out of that unmarked truck and detained her. They covered their faces, drove unmarked vehicles, and produced no warrant.

Her family has since spoken out. She has legal status, but it didn’t matter. She was racially profiled and torn away from her life. Even worse, when her family contacted the detention center and presented proof of both her legal status and her urgent need for cancer treatment, the facility refused to release her.

This is inhumane on every single level. It serves as a messed up reminder of the reality on the ground: the agency isn’t targeting “the worst of the worst,” despite what they claim. They are looking to meet quotas, and they don’t care who gets caught in the crosshairs; even an elderly woman fighting for her life.

The Ex-Wife of the ICE Agent Who Killed a Man Speaks Out

By now, you’ve likely heard about Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old Colombian man who became the second person killed by ICE in just a single week. Johan had a work permit, a Social Security number, and a young family. He was simply leaving his home in Maine to go to work when agents rammed his car and shot him through the windshield.

While the agency scrambled to claim the shooting was a “justified” act of self-defense, no one is buying it. And you know who else isn’t buying it? The shooter’s own ex-wife.

In a stunning development, the ex-wife of the involved agent came forward to identify him and blow the whistle. She revealed that she was completely shocked ICE would ever hire him in the first place, calling the shooting “murder” and attributing it to his severe, unaddressed PTSD from his time in the military.

Even more alarming, she detailed a history of extreme abuse and domestic violence, stating unequivocally that this is not someone who should ever have been put in a position of power or handed a badge and a gun. She even shared that he contacted her right after the killing, begging her to lie and “cover for his character.”

This raises a massive, terrifying question: Are they even vetting these individuals?

When a federal agency is expanding so rapidly that they bypass basic mental health and background checks, putting known, violent abusers on our streets with lethal authority, disaster is inevitable. This was a horrible, heartbreaking situation that could have been completely prevented. Someone needs to be held accountable.

They Tried to Take Him at the Airport

If you or someone you love has vulnerable immigration status, please reconsider before flying right now.

We just saw deeply concerning video footage come out of Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Two plainclothes individuals tackled and tried to detain a 57-year-old man right in the middle of Terminal 3. The scene looked less like a legal law enforcement action and more like a straight-up kidnapping.

The two individuals were heavily masked and hooded, despite the blistering summer heat. Observers even noticed that the male agent appeared to be wearing a peeling, fake mustache to hide his identity. They refused to identify themselves as ICE, and to make matters worse, TSA staff stepped in to shield these anonymous agents from onlookers who were trying to film.

When a crowd of brave bystanders confronted them and demanded answers, the agents panicked. They completely abandoned the arrest and fled the scene, leaving the terrified man on the floor with a handcuff still dangling from one wrist. Local police had to step in to remove it.

But the nightmare didn’t end there. Determined to hit their numbers, the agency tracked him down and arrested him when his flight landed at his destination in Los Angeles.

This is the terrifying reality of how this agency is operating: skipping uniform protocols, using bizarre disguises, and behaving like an anonymous snatch-squad in public spaces. Please stay vigilant, know your rights, and look out for one another out there.

Personal Update:

I have some incredibly exciting news to share! For the next few weeks, I am going to be partnering up with Newdle, a fantastic new news platform built specifically for independent creators and audiences who care about real context, solid sources, and evidence-based reporting.

The team at Newdle reached out to me, and I instantly loved what they are doing. To keep things short: if you’re someone who just wants a reliable way to stay updated on the news without all the noise, this is an amazing resource. And if you’re someone who wants to create content, break down stories, and keep others informed, it’s an even better tool to help you show your work and build credibility. I’ll be sharing a lot more about how I’m using it over the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Most importantly, I wanted to say a massive thank you to all of you. You are the sole reason I am able to take up space in this industry, grow this platform, and get incredible opportunities like this one.

Ustedes ya me conocen y saben that I don’t collaborate with just anyone; I genuinely believe in what Newdle is building . Los quiero, and I hope you all check it out!

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

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Thank you all for being here and tuning in to this week’s newsletter. I am incredibly grateful for your continued support, especially on days when the work requires us to look at the hardest realities facing our communities. The stories we are diving into today are heavy, infuriating, and deeply tragic, but they are exactly what we need to confront head-on.

Read below and if you appreciate my work please consider upgrading your subscription!

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ICE Murders Man: The Devaluation of Black and Brown Lives

We woke up to horrific news out of Houston this week. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old homebuilder and father who had lived in the U.S. for over three decades with no criminal record. He was simply driving his construction crew to work in the early morning hours.

The details are beyond messed up, infuriating, and entirely preventable:

• Wrong Target: ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have already admitted that Lorenzo was not the intended target of their operation. They were looking for someone else and guessed wrong based on the color of his work van.

• No Way to Know: Agents were in unmarked vehicles. The passengers in the van reported that they were followed, cut off, and hemmed in by unfamiliar cars before dawn. With no visible markings, there was no way for Lorenzo to know these were federal agents rather than someone attempting an armed robbery.

• The Unproven Narrative: ICE immediately claimed Lorenzo “weaponized” his vehicle and tried to ram an officer. It’s a defense script we have heard time and time again without proof… and notably, DHS confirmed the agents were not wearing body cameras. Meanwhile, three eye-witness passengers inside the van have come forward stating no one was ever in front of the vehicle, and that agents fired repeatedly from the side.

• A Heartless Aftermath: To make a nightmare worse, Lorenzo’s family had to find out about his death through social media. The agency has put up walls, making it incredibly difficult for the family to get answers or even claim his body, while keeping the surviving witnesses, including Lorenzo’s own brother, locked up in detention.

This tragedy is a terrifying reminder of the lengths this administration is going to with its street sweeps, and exactly how much they devalue human life. Even wilder is the response from some conservative circles, celebrating a tragic death as if it were justified simply because of a lack of paperwork.

Please be safe out there. Look out for one another, and tell your family how much you care about them. The current climate is scary, and when the agencies meant to enforce the law act with total disregard for life, it’s terrifying to think about what could happen next.

From Bad to Worse: ICE Targets First Amendment Rights in Illinois

If you thought the tragedy in Houston was an isolated incident, look at what just happened in Illinois. Protesters gathered outside an ICE processing facility to exercise their First Amendment rights. They weren’t blocking traffic; they were simply standing on the public sidewalk. In a disturbing display of unprovoked aggression, an agent rolled down the window of a vehicle while driving out of the facility, pointed a paint ball gun directly at the crowd, and shot a peaceful protester on the sidewalk. There was no chaos, no threat, and no disruption at that moment; just a federal agent using a weapon on a regular citizen from the safety of their car. The complete lack of accountability from this agency has reached a sickening level

These agents are acting like they are completely untouchable. When federal forces deploy weapons against people exercising their constitutional rights on a public street, they are violating the U.S. Constitution. The man who rolled down that window and pulled that trigger shouldn’t just lose his job; he belongs in a jail cell.

This should infuriate every single person in this country, regardless of where you stand on politics. These are blatant intimidation tactics meant to terrorize communities and silence dissent. I stand firmly with the protesters on the ground. We cannot allow a rogue agency to violently suppress our right to speak out, because if we let them silence us now, it’s a green light for things to get much, much worse.

The World Is Watching: The UN Demands Accountability

The crisis inside our borders has officially drawn the eyes of the international community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights recently issued a blistering statement demanding independent oversight, transparency, and a full investigation into the spike of deaths occurring within ICE detention facilities.

As we all know, these detention centers are legally meant to be civil processing spaces; not holding pens for punishment. Yet, the stories coming from individuals who manage to make it out alive tell a completely different story. They describe a system defined by “inhuman conditions.” People are being systemically underfed, denied essential life-saving medications, exposed to rampant diseases, and subjected to extreme solitary confinement that international experts warn amounts to psychological torture.

The UN stepping in to demand answers proves that the rest of the world is noticing exactly what is happening under this administration. We have become a nation that routinely violates basic human rights on our own soil, effectively making us a global laughingstock when it comes to the moral high ground.

When a global human rights body has to formally rebuke a country for the way it treats people stripped of their liberty, it is clear the system isn’t just broken; it’s rotten. I hope this international pressure forces some semblance of accountability and exposure.

But I want to know what you all think. Are we too far gone for international pressure to make a difference, or will this finally force the spotlight where it needs to be? Let me know in the comments.

Personal Update:

Over the next few weeks, you might notice me trying to incorporate some lighter, more fun content into the mix. To be completely real with you, carrying and analyzing so much trauma week after week can get incredibly draining. Injecting some joy is my way of protecting my own energy while staying in the fight.

Beyond that, it’s a strategic move. I want to expand our community and bring more people into the fold… hook them in with humor, challenges, and cultural content, and then challenge their perspectives with the heavy-hitting issues that matter. Plus, diversifying the content helps safeguard my accounts and makes the brand more sustainable for future sponsorships. The more viable this platform becomes commercially, the longer I can keep doing this work independently.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you have ideas for fun challenges, jokes, or even cultural deep-dives, like showcasing incredible food and traditions, drop them in the comments.

Thank you, as always, for supporting the platform and riding with me.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

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• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

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¡Gracias for being here and supporting this work! This week was a heavy one. There are a lot of critical stories breaking right now, and we need to talk about them.

Before we dive in: if you value the perspective shared in this newsletter and want to help take this work to the next level, please consider upgrading your subscription. Sustaining memberships are what keep this platform completely independent and free from outside noise. If you’re not in a position to do that right now, no worries at all! I am just incredibly grateful to have you in this community.

Let’s get into the stories below.

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They Are So Blatant with Their Bias

There was an article this week from the New York Times detailing the recent wave of white South African immigrants. While our people continue to be profiled, detained, and traumatized, these folks get custom welcome bags. Though, to be honest, I don’t think I would want what they are handing out.

These welcome bags include a literature packet that provides a sanitized, Trump-approved view of American and South African history, one that explicitly criticizes racial equity and civil rights laws while promoting claims of discrimination against white people.

Meanwhile, Haitian and Syrian immigrants are being actively kicked out of this country through the ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by the Trump administration, a move that was just upheld by the Supreme Court this week.

It is truly sickening that people who have escaped immense hardship and violence, seeking nothing but safety and a future in the United States, are treated with this level of dehumanization. Let’s not forget the history here: both Syria and Haiti have faced coups and U.S. military interventions that directly destabilized their countries, forcing people to leave their homes in search of a better life.

The double standard isn’t just a flaw in the system; it’s the design.

The Power of Truth: Mayor Mamdani’s Address

Mayor Mamdani recently delivered an address for America’s 250th anniversary, and it contained a lot of things that were incredibly refreshing to hear from someone in power. We have become so accustomed to constant hate and division that hearing a simple, grounded statement about basic values and human dignity feels entirely wholesome.

What struck me most was how powerfully he highlighted the core contradictions of the United States. He spoke directly about the reality of living in the richest place on earth while surrounded by deep poverty, and the cruelty of ICE targeting the very immigrants who are actively serving and building this country. The gap between the most powerful and the most vulnerable is expanding every single day. We need more leaders like him, and frankly, he needs to be protected at all costs.

When I posted a video of his speech online, the comment section immediately flooded with backlash from white Americans and Christians. It made one thing glaringly obvious: there is a massive divide and a deep misunderstanding that we desperately need to bridge. But as it stands, the other side is going to keep winning as long as they can keep us divided.

Exploitation in Plain Sight: She Called ICE on Her Own Workers

We recently saw a horrific story out of Maryland where a homeowner called ICE on the very workers she hired to do a job on her property. According to reports, the contract was worth nearly $10,000, and when the workers were almost done, she wanted them gone solely to avoid paying them what they were owed.

Let’s be completely clear: what this woman did is highly illegal. While anyone can pick up the phone, weaponizing immigration enforcement as a tool of wage theft is a crime. You cannot threaten or coerce workers with ICE to get out of a contract or get your way.

Unfortunately, too many U.S. citizens feel so deeply entitled and protected by their privilege that they believe they can get away with anything. Their sense of superiority completely blinds them to their own bias and absolute lack of humanity.

If you are a migrant worker, please protect yourself:

• Document everything: Keep text messages, photos of the work, and written records of your financial agreements.

• Track your hours: Know exactly what days and times you were on a job site.

• Reach out for help: If a client tries to threaten you with immigration enforcement to stiff you on pay, please reach out to local labor organizations or legal aid group. You have rights, and there are people ready to stand with you.

Personal Update:

Every year toward the end of June, my friends and I gather for “Daddy Issues Day”… or DID for short.

Over a decade ago, we noticed that we kept getting together around Father’s Day completely unprompted just to hang out. When we looked around, we realized none of us had our fathers in our lives to spend time with. Some of them had never been there, some of them had passed away and others had theirs deported. Instead of letting the weekend be a source of sadness, we decided to lean into each other and find some joy.

As the years went on, friends started moving away. To keep the tradition alive, we began picking random destinations to meet up, transforming a single-day gathering into an annual weekend getaway.

Now, many years into this celebration, it has become less about being fatherless and much more about the deep connection we share. Some of these folks I only get to see during this specific weekend. Beautifully, some of them have kids of their own now, actively breaking the cycles of family trauma that we all went through.

We just wrapped up our gathering last week, and it was incredible to slow down and spend time with everyone.

I encourage you all to create your own excuses to gather with your chosen family. Build those traditions and lock in those memories. If you already have a tradition like this, or if you’re planning to start one, reply to this → I’d love to hear all about it.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

  Subscribe now

Gracias for being and here and supporting my work! This week was rough/ there were so many important stories that we have to talk about.

As always if you appreciate my work and want to go above and beyond please consider upgrading your subscription! Every little bit helps to keep me independent. If you are not able to don’t worry! I’m just glad you’re here. Stories below!

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They Are Coming For Our Street Vendors

Multiple videos went viral this week showcasing a disturbing and dangerous trend: targeted attacks against street vendors.

The first two incidents came out of Southern California. In one video, an attacker physically assaulted an elderly hot dog vendor. It was a terrifying watch, especially given the huge age and size difference between them. If bystanders hadn’t stepped in to intervene, the situation could have been devastating.

The second California clip involved a burrito seller who was approached by an aggressive stranger. The perpetrator threatened her and violently threw her product onto the ground. We later learned a complex twist to this story: the perpetrator was actually another street vendor who claimed she was pressured into acting by an outside group. She has since publicly apologized.

The third incident took place in Texas, where a paletero was being publicly harassed by a man aggressively demanding to see his permits. Luckily, a community member stepped in, shut down the harassment, and defended him.

We need to protect our street vendors. They aren’t just small business owners trying to survive; they are keeping our culture alive and showcasing the exact flavors, hard work, and traditions that make our communities unique.

If these videos didn’t exist, we wouldn’t even know these incidents were happening, let alone have a shot at holding anyone accountable. Please, do not be a bystander. If you see something happening in your neighborhood, step up, support them, and always record; both for their safety and your own.

They Handed Him a Letter From a Child in Detention

This week, Vice President JD Vance sat down for an interview with Univision. During the segment, he was handed a letter written by 7-year-old Valentina Paz, a young girl who was held in the ICE detention facility in Dilley, Texas, for four months.

In her letter, Valentina writes that she misses going to school, she misses her family, and she simply does not feel good inside the facility. When the interviewer asked Vance for his response to her words, his answer was incredibly telling.

He started with the expected pivot: calling the letter “heartbreaking” and stating he wants Valentina to have a “good life.” But immediately after, he moved to defend the administration’s aggressive immigration policies. He claimed there are “tens of thousands” of young girls just like Valentina who are brought into the country via sex trafficking and forced to live in the shadows.

Let’s be clear: this is a completely unsubstantiated talking point. It is a recycled narrative weaponized to justify inhumane detention practices.

Vance then conceded that while it’s a “difficult decision” to deport people when they have families, it is ultimately better for families to be sent back to their country of origin together. But we know the reality on the ground. This administration consistently detains and processes families who have zero criminal records. Vance’s response did absolutely nothing to address the actual conditions inside these facilities… places that are meant to be temporary processing centers, not punitive, months-long holding cells for children.

Ultimately, it’s the same playbook we’ve been seeing for a while now: using immigrants as a convenient scapegoat for the struggles of everyday Americans. The administration has gutted vital social programs, leaving millions of working-class citizens struggling to meet their basic needs, yet they continue to point the finger across the border to distract from their own policy failures.

If You Can Vote for Love Island…

I was talking to a Gen Z’er recently who told me they love watching Love Island and tune in to vote every single chance they get. They genuinely enjoy the fact that their vote can sway the couples and dictate the decisions made on the show.

Then, I asked who they voted for in the recent California primary elections.

Silence. They hadn’t voted.

I’m not bringing this up as a “gotcha moment” to bash a young person. To me, this dynamic proves that young people are completely capable of voting, they just need to feel engaged and believe that their voice will actually enact change. Voting should feel accessible, immediate, and, honestly, enjoyable.

The reality is that younger generations are highly aware that many politicians fail to advocate for the communities that elected them. When you see that disconnect, it’s easy to feel like your ballot doesn’t matter.

If politicians want the youth vote, they need to put forth policies that actually inspire young folks and appeal to their reality. As content creators, we also share the responsibility to find new, innovative ways to bridge that engagement gap. (And hey, maybe politicians should battle it out on an island… just kidding.)

Look at the New York primary races this past week. If we learned anything from those results, it’s that when young people feel truly inspired by a candidate, they will show up and completely upend the status quo.

Voting isn’t the only way to stay politically active, but it is one of the most accessible starting points we have.

Personal Update:

Did you all know my big ol’ head is part of a mural somewhere in the US?

About a year ago, I was approached by Dr. Lizbeth de la Cruz about sharing my story for a project around Humanizing Immigration and Deportation, my segment was digital storytelling around childhood arrivals. This past weekend, the artist was closing down her exhibition in Fresno, and I was invited to attend as a panelist.

I had the chance to share a bit about my own experience, and it was incredible to meet a few folks in person who follow my work here. Thank you all so much for your support; it is honestly thanks to you that I get invited into these spaces and gain these kinds of opportunities.

If you want to check out my part of the project, you can see it right here: lizbethdelacruzsantana.com/angel.

I’ve also added my full narrative below to make it a bit easier for you all to find. There are so many powerful stories documented in Dr. de la Cruz’s project, and they are absolutely worth a listen.

Gracias de nuevo; los quiero.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

  Subscribe now

Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing dads out there putting in the work. Especialmente para todos los papás inmigrantes y aquellos que están encerrados por el racismo de este país. Sending you all energy and rooting for every single one of you.

Below are the stories of the week. Thank you for being here →

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The ICE Agent in the Mexico Jersey

A video circulating on social media this week perfectly captures a deeply frustrating double standard. In the footage, an ICE agent is seen walking around during an operation, wearing a Mexican national soccer team jersey clearly visible underneath his tactical vest. When you see something like that, you have to ask … is this extreme tone-deafness, or is it a deliberate, calculated mock?

Let’s go with the latter.

This isn’t an isolated incident. It is a pattern we see everywhere. Plenty of people love to rock the Mexico jersey, consume the food, and celebrate the culture when it is convenient, trendy, or fun. Yet, when it comes to the actual human beings from that very community, those same voices go completely silent about the systemic enforcement, raids, and displacements happening right in front of them.

Co-opting the symbols of a community while actively participating in its policing isn’t a lapse in judgment. It is a demonstration of a harsh reality: some people love the culture, but despise the people who created it.

They know exactly what they are doing. And it is gross.

What are your thoughts on this story?

Co-opting the Team: The Hypocrisy of the DHS World Cup Posts

Just when you think the Department of Homeland Security couldn’t get any more transparent, they outdo themselves.

This week, the DHS official account shared two social media posts attempting to tie nationalist propaganda to the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team during their World Cup run. First was a graphic featuring three U.S. players plastered with the slogan: “Defend the homeland. One Nation. One Homeland. One Team.” The second one was a graphic showing the team standing in front of a goal, captioned with a blatant dog whistle: “Built the wall.” The phrasing isn’t accidental. It relies on a very specific type of nationalist rhetoric, and the irony here is so thick it is impossible to ignore.

Here is the reality check that DHS wants everyone to forget: the U.S. roster is a living testament to the power of global movement and diversity. Fully 46% of the current U.S. squad is either foreign-born or first-generation American. Six of the players on that pitch were born outside the United States.

The very existence of this competitive team is only possible because of the exact concepts, migration, diverse heritage, and cross-border families, that this administration’s policies actively target and demonize.

It is the classic playbook: they despise migration when it doesn’t fit their political narrative, but the second those same roots produce a winning squad on the global stage, they rush to co-opt it for propaganda. They love the labor and the talent when it is convenient, but reject the humanity of the community it comes from.

What do you think?

When the Quiet Part is Said Out Loud: The Fox 26 Commentator

A viral video was sent to me this week that perfectly captures how quickly minor everyday friction exposes deep-rooted xenophobia. The setting? A Starbucks drive-thru…

The situation was simple: a woman was blocking the exit and demanding the person recording move forward. There was physically no space to move. Instead of handling a standard moment of traffic frustration like a normal adult, she escalated it immediately by beeping her car over and over. She told the woman recording to “go back to Mexico” and threatened her with ICE.

When frustration hits and your immediate, instinctual response is to lean into xenophobia and prejudice, you aren’t just losing your temper. You are letting the mask slip. You are saying the quiet part out loud.

The story gets even wilder. Folks quickly identified the woman in the video as a commentator and lawyer for Fox 26 Houston. You would think someone with a law degree and a public platform would know better, but the internet did what it does best and dug into her social media history. What they found is the ultimate definition of hypocrisy; she had multiple videos of her happily dancing to Bad Bunny and even footage of her on vacation in Mexico, enjoying herself.

It is the exact same theme we are seeing across the board this week. She is perfectly fine consuming the music, vacationing in the country, and enjoying the culture when it serves her. But the second she experiences a minor inconvenience from a person of that presents as Latina? The threats of deportation come flying out.

Hate is a virus, and it thrives on this kind of selective empathy.

Are you surprised by this?

Personal Update:

I am no stranger to getting hate on the internet, but lately, I’ve found myself on the wrong side of the algorithm a lot. As I’ve been pushing to grow on more platforms and sharing my content on YouTube and Facebook, the comment sections have been getting swarmed by white nationalists and racists. Below is just one example of the kind of hateful stuff being left on my page daily.

Let me be incredibly clear: this will not deter me. I am completely committed to my mission, and these attacks only prove how necessary this work actually is.

I do want to take a moment to say a massive thank you for everything you all do to support me. A special thank you goes out to those who go above and beyond by becoming paid subscribers or buying me a cafecito. Honestly, just having you all here in this space makes the noise worth it.

Los quiero, and thank you for always having my back.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

  Subscribe now

Thank you for tuning in! We have some important stories from this week. You can find them below! And scroll to the end to see my new merch drop!!! →

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We Should Be Alarmed About This Change

An unsettling and negligent development from ICE this week, as they announced they will no longer report the deaths of former detainees that occur within 30 days of their release.

The entire goal of the 2021 policy was to ensure that ICE could not avoid accountability by releasing severely ill people from custody right before they passed away. Under that rule, they were required to report these deaths to Congress and open investigations into the root cause. This sudden reversal comes after at least 19 people have already died in ICE custody this year, marking 50 deaths since the administration took office in 2025;a historic and terrifying spike in mortality rates that now surpasses even the peak of the pandemic.

Public reports have repeatedly shown that many individuals suffer from severe medical neglect inside these facilities, only to be rushed to hospitals or abruptly released when their conditions become fatal. This policy change directly masks the reality of horrid facility conditions, as well as ongoing allegations of physical and psychological abuse by agents.

I will continue to remind folks that detention centers are not meant to be spaces for punishment. People are supposed to be waiting for the government to process their cases. Instead, eliminating this rule is a calculated move to hide the human cost of mass detention policies from the public; disappearing our communities with no trace and zero accountability.

What do y’all think about this policy shift? How do we keep the pressure on for transparency when the state is actively trying to hide the data? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and please share this post to help expose what’s happening.

70 Billion to Fund ICE With Zero Strings Attached

This week, President Trump signed the Secure America Act into law, handing upwards of $70 billion to immigration enforcement agencies like ICE and Border Patrol.

Let’s be clear about how dangerous this specific piece of legislation is: it was passed using a budget reconciliation loophole to bypass any real debate, and it contains absolutely zero accountability or reform metrics. Even worse, it doesn’t just fund them for twelve months. This bill locks in lump-sum funding through September 2029. By handing $38.5 billion directly to ICE and $26 billion to CBP for the next three years, Congress has essentially stripped away its own ability to use the annual budget process to check these agencies’ power. They gave them a multi-year blank check to operate with total impunity.

Once again, politicians are completely failing to protect our communities.

While millions of Americans are shouting from the rooftops that inflation is squeezing them dry and everyday affordability is a daily crisis, our elected officials decided their top priority was funding a mass deportation machine. Think about what $70 billion could actually do for the people in this country. It could fund massive rental assistance programs, provide stimulus relief for soaring grocery costs, supply underfunded public schools, or stabilize our healthcare infrastructure. Instead, it’s being poured into agencies that terrorize our communities.

The priorities are completely backwards. We are told there isn’t enough money for the social safety net, with massive future cuts to social security constantly on the table, yet the government can magically manifest $70 billion to expand state violence. This structural betrayal is exactly why voter disengagement is so high. People look at Washington and realize they aren’t being represented at all.

We don’t need minor tweaks to the system; we need a complete deviation from the status quo. ABOLISH ICE.

What do y’all think about this?

U.S. Accepts Only White Refugees for Sixth Consecutive Month

If you ever needed absolute proof that our current immigration and border policies are driven by white supremacy rather than “national security,” look no further than the official data released by the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.

For the past six consecutive months, the United States has accepted only white refugees. Out of the 6,668 refugees permitted entry this fiscal year, 6,665 of them have been white South Africans (Afrikaners). The only other three individuals were admitted way back in November. Meanwhile, the administration recently used an emergency executive declaration to increase the annual refugee cap by 10,000 slots; explicitly reserving every single one of those new spots for white South Africans.

Keep in mind that according to global human rights organizations, more than 90% of the world’s refugees are Black and brown people fleeing actual, devastating warfare and mass displacement.

At the exact same time our government is rolling out the red carpet for one specific group, we are witnessing a vicious wave of state-sponsored hatred and aggressive crackdowns against Black and brown immigrants under the guise of “protecting our borders.” This policy layout makes their true intentions loud and clear.

What makes this even more infuriating is that international experts and human rights groups have repeatedly denounced this entire situation as a manufactured crisis. The narrative of systemic persecution against white landowners in South Africa is a thoroughly debunked myth that isn’t supported by any factual evidence. Yet, the federal government is manipulating emergency humanitarian channels to prioritize a single, favored demographic while completely shutting the door on millions of the world’s most vulnerable people.

They aren’t even hiding the playbook anymore.

Drop your thoughts in the comments below.

Mexican Jerseys Everywhere, But Silent on ICE

With the World Cup getting started, Mexican jerseys are suddenly everywhere. As a proud Mexicano, I love seeing the vibrant display of culture, the pride, and the energy. But I can’t help but feel a profound sense of confusion (and frustration) at the selective silence that precedes it.

Where is that same energy when our community is actually under attack?

So many prominent Latino creators, public figures, and influencers are quick to rock the jersey, blast the music, and profit off being “for the culture” when it’s convenient, trendy, and profitable. But the second ICE begins escalating its operations, tearing families apart, and rewriting humanitarian laws, those same massive platforms go completely dark. It exposes a painful hypocrisy: wanting the benefits of the culture without carrying any of the weight or responsibility of defending the actual human beings who create it.

Meanwhile, look at who is speaking up…

Figures like Ms. Rachel, a white children’s educator, are currently doing more to show up for the immigrant community than many of our own most famous influencers. Just this month, she was on the ground outside the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in New Jersey, singing protest songs with the children of detainees, and walking the halls of Congress carrying letters from kids locked up in the Dilley detention center in Texas. She is putting her multi-million-follower platform on the line, facing intense political attacks, threats, and smear campaigns just for saying that children shouldn’t be traumatized by the state.

If a toddler-show host can find the courage to stand down the walls of ICE, our creators have no excuse. It’s a reminder that we need to stop giving our attention to people who just use our culture as a costume. We need to start making the right people famous.

What do y’all think about the silence from major creators right now?

Personal Update:

Familia! I have brand new hats and freshly renewed tank tops now live in the shop. Honestly, these are the exact pieces I get the most compliments on whenever I’m out walking around on the street.

I chose to bring back the “Deport Racism” design because of how deeply I believe in its core message; and since summer is officially here, I thought the tanks would come in handy for everyone trying to stay cool.

If you grab one, please tag me in your photos! I’d absolutely love to see how amazing y’all look rocking them. Thank you so much for the continued support.

You can find them here.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

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Hola! welcome back to another issue→

This week we are bringing you some incredibly heavy, critical topics; specially my closing message at the end. Please stay safe out there and thank you for being here.

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They Asked the Head of ICE if People Should Carry Their Passport

I want to talk about a deeply unsettling, frustrating moment that happened this past week. They asked the head of the Department of Homeland Security point-blank if people need to start carrying their passports around just to navigate daily life.

Instead of offering a real answer, or providing any kind of reassurance that things would look different under his leadership, he immediately started to dismiss the concern entirely. The way he dodged it was honestly offensive. He deflected by saying that he lives in Indian country and that he is part Cherokee. He literally tried to weaponize his claimed indigenous ancestry to brush off a valid, terrifying question about state surveillance and racial profiling.

Honestly- there is absolutely nothing native about someone who actively heads a machine that attacks, cages, and deports people who share that exact same ancestry.

The hypocrisy is wild. He threw out that identity as a shield, completely ignoring the horrific reality that ICE and federal law enforcement have a history of detaining indigenous people right here in the USA. They disappear Native Americans within this system, yet he uses his background to gaslight our communities.

It is a slap in the face to anyone fighting for the dignity of our people. This is the kind of dismissive, dangerous rhetoric coming straight from the top, and we cannot let them minimize the fear they are instilling in our neighborhoods.

What do y’all think about this? Let me know in the comments below.

Silencing Youth at the Podium

I want to talk about something that happened at a high school graduation this past week that really hits home for me. A student speaker took the stage, and mid-speech she was made to stop.

She started out delivering the usual, cliché graduation lines that everyone expects. But toward the end of her speech, she pivoted and stated that she needed to share one final message. She looked out at her peers and told them to never let their voices be silenced, urging them to speak out for marginalized communities around the world…specifically mentioning Palestine, the Congo, and other places; before linking that global struggle right back to the actions of ICE here in the United States. This is what she said

“Before I leave the stage, I have one last thing to say.

Every single person here has a voice and we have the privilege

and freedom to use it when so many people around the world

are struggling and suffering to be heard. Whether it’s the millions

suffering in Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan, and so many countries

around the world. Or the families being torn apart by ICE. These are not

distant issues, they are happening right now as I speak. My point

is we are not given a voice to stay silent and… “

The administration’s response was swift. The principal quickly stepped in, stopped her mid-sentence, removed her from the stage, and even went as far as threatening to hold her diploma.

As a former high school principal myself, I get it. I understand firsthand that when a student goes completely off-script, it is incredibly stressful. There is a lot of pressure to keep the ceremony moving, and there’s always a fear that things could become inappropriate.

With that said, young people speaking their truth is both important and necessary. Cutting her off like that was the wrong move, and honestly, the school could have handled this completely differently. If anything, the administration’s aggressive reaction backfired; the extra attention and outrage this created is only going to help spread her message and raise more awareness.

In a statement posted later by the student, she said that at first she was fearful to speak up but then was able to find the courage in honoring those who were suffering at the hands of these atrocities. Much respect to the brave young person and this is exactly what everyone with a platform should be doing.

What will ICE be doing at the World Cup games?

There is another deeply concerning update about federal surveillance and the upcoming World Cup games that we need to talk about. A reporter recently asked Homeland Security Secretary Mullin point-blank what exactly ICE will be doing stationed inside stadiums across the U.S. during the tournament.

His response was weird. He shrugged it off, claiming that ICE and federal agencies have always been around these types of massive events and that historically, “nobody knew who they were.” He went on to state that their presence is strictly to protect against “terrorist threats,” and casually mentioned that facial recognition technology will be used by federal and state departments to detain anyone flagged on a terrorist watch list.

Let’s break down the massive lies in that narrative. First of all, ICE is not some invisible, brand-new agency. The idea he is trying to paint, that nobody knew or cared about ICE prior to the Trump administration, is absolutely false. We have been protesting this agency since its inception. Past presidents have similarly disgusting deportation records, and our communities have always known exactly who they are and the terror they bring.

Furthermore, look at the reality we are seeing play out right now on the ground. We literally just witnessed ICE detaining U.S. citizens, racially profiling our people, and punishing folks completely arbitrarily. Why on earth should we believe they won’t do the exact same thing at these stadium events? The World Cup is going to attract an incredibly diverse group of people from all over the world, making it a prime breeding ground for textbook federal profiling.

People are not buying the lines this man is selling. I am incredibly nervous to see what this level of hyper-surveillance and unchecked power is going to look like in the coming weeks.

ICE Has Detained US Citizens

We need to talk about a terrifying reality that completely exposes how reckless, racist, and out of control this machine truly is. They want us to believe that federal immigration enforcement only targets non-citizens and that they are only going after the worst of the worst, but the truth is that nobody is safe from their profiling.

Look at what just happened to Dulce Consuelo. She was wrongfully detained by ICE, despite the fact that she is a United States citizen. When she was picked up, she literally brought her birth certificate to prove her citizenship status, but they completely ignored it and refused to let her go.

Instead of rectifying their massive mistake, they kept her in the system and shuffled her around, transferring her multiple times to different detention centers. And the cruelty didn’t stop when they finally released her; they forced an ankle monitor onto her as if she were a criminal in her own country.

This is not an isolated case. People are actively being targeted and locked up even if they are US citizens, simply because they fit a specific description. It is textbook racial profiling, and racial profiling is completely against the Constitution.

Yet, so many people in power and in the media are entirely dismissing this issue. They treat it like a minor administrative glitch instead of a glaring human rights violation. But we have to ask the hard question: if this is what they are willing to do to US citizens who have documentation on hand, just imagine the horror and abuse they are inflicting on people who are even more vulnerable.

Personal Update:

I was honestly unsure if I wanted to put this story out there because of how raw and private it is, but what kind of wannabe influencer would I be if I didn’t turn my own struggle into a learning opportunity for our community?

About three weeks ago, I was threatened with deportation if I didn’t pay someone a specific amount of money. This wasn’t some anonymous scammer online; it was someone who actually knows me and my familia in real life. To top it off, they didn’t just target me; my mom received the exact same threat.

Obviously, I didn’t give them the thousands of dollars they were demanding from me. Instead of giving in to the fear, I went straight to the police.

I hope to God that none of you ever end up in a situation like that, but if you do, I need to make sure you know one thing: you have rights.

If someone tries to exploit or extort you, don’t let the fear of your status freeze you. Go to the police, get a lawyer, or find a trusted community advocate. The most important thing you can do is document as much as you can so you have solid evidence of what happened. Taking that step and building a paper trail isn’t just about protection; it could actually lead to you being able to fix your status through a T or U visa, which are specifically there for victims of crimes who cooperate with law enforcement.

Please be safe out there, look out for one another, and never forget your worth. Los quiero.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

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Saludos mi gente! welcome back to another issue of the newsletter. I appreciate you all being here. We have a lot of heavy, critical topics to unpack this week, from the real daily struggles of navigating life without papers to the powerful hunger strikes happening behind bars and the systemic issues creeping into our classrooms.

Read below to dive into the full breakdown. As usual if you appreciate my work please consider upgrading your subscription; your support allows me to continue on this journey :)

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There Is Nothing to Gain From Being an Immigrant Without Papers

I want to talk about a frustrating, deeply flawed narrative that people love to push: the idea that folks somehow “choose” to be undocumented in this country. Let’s be entirely clear about reality; no hay ningún beneficio, there is absolutely zero advantage to living without papers in the United States. It is an exhausting, uphill battle every single day, and it requires navigating a system that feels designed to make you fail.

So many people take the baseline essentials of daily life completely for granted. When you are undocumented, the basic infrastructure of modern society is locked behind a door you can’t open. Think about the things you do without a second thought: opening a bank account, building credit, taking out a loan to buy a car, or renting an apartment. Without a Social Security number, even finding a safe place to live becomes a massive hurdle. It forces families into risky, under-the-table housing arrangements where landlords hold all the power. If the roof leaks, if the heat goes out, or if the landlord decides to take advantage of you, speaking up feels impossible. The constant, heavy fear of retaliation or deportation keeps people silent.

Then there is the daily crisis of just trying to get to work. In many states, undocumented folks are completely barred from obtaining a driver’s license. This puts our community in an impossible, heartbreaking paradox: you must work to survive and feed your family, but you are legally denied the right to the very transportation you need to get to that job. Every single morning commute becomes a high-stakes risk.

We have to actively fight against the misinformation spreading through our communities and the media. Immigrants would gladly apply to adjust their status if a viable, legal pathway actually existed. Nobody chooses to live in the shadows; they are forced there by a broken system. It’s time we educate folks on the actual realities of this experience and dismantle the myths that erase the dignity of our people.

The Crisis at Delaney Hall: Resistance Behind Bars

We need to talk about what is happening right now in Newark, New Jersey, inside the Delaney Hall Detention Facility. This past week, hundreds of detainees launched a massive hunger and labor strike to protest the horrific, inhumane conditions they are being subjected to. We are talking about severe overcrowding, a complete lack of adequate medical care, delayed case hearings, lack of temperature control, and a shortage of food. People are being forced to navigate a system that treats them like numbers, enduring everything from freezing living spaces to scalding hot showers.

The resistance isn’t just happening inside those walls. Protests have erupted right in front of Delaney Hall as community members show up to support the hunger and labor strikes. The response from the state and federal government has been nothing short of a disgrace. ICE has repeatedly responded by attacking peaceful protesters. To make matters worse, right-wing counter-protesters have joined the fray, mobilizing to harass and intimidate the people fighting for the dignity of those detained.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security had the audacity to call these protests “political theatre”. They are completely ignoring the documented human rights abuses occurring under their watch. To be hella clear→ a detention center is supposed to be a place for administrative processing, not punishment. Yet, the current administration keeps pushing a dangerous, racist narrative, labeling these vulnerable folks as “criminals” and “murderers” to justify their cruelty; they even started mocking people by making them out to be aliens.

The state’s suppression has only escalated. Since the initial footage of these actions was recorded, state police have fired tear gas canisters and pepper ball pellets directly at anti-ICE protesters. One of the primary demands of the strikers was a meeting with the state governor, but he was turned away at the ICE facility earlier in the week. Instead of stepping up to dismantle these private concentration camps, state and local governments have actively partnered with law enforcement to violently quell the protests. There are even deeply concerning reports that ICE is transferring certain detained migrants to different facilities just to break up the strikes, a calculated tactic that only inflicts deeper trauma and stress on their families and loved ones.

We need to send a massive shout-out to everyone on the outside putting their bodies on the line, making it as difficult as possible for ICE to carry out these fascist orders. More than anything, we must elevate the true heroes inside these facilities who are risking their lives to expose these conditions. Delaney Hall is not an isolated incident; there are multiple detention centers across the United States right now where folks are on hunger and labor strikes. The fight is nationwide, and we cannot afford to look away.

Racists Have No Place In The Classroom

This week, we witnessed a deeply disturbing story out of Florida that completely exposes the sickness within our education system. A middle school teacher decided it was a good idea to hang a black doll in front of her classroom. When confronted, her defense was that it “wasn’t serious” and that she was simply trying to get her students’ attention. Let’s call this exactly what it is: absolutely disgusting.

Invoking the imagery and message of a lynching in front of children is incredibly violent and traumatizing. Young people should never have to experience this kind of psychological harm, especialmente in spaces that are supposed to be safe, nurturing sanctuaries like a classroom. Our schools should be places where youth are uplifted, not subjected to systemic terror disguised as a lesson plan.

This is not an isolated incident. It is a direct symptom of a hostile culture that has been getting progressively worse over the years. We see this acutely in places like Florida, where there has been a coordinated, aggressive attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion. When the messaging coming from the highest levels of local government dehumanizes marginalized communities, it creates a permission structure for educators to bring that same hatred into the classroom.

People who harbor this kind of ignorance and malice have no business teaching. She should never step foot in front of young people again. We must protect our kids and demand real accountability, because staying silent only allows this rot to spread further.

Personal Update:

Finally, I want to leave you all with a reminder: GO OUT AND VOTE. As you all know, familia, I am undocumented, so I do not have the legal ability to cast a ballot in this country. Because of that, I am asking you to please make your voice heard on behalf of people who are in positions just like mine.

Whether you are out here with me in California or tuning in from any other state, your vote carries immense weight. I want to be entirely transparent with you all: I haven’t endorsed any specific candidates, and I won’t be doing so. It’s a necessary step to protect myself, my livelihood, and this account. That being said, I am sure you all know where my bias lies. While I am not making formal endorsements, I have consistently shared resources and deep dives on multiple candidates throughout this election cycle. If you want to review those breakdowns before heading to the polls, just scroll through my past posts and you will see plenty of information to help you make an informed choice.

This community thrives on dialogue, so let’s talk in the comments. If you have already voted or know exactly who you are voting for, leave it in a comment below! And if you are still on the fence or feeling unsure, let me know what qualities or policies you are looking for in a leader so we can figure it out together.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

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• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

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Fernando Deveras and I were blessed to have a conversation on a bunch of important topics for our communities! I hope you all enjoy it→

We touched on so many things central topics to the community so I hope you all get to join in and leave some comments below to see how it lands for you all.

Here is a quick look at what we dig into:

• The Trap of Identity Politics: Navigating labels like Mexican, Latino, Latine, and the complexities of reclaiming indigenous heritage without erasing the folks currently struggling on the ground.

• Proximity to Power vs. Proximity to Pain: Why the political spectrum in the U.S. is completely warped, and how politicians use “both-sides” language to dodge accountability.

• The California Governor’s Race: A look at why Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra are tripping up creators, and the political litmus tests that matter when children are being bombed abroad.

• The Reality of Harm Reduction: Navigating the 2024 hangover, the very real threat of ICE targetings hitting close to home, and how we protect our communities while playing the long game.

My favorite quote from this→

“If you ever see one of my videos and it resonates with you, steal my words... as long as we’re rowing in the same direction, that’s what’s important.”

If you appreciate this conversation and my work I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

  Subscribe now

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Happy Sunday, familia!

We’ve got a heavy but necessary issue today. From unpacking the intersections of Latino identity and white supremacy, to a massive community victory against ICE overreach, and the truth behind the billionaire tax debate; we are diving straight into the deep end. Let’s get into it.

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The Shooting in San Diego and Latino Identity

First off, my deepest condolences go out to the loved ones of the heroes who lost their lives in the shooting in San Diego earlier this week. I can’t even begin to imagine what the families and the entire community are going through right now. When tragedies like this strike, I try not to give energy or oxygen to the monsters who commit these horrific acts. But today, we have to address the shooter, because of the dangerous conversation happening online.

One of the mass shooters has the last name Vasquez, and right-wing circles are already weaponizing that to blame the entire Latino community. They are trying to spin a narrative that frames this tragedy as an inherent conflict between Muslims and Latinos.

Let’s be clear: the root of this hatred is white supremacy and nationalism.

We have watched Islamophobia rise and become dangerously normalized, fueled by political rhetoric and animosity toward non-white people. But we also have to look inward. The Latino community is not immune to this; we have our own deeply rooted history with white supremacy.

“Latino” is not a race. Being Mexican, Salvadorian, or Guatemalan is an ethnicity and a nationality, not a racial category. There are white people within all of these groups. At the same time, we have non-white Latinos who actively try to align themselves with whiteness, under the false assumption that proximity to it will grant them power and protection. This isn’t new…it stems directly from colonialism and the casta system created by Spanish colonizers. The legal system changed, but the mindset remained, evolving into the colorism we see today.

We have a real problem with white supremacy and anti-Black/anti-Muslim rhetoric within our own community, and we cannot afford to look the other way anymore. We need to talk about it openly.

I put together a longer video breaking down this entire dynamic, the history of the casta system, and how it connects to this. Please check it out below. The algorithms aren’t giving this topic the reach it deserves, so if this resonates with you, please consider sharing the video and leaving a comment to help boost the conversation.

DACA Recipient Detained

Our community was hit with a collective shock this week following the news that Karla Toledo was violently detained by ICE at her home in Tucson, Arizona. For those who don’t know her online, Karla is a prominent community advocate and influencer (known as “Karlangas”) with over 700,000 followers, recognized for her mutual aid work helping families survive the pandemic.

Home security footage shared by her husband captured a terrifying scene. The video shows ICE agents pushing their way into her home without a judicial warrant. When Karla repeatedly and clearly asked to see a signed warrant, the agents refused, grew agitated, and forced their way inside anyway, eventually marching her off the property.

ICE later released a statement claiming Karla had “assaulted an officer,” a allegation her legal team quickly blasted as completely fabricated based on the surveillance footage. More disturbingly, federal officials used this moment to explicitly remind the public of their current stance: that having DACA does not automatically protect individuals from enforcement and deportation.

If ICE thought they could quietly deport a beloved community member, they completely miscalculated. The response from Southern Arizona was instant and fierce. Grassroots groups mobilized emergency protests outside the ICE field office, legal defense funds raised thousands in hours, and U.S. Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva applied direct political pressure.

Because of that massive public outcry and aggressive legal maneuvering, we have major breaking news: Karla was just released from the Eloy Detention Center after posting a $1,500 bond.

Her lawyer noted that the government likely backed down because they realized the sheer gravity of their unlawful entry, combined with the crushing weight of public scrutiny. While we celebrate her return to her family, this should never have happened in the first place. A current work permit and a clean record are no longer the shield they used to be.

This is a reminder of the times we are living in. We cannot afford to be complacent. Please protect yourselves and your loved ones:

• Do Not Open the Door: ICE cannot enter your home unless they slip a warrant signed by a judge under the door. Administrative ICE warrants do not grant entry.

• Document Everything: If you interact with federal agents, film it. Video evidence is exactly what exposed the truth in Karla’s case and protected her from fabricated assault charges.

• Stay Silent: You have the right to remain silent and the right to speak to an attorney. Do not sign anything without legal counsel present.

We have to keep showing up for each other. When we organize and refuse to be intimidated, we win. Stay safe, stay loud, and look out for your neighbors.

Jeff Bezos: Tax the Rich vs. Fix the System

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos made waves during a CNBC interview this week when he weighed in on wealth inequality, bringing a perspective that is fueling intense debate across the internet.

While sitting inside his Blue Origin rocket factory, Bezos stated he doesn’t mind having a policy debate about paying more billions in taxes. However, he strongly rejected the idea that forcing the ultra-wealthy to pay more would actually fix what is broken in America. “You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens, I promise you,” Bezos argued. Instead, he claimed politicians are just using the “age-old technique of picking a villain and pointing fingers” rather than addressing the root causes of our economic crisis.

To pivot the conversation, Bezos proposed a policy of his own: completely eliminating federal income tax for the bottom 50% of American earners. He gave the example of a nurse in Queens making $75,000 a year and paying $12,000 of it in taxes, arguing that “we shouldn’t be asking her to send money to Washington... they should be sending her an apology.”

Bezos’s argument is half right, but it leaves out a massive piece of the puzzle. He is right that our institutions are plagued by deep structural failures. Throwing money at a broken, bureaucratic system without systemic reform won’t automatically fix our public schools, guarantee universal school lunches, or build affordable housing.

But here is the part he’s missing: those two realities are not mutually exclusive. We do need profound structural and spending overhauls in this country- but we also need billionaires and massive corporations to pay their fair share. It shouldn’t be an “either/or” debate.

When the top 10% of Americans control nearly 70% of the country’s wealth, claiming that taxing billionaires won’t help everyday working people feels incredibly dismissive. More revenue can fund crucial community infrastructure, but it requires the political will to allocate those funds directly to the people who need them most.

What do you all think? Is Bezos right that targeting billionaires is just an easy political distraction from deeper government failure? Or is he just trying to protect his fortune by shifting the blame?

Drop your thoughts in the comments… I want to hear where you land on this one. :)

Personal Update:

Soooo, things have been incredibly weird on TikTok for the last few months.

This week alone, I had multiple videos abruptly taken down over violations that simply didn’t happen. That falls on top of millions of views that have mysteriously vanished due to blatant suppression on my account. But the biggest hit came this week: my account was completely demonetized.

To be completely honest, I wasn’t making a much from TikTok’s built-in monetization programs. But a couple hundred dollars here and there absolutely helped make the research, editing, and hours of production behind this work sustainable.

More than anything, this is a sign of the current state of social media platforms. Creators who speak on heavy, systemic issues are constantly fighting an uphill battle against algorithms and sudden policy shifts that can jeopardize their livelihood overnight.

But let me be absolutely clear: this will not deter me from my mission.

If anything, it proves why independent media is so vital right now. I want to take a moment to give a massive, heartfelt thank you to all of you who have subscribed to a premium membership here, bought me a cafecito, or committed to supporting the channel as a monthly cafecito member.

It is your direct support, and only your support, that allows me to bypass the gatekeepers, weather these platform storms, and continue delivering the raw, unfiltered truth every single week. We keep moving forward.

Thank you for holding it down with me.

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

• Buy me a coffee- a way to support my continued journey!

• Facebook - please follow!

• YouTube - please subscribe!

• and of course consider upgrading your subscription

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Happy Sunday, mi gente.

The news cycle is relentless, and today we’re cutting right through the noise. We are diving deep into foreign policy spending priorities, California’s latest political shakeups, and the toxic reality of online rage-baiters.

Let’s get into the headlines...

P.S. Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom to see my birthday reflection; ya toy viejito👴🏽

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Why is Ramsey Robinson Running as a Third Party Candidate?

This week, I had the chance to sit down again with Ramsey Robinson, a socialist candidate running for Governor of California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. His platform is built entirely around putting people over profits, advocating for policies like a universal single-payer healthcare system, a $30/hour minimum wage, free universal childcare, guaranteed housing, and an immediate statewide rent freeze.

During our conversation, we dove into his choice to run as a third-party candidate rather than on the Democratic ticket→ an avenue many voters see as the only viable path to winning a primary election. Robinson’s reasoning was clear: he wouldn’t be able to make or keep the radical campaign promises he’s running on if he were constrained by the Democratic Party machine.

Since launching his campaign, Robinson has faced attacks from both establishment Republicans and Democrats because his policies fundamentally challenge the status quo that both parties uphold. The reality is that Democrats have held supermajorities in California’s legislature multiple times over the last few decades, yet working-class people are still crushed by staggering economic inequality, rising medical debt, skyrocketing rent, and a severe lack of protections for undocumented immigrants.

True change requires us to step away from a corporate-backed two-party duopoly that is bought and paid for by billionaires. For example, despite a vast majority of registered Democratic voters supporting rent freezes and single-payer healthcare, party officials consistently refuse to enact them. Why? Because doing so would hurt the profits of the real estate developers and health insurance giants who hold massive influence over Sacramento.

By contrast, the Peace and Freedom Party is deeply rooted in a history of grassroots revolution, born out of the Black Liberation and anti-imperialist movements of the 1960s. For Robinson, this isn’t just about winning a single election cycle; it’s about building a sustainable, independent movement capable of driving real systemic change.

He left me with a quote that perfectly sums up why we can’t keep waiting on the establishment:

“You can’t remodel a house that was built on the foundation of keeping folks like us out. We need our own house. We need our own party.”

Below, I’ve included a clip of Robinson’s breakdown of how he plans to handle billionaire wealth and taxation in California to fund these community programs. Drop a comment and let me know what y’all think of his approach!

ALSO I have the full interview here on Substack. Please check it out!

Trump Doesn’t Care About Your Wallet When Negotiating with Iran

When asked this week to what extent Americans’ financial struggles are motivating him to make a deal, Donald Trump’s response said it all:

“Not even a little bit.”

According to him, the only thing that matters when dealing with Iran is ensuring they don’t have a nuclear weapon. He then doubled down, making the completely false claim that the stock market is at an all-time high. It is a stunning display of how detached he is from reality, completely ignoring the skyrocketing prices that continue to fuel our current affordability crisis. Trump ran on an “America First” platform, yet here we are, entangled in another war that a mere 12% of Americans actually approve of.

Let’s look at the facts: there is still no confirmed evidence that Iran had even developed a nuclear weapon. In fact, Iran and the United States were actually making tangible progress in negotiations right before Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. On top of that, the Islamic Republic remains firmly in power, proving that the U.S. and Israeli attempts at forcing a regime change have completely failed.

We also have to acknowledge the contrast in how this conflict hits home versus abroad. In America, we are privileged that the primary effects of this war come in the form of financial burdens. Meanwhile, in Iran, civilians are paying with their lives. Schools have been bombed, innocent people killed, and infrastructure destroyed; destruction that will undoubtedly cause severe environmental and health hazards for decades to come.

As a community, we cannot stay silent. We must continue to push back against American imperialism and demand accountability for the real-world costs of these decisions, both at home and abroad.

They are Throwing Money at a Well-Known White Supremacist

“Chud the Builder,” a notorious racist and right-wing agitator from Tennessee, was arrested this past week on attempted murder charges following a shooting. During a verbal altercation, Dalton Eatherly (Chud’s real name) reached for his firearm and shot another individual multiple times.

This isn’t the first time he’s made headlines. A while back, Eatherly set up a crowdfunding page, begging his followers for financial help after his overt racist actions finally caught up with his wallet. Shockingly, he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations. The comments left by his donors are absolutely gross, with people writing things like, “We need more men like Chud to take back our country,” and “We need more white people like this.”

Eatherly is currently being held on a $1.25 million bond; a massive sum driven by the fact that he had just been released from jail a few days prior to this shooting. His violent actions were premeditated, and he is getting exactly what he deserves. I hope the justice system holds him fully accountable.

But this situation is about more than just one man. The massive influx of donations and unwavering support he continues to receive is a nasty, ugly reminder that explicit racism is alive, well, and heavily funded in this country. We cannot look away, and we must continue to call it out wherever we see it.

Señor Barragan Turns 34 👴🏽

Ya estoy viejo, mi gente :( se me notan los años, LOL. Yesterday was my birthday, and I spent the whole day just reflecting on the last few years of my life. There have been a lot of challenges and conflicts, but I am so glad to be in community with you all.

It’s been 5 years since I started this platform, and we have been through so much together… not just on the political and news side, but personally, too. This community was with me when I lost family members, when I was applying to become a principal, when I went back to Mexico for the first time in 20 years, and so much more.

I feel incredibly blessed and just want to say thank you. I am exhausted, but I’m deeply committed to continuing this mission and looking forward to growing together with you all.

If you appreciate my work, please consider becoming a paid member of this newsletter. I am an independent creator, and I’d like to keep it that way for as long as I can. Every single member who steps up to support makes a huge difference. Y si no pueden, no hay pedo; I’m just glad you’re here. 🙏🏽 Los quiero!

You can go here to upgrade your membership!

You can also go here if you just wanna get me with a cafecito ☕:)

or if you want to support me by getting some cool merch go here :D

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If the stories I shared today resonated with you, I would be so grateful if you’d consider supporting this journey. Beyond this newsletter, you can do the following to go above and beyond:

• Check out my new podcast! It’s also here on Substack!

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Skip the next paragraph if you want to get right into the conversation with Ramsey! But I had something to say!

I see the comments, and I hear you regarding paywalls. My goal was to create early access for folks going above and beyond to support me (and making it available to everyone after a few days) but I don’t want to make those that don’t have the financial means to be left out.

Moving forward, our interviews and full transcripts will be 100% free for everyone. With that said, I hope you all can still consider supporting me since this type of independent work can be a lot! Between travel, gas, parking, time, equipment and production I tend to take a financial loss every time I do one of these. The few folks that support help make my work sustainable. If you can just click the button below!

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Would also love some help in sharing this and helping us get out numbers up! Mil gracias- los quiero!

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This week I had the pleasure to sit down for the second time with Ramsey Robinson, who is running third-party for Governor of California on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket. Ramsey is a mental health social worker and community organizer who has been on the front lines of the housing crisis and anti-war movements. Because we both share deep roots working in schools, this conversation immediately hits a personal note before diving into the hard-hitting policy.

We break down his catalyst moments in activism, the mechanisms he plans to use on Day One to halt evictions, his response to corporate propaganda, and why he believes the youth are the vanguard leading our future.

The complete, uncut interview transcript is available below.

📋 The Transcript: Ramsey Robinson for Governor

🎥 Intro & The Catalyst for Organizing

Speaker 2 (Angel): I’ll start with a quick intro and then like afterwards, I’ll start asking you questions.

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): Sure. All right. We got a clap. So we can. Nice things. Great. Three. Two. One.

Speaker 2 (Angel): Saludos familia. Welcome back to Hello Brown and Hello Loud. I have the amazing Ramsey with me. Ramsey who’s running for governor. I actually met him before. It’s the second time that I meet him. Homie works in schools, so I have a lot of love for people that work in schools in general. Ramsey, do you want to quickly introduce yourselves to people that don’t know you? And I forgot to tell you, you can look directly into the camera if you ever want to look at the people. But do you want to introduce yourself real quick?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): I will, thank you, brother, and good to see you again. Yeah. So for those who don’t know me yet, and there’s a reason why you might not know me, because the billionaires and the Democrats and Republicans are scared of us. The Peace and Freedom Party. And I am the candidate for governor of California with the Peace and Freedom Party. The Peace and Freedom Party is the fastest growing political party in California. Not the Democrats, not the Republicans.

And I’m running for governor of California because like so many of us that are watching this, and the 40 million of us in California, I’ve not only been a worker, but a worker in crisis. And so when we talk about these challenges that folk like us face—that a million of us are behind on rent, that 2.5 million of us don’t even have health insurance—this was never me on the outside looking in. That has been my life, too. And that oppression that folk like us feel, it always elicits a response from the cruelty and the inhumanity of the system that we live in.

It elicited a response from me, and it made me want to fight. I started to realize the power of fighting through organizing and meeting other organizers where we could actually put pressure on the people responsible for the changes that we need. And then I saw it happen. I can give two quick examples: one was in 2020 when George Floyd was murdered and I had never been out in the streets, I have to say humbly, and it elicited that response. I have to get out there. And 36 million of us got out there in the streets. I was organizing at the time with the party and still do—I’m a proud member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Many people remember what that was like. Right now as we record this, Derek Chauvin, who murdered George Floyd, is in prison. And that is because we linked up and connected our struggles and fought back. So I got a taste of the power of organizing.

Then in San Francisco, when Banko Brown, who was a trans brother, was murdered for the crime of being hungry, we organized the PSL with other organizations. Hundreds of people on the street put pressure on Brooke Jenkins, the DA, to release the footage to prove his innocence. He was innocent. And also, I think this goes to say, the power of a party, too. We were also able to say that in a $4 trillion economy, there’s no excuse that anyone goes hungry.

✊ Shared Origin Stories & Double Consciousness

Speaker 2 (Angel): Yeah, I love that you just shared your origin story because I was going to ask you what was the origin of Ramsey Robinson that’s running for these political spaces to hold space, to speak truth to power. Because I think in the same way that you mentioned the Black Lives Matter movement really got things going, I remember for me it was around the children in cages. Right? And seeing so many people being outspoken in support of the community, that really got me started. For people that don’t know your background, can you tell us where you come from, what you stand for, and how that background influences what you’re trying to achieve now?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): Listen, the power that we have is when we connect our struggles. My daddy’s Black, and knowing as a child that my descendants were slaves—I say that to say that they were workers who were unpaid. It sounds a lot like what’s going on now when bosses intimidate undocumented workers who are saying, “Hey, you’re not paying our wages. We just worked a 40-hour workweek and we’re not getting it.” They intimidate them and steal their wages. As a matter of fact, $7 billion are stolen from us workers here in California every single year.

So when I was growing up, I knew, okay, damn, my descendants were slaves. Besides the cruelty and inhumanity of that, we weren’t paid for our labor. So when we say for our campaign that Black people in California will get reparations in direct cash payments, that’s because of the centuries of stolen labor.

Being Black early on cracked open an awareness for me that something’s up. Something’s not right here. How could it be that a whole group of people are so oppressed? Right off the bat, that made me have this double consciousness—that yeah, I’m a human and a child and I’m growing up and going to high school, but I’m also a Black kid and the police are messing with me. Just the other day, Angel, I was trying to count in my head all the times that I’ve been pulled over. It’s like a dozen times.

That’s where my consciousness started growing. I started reading Malcolm X and Frantz Fanon and W.E.B. Du Bois, and being like, okay, I see what’s up now. This isn’t by accident. The struggles that folk like us face—this is a rigged system that from the jump got the money it’s using right now from unpaid slavery, from extricating resources from people who were here first.

That made me think, okay, there’s a root to our problem, and it has a name. It’s capitalism. Capitalism is a huge factor in the fact that my ancestors were imprisoned. Capitalism is a huge factor in the fact that our undocumented siblings right here in California are super exploited. When we talk about that $7 billion taken from us, that disproportionately falls on our Black and Brown brothers and sisters.

I’ll tell you one story from 2020 that really put it over the edge for me. Very simply, this one data point changed my life: when I learned that there are half a million unhoused people in our country, but 17 million empty homes. Something about that clicked, and I’m like, oh, there’s no excuse. It’s one thing if we just live in a racist society or get our wages stolen, but it’s another thing if there is actually more than enough, and a small group of people are keeping that from us and sitting back laughing while we’re suffering. Here in California, we have 187,000 unhoused people, but 1.2 million empty homes. Let’s get everyone in a home. When we say for our platform that guaranteed housing for everybody is a human right, we’re not just saying it—we can do that.

🏫 Representation in Schools & The Youth Vanguard

Speaker 2 (Angel): Yeah, it’s possible. A lot of people don’t realize—I think one of the things that I hear on my platforms often from people that are part of the opposition is that, quote-unquote, “illegal immigrants” are taking all the homes, and that’s why they can’t afford one. The reality doesn’t match up.

One of the things that you were talking about right now is the reason why a lot of folks are looking at your platform and supporting you. There are a lot of people that don’t even live in California leaving comments like, “You gotta look at Ramsey.” It’s because you clearly understand the struggle of underprivileged and underrepresented people. You work in schools right now, right? What do you think that representation means for Black and Brown people who don’t see themselves in politics? That’s part one.

Part two is a little more personal: how are your students reacting to this? I used to be a high school principal and a high school teacher, and that’s when I started getting my audience on social media. So I got to see my students’ reactions—seeing like, “Oh, my principal is famous on the internet sometimes, that’s so weird, but if he can do it, I can do it.” What does it mean when they see their school personnel running for governor and getting the attention they deserve?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): Well, yeah. I mean, it’s been amazing. I walk into a classroom to pull a kid for therapy, and other kids in the class will be like—this literally happened to me—they’re on TikTok and they’re like, “Mr. Robinson, your edits are fire.” I’m like, “I don’t know what an edit is, but I know fire’s good, thank you.”

In the school setting, to talk to them—not in the therapeutic space, because you’re dealing with depression and anxiety and it’s not appropriate to bring it up—but to point out these things. Like when these kids graduate, I tell them: when you graduate, you’re not going to have a guaranteed job, you’re not going to have guaranteed healthcare. If you lose your job, you might become unhoused. I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t have an answer for it. And then to say to them: there’s no excuse for it. We live in a $4 trillion economy and that money is ours. Your mama made that money, your aunties, your uncles made that money. That should be our money.

To start to see them get excited and involved is beautiful. I have to say this, Angel—woo! To see these students on May Day, they walked out in protest for better labor rights against the administration. To see young people leading that? I had nothing to do with that. It’s just amazing. You see that our future is in good hands. Someone on our slate, Frank Lara for Superintendent of Public Instruction, likes to quote Che Guevara: The youth are not the future of anything; they are the present of everything now.

If I’m able to drop some jewels to them and inspire them, cool, but they’re also the vanguard. They’re leading this over and over and over. We were just in Bakersfield this weekend, and a 16-year-old came up to me completely clear about what we’re talking about and about making mass movements in her school. It’s super inspiring.

Speaker 2 (Angel): Yeah, the next generation doesn’t play around. What I noticed when I was the principal last year, some students planned a walkout. These foos came up to me and were like, “We’re doing a walkout.” I’m like, “Dude, I’m your principal. You’re not supposed to tell me, bro. Don’t—you’re not getting advice from me, bro. Go ask that teacher who will give you the advice you need. I’m not supposed to know.”

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): They trust you, though! To your point, they see folk like us up in there. And that’s beautiful to me, Angel, that they have that relationship. Students should have more relationships like that with their principals. So shout out, that’s dope.

🗳️ Why Run Third-Party?

Speaker 2 (Angel): Yeah, I think my students thought it was dope too. They also loved to prank me, they did the most. There was one question that I wanted to ask you before I forget. A lot of folks have left this comment and I want you to be able to respond to them: they’re wondering why run as a third party? A lot of folks are saying, “Ramsey is saying everything that we want to hear, he stands for everything we stand for, why didn’t he run as a Democratic Socialist and join the Democrats?” A lot of folks can’t understand making a decision that might create a handicap for you, but it was intentional that you ran in this third party. Do you mind explaining to folks why that’s necessary and important, and what you’re standing against?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): We would not be able to offer or promise the things we’re doing if we rolled with the Democrats or the Republicans. I think your viewers right now can take the Republicans off the table—who’s rolling with them? They’re proactively attacking us. And actually, the Democrats are, too. These Democrats have had a supermajority in both the House and the Senate for decades now, and all these challenges that we talked about—a million of us behind on rent, 15 million of us drowning in medical debt, still no reparations, still ICE coming into our communities—that’s under the Democrats.

The reason is because they are, just like the Republicans, tied in with the billionaires. If we are saying guaranteed housing for all, that we will do a rent freeze and stop evictions—the Democrats can never say that because they’re in bed with the corporate landlords. They’re paying off, basically bribing, you could say lobbying, these Democrats and Republicans. They paid $540 million just last year to make sure the billionaires’ money that they split from us is protected.

We’re not going to push the needle anywhere if I was to roll with the Democrats. The power that we have is that we are independent from the billionaires. The power that we have is that we were birthed from the anti-war movement. The Peace and Freedom Party was formed in 1967 and co-founded by the Black Panthers. Black liberation—and they were socialists, too. They demanded the end to police terror, they demanded that we have guaranteed jobs and housing. You will never see me roll with the Democrats, because even though we have well-intended candidates in the Democratic Party, look at the foundation of the party. You can’t remodel a house that was built on the foundation of keeping folk like us out. We need our own house. We need our own party, and that is the Peace and Freedom Party. It’s for us, by us.

📋 The Day-One Housing Plan

Speaker 2 (Angel): I love that. I think some people always ask me when I interview folks, “Make sure that you get past the vibes and ask about the actual politics.” It can be really hard because you’re such a cool dude, I just want to ask you about regular things! But talking about political stances and things that you’re running on: Day One, what is that Day-One plan? What are the biggest priorities for you at the beginning if you were to become the governor of California?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): Yeah, Day One, we are going to freeze the rents. No more evictions, no more foreclosures. I’m so glad you brought this up—and shout out to whoever said, “Hey, cool with the vibes, but let’s get into it.” I want to talk about housing, and I’ll be brief and specific. When we say guaranteed housing for everyone, this ain’t an Oprah thing where you get a car and you get a car. There are mechanisms that the state already has on the books that the governor can use.

Specifically, the California Emergency Services Act. This is a mechanism where, day one in office, I can halt evictions and freeze rents. When we were deep in Covid, Gavin Newsom used the California Emergency Services Act to stop evictions, as he should. None of us should be thrown out of our homes because we can’t pay rent during a worldwide pandemic. He did that, but it wasn’t enough. He could have used that right there to freeze the rents too, but he didn’t. It just shows that he’s tied up with the billionaires who say, “Whatever you do, let these corporate landlords keep piling on that rent.”

I will invoke that California Emergency Services Act because when a million of us are behind on rent, tens of thousands are facing eviction, and these huge corporate landlords are snatching up properties all across California jacking up prices—this is an emergency. So we will freeze the rents. No more foreclosures for homeowners, either. And we will build 1.4 million beautiful public social homes. A lot of them are already there; we don’t even have to build them. We can use eminent domain to take back these homes that were stolen from us. Day one in office, housing costs can and will go down.

💰 Rebutting Billionaire Propaganda

Speaker 2 (Angel): Yeah, you talk a lot about the $4 trillion economy, and I don’t even need to ask you, bro—I know you want to tax the billionaires. One of the main critiques that folks who are more conservative often say is that if we tax the billionaires, they’ll leave the state, and that’s going to cause a downturn on the economy. How do you respond to that propaganda?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): There have been studies that demonstrate when taxes on billionaires are imposed, only 1 to 2% of billionaires actually leave. Let’s do the math: there are 194 billionaires in California. If 1 to 2% leave, that’s still more than enough to meet all of our needs. So if they leave, we’re going to be fine.

Second, there’s no way they would leave. It’s propaganda to make us scared to shake up the status quo, because the status quo is only working for them right now. To huge corporations like Amazon, Uber, and Lyft, California is a 40-million-person market. There is no way these corporations will leave all that money sitting on the table. And we’re not taking all their money right now—eventually, we do want to get rid of billionaires, because you can’t get that rich without making people poor—but right now we’re saying just a permanent tax on them to make sure we have everything we need.

Lastly, go ahead and leave! It’s the construction workers, the agricultural workers, the social workers, the teachers, the nurses, and the principals who make California run. It’s not the billionaires. They can leave, but their money isn’t going anywhere. We will have everything we need here to live a life of dignity and security. There are only 194 people keeping us from that, and that’s who we’re after.

⚡ Rapid-Fire Round: Newsom, Reparations, & Voting

Speaker 2 (Angel): It’s crazy if you think about it. That’s the number of people keeping us from being able to have our basics met. I looked at the time, we have like three minutes left. So I’m gonna ask you some rapid-fire questions and just keep it down to like 30 seconds. Very good, let’s give it to 20 seconds. All right, can you name one good thing and one critique that you think the current governor of California is doing?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): A good thing: he’s making more of us realize that the Democrats are completely incapable. That’s a good thing. The bad thing he’s doing: he didn’t sign for reparations. He ran on universal free healthcare, and he just vetoed CalCare again. Those are two things, and I could go on.

Speaker 2 (Angel): What is one thing that is not housing that keeps you up at night about California?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): Reparations does. Can you imagine working your whole life and getting nothing but grits and a piece of bread? That haunts me, and it carries on. It’s by design that Black households have one-tenth the household wealth of white households. That’s because of centuries of unpaid labor. Knowing that we have the money where everyone could have housing, healthcare, education, and direct cash reparations keeps me up all night and makes me want to keep fighting.

Speaker 2 (Angel): If people want to support your platform, what can they do?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): Y’all can go to ramsey4gov.com. It’s a one-stop shop. You can register with the Peace and Freedom Party. You don’t have to be registered with the party to vote for us on June 2nd, but please do register, volunteer, or donate. We have 7,000 volunteers right now and have knocked on 30,000 doors in the last two months. Also, check out the Party for Socialism and Liberation, because that’s a party that’s going to continue to fight in between election cycles.

Speaker 2 (Angel): Beautiful. And last question—you can look right into the camera for this one. My audience is the BIPOC community: immigrants, mixed-status families, allies, and folks in general. What message do you have for them? What would you like them to know?

Speaker 1 (Ramsey): There are just 194 people on that side keeping us from the wealth that we generate. On our side, there are 40 million of us. You all know how special, resourceful, intelligent, and hardworking we are. There is no competition, and when we get organized, we will win. That’s when the billionaires get scared.

We have to connect our struggles and see that we have a common purpose. With socialism, we win. For those who don’t know what socialism is, here are three quick definitions:

1. It’s where working people control the wealth we create.

2. It’s where oppressed and working-class people have the economic and political power to plan the economy to meet our needs.

3. It’s when we make sure all of us, no matter how we identify or where we’re from, have basic dignities: housing, healthcare, education, a guaranteed union job at $30 an hour, and a dignified retirement.

The billionaires use disunity to separate us. We need to come together, and part of this interview is doing exactly that.

Speaker 2 (Angel): Awesome. It’s a pleasure, Ramsey. Nice to see you again.

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I’m back with Episode 7 of Hella Brown and Hella Loud. This week, the homie Internet Mexican joins me for a conversation that swings from the heavy weight of 2026 geopolitics to the absolute absurdity of our childhoods.

We’re getting into the “Greater North America” agenda and a reality that is literally ticking down: Internet Mexican has exactly 16 days left on his DACA status. We talk about the panic of the “lapse,” the privilege of safety nets, and why the current administration’s detention centers feel more like a nightmare than a process. But because we can’t stay in the darkness too long, we also unpack why Pleasanton is trying to claim the Bay, the “unspoken rules” of Korean spas, and a Yu-Gi-Oh beef that almost turned into a federal case.

Inside this Episode:

• The Ticking Clock: 16 days to impact. We dive into the anxiety of DACA status lapses and the terrifying “non-punitive” reality of 2026 detention centers.

• Breaking the Cycle: Moving past machismo. We talk about why having a “mellowed out” Mexican dad felt like a rare privilege and how we’re raising the next generation differently.

• The “Greater North America” Agenda: Empire and hegemony. How the shift in U.S. interventionism in Central and South America is being felt across the hemisphere.

Where to skip ahead:

• 00:00 – The Great Bay Area Debate: Is Pleasanton in or out?

• 12:04 – Crash Bandicoot and the immigrant hustle: Learning English through gaming.

• 15:40 – Metaverse Drama: Why I had to block my own family to stay safe.

• 26:11 – The Fatherhood Shift: Breaking cycles of machismo and “mando” culture.

• 42:12 – The Yu-Gi-Oh Felony: A $2,000 “Gate Guardian” and a 7th-grade knife fight.

• 59:45 – 16 Days Left: The 2026 DACA countdown and the truth about ICE.

What do you think? Do you have any similar experiences? And more importantly… what is the most ridiculous thing you ever got into a fight over as a kid? Drop a comment below... I want to know if you’re feeling the same “ticking clock” we talked about or if you’re just here for the Yu-Gi-Oh nostalgia.

Stay Hella Brown, Stay Hella Loud.

- Sr. B

Hola a todos!

Thank you for the incredible energy and support you continue to bring to this newsletter. Building this platform together means the world to me, and your engagement is what keeps this project moving forward.

We have a lot to unpack this week; from the surprising “vibe-based” politics in California to the dangerous rhetoric surfacing across the country and a much-needed cultural reset on our history. These stories aren’t always comfortable, but staying informed is the first step toward real advocacy.

Below are the stories you need to know:

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Priorities or Privilege? The Surprising Latino Coalition for Chad Bianco

If you live in Cali… or even if you’re just watching from the sidelines→ you know the 2026 Governor’s race is already a chaotic mess. The field is packed: we’ve got a crowd of Democrats, some solid third-party voices, and two Republicans leading the charge on the right.

One name that keeps coming up is Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco.

To his critics, the resume is a red flag: allegations of incompetence, low crime-clearance rates, and recent headlines about the illegal seizure of 2025 ballots. Yet, despite being labeled “overpaid” and “rogue” by state officials, he’s pulling significant support from LATINO MEN.

I wanted to understand the “why” behind the numbers, so I did an experiment on my platform. I asked people on one of my videos and received thousands of responses. What I found was a strange mix of vague vibes and hyper-specific single issues. Here’s what the “Bianco Latinos” told me:

• The “Anti-Dem” Vote: A huge chunk of supporters couldn’t actually name a policy they liked. For them, it’s purely a “not a Democrat” vote; a reaction to years of feeling ignored by the current establishment.

• The “Alpha” Factor: There’s a segment of the “machismo” vote that sees him as an “alpha” figure who stands up to Sacramento. Personally, I don’t see it, but the projection of “strength” is clearly working on some folks. Dijeron que el vato tiene huevos LOL

• Second Amendment Priorities: Some believe a Governor Bianco would be the key to finally loosening California’s strict gun laws, specifically around ARs.

• The Car Culture Connection: This was the most surprising one. A big group is backing him because they believe he’ll roll back regulations on modified cars.

To me, these priorities feel disconnected from the larger issues facing our community: housing, healthcare, and education. It feels like a showcase of privilege to vote for a candidate based on car mods or “alpha” vibes while ignoring a track record of legal overreach.

If you’re in California, I’m begging you: be informed and vote. Don’t let a loud personality distract from the actual work of governing.

What do you all think? Does the “car culture” vote surprise you, or is this just the new reality of CA politics?

What Cinco de Mayo really is about→

This past week was Cinco de Mayo… or, as some gringos like to call it, Cinco de Drinko.

While half the country is busy looking for happy hour deals, I want to take a second to do a quick cultural reset. Despite what the marketing campaigns might suggest, this is not Mexican Independence Day.

Cinco de Mayo is actually a celebration of La Batalla de Puebla.

At its core, it’s a tribute to a massive victory against European colonizers. In 1862 an outnumbered group of Mexican soldiers faced off against the French, who had the strongest army in the world at the time, and they won. It was a moment that showed the world that even the most powerful empires are beatable when people stand their ground for their sovereignty.

In the U.S., the holiday has evolved into a celebration of Mexican-American heritage and a rare moment of mainstream representation. But as we see every year, that “celebration” often slips into something less than classy. We see the caricatures, the fake accents, and the straight-up racism disguised as “party vibes.”

Enjoy the culture, but know the history. If you’re going to celebrate, do it with respect for the struggle that the date actually represents. Don’t let the “Drinko de Mayo” crowd distract you from a legacy of resistance against colonization.

From Dog Whistles to Megaphones: Calling Out the Hate in Alabama

I was shocked when I saw the campaign ad currently circulating from Jay Mitchell, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Alabama. That is a disturbing window into a brand of politics that feels increasingly detached from basic human decency. In the video, he doesn’t just lean into hardline stances; he actively fear-mongers, using rhetoric that sounds like a cross between a dark video game and a call to arms. He uses phrases like “blasting” migrants and “sending them to the undertaker” a choice of language that intentionally gamifies and dehumanizes the reality of state-sponsored violence and deportation. By framing the “threat” as his state turning into “Mexico” or a Muslim country, he is using the oldest play in the xenophobic handbook: making people fear a cultural “replacement” to justify extreme actions.

This isn’t about a single election in a single state; it’s a symptom of a much larger, global sickness. When this type of rhetoric is allowed to circulate as a “normal” political strategy, it has immediate, real-world consequences. It creates a blueprint for violence and provides a justification for hate. Perhaps most concerning is the impact on the next generation- when children see leaders speaking this way, it translates directly into schoolyard bullying and a belief that certain people are less than human. It shows a segment of society that feels completely empowered to drop the dog whistles in favor of open hostility.

We have to be clear: this is gross, it is disgusting, and it is not normal. This brand of politics thrives on outrage fatigue, hoping we’ll eventually stop being shocked by the dehumanization of our neighbors. But we cannot afford to look away or treat this as just another viral moment. When a candidate for high office starts talking about blasting people, they aren’t just running a campaign; they are poisoning the social fabric that holds us together. We have to call it what it is before this type of hate becomes the global standard for leadership.

Bonus Story: Why We Still Use Mr. and Ms. in the Classroom

I came across a video this week that I wanted to highlight as a former teacher and high school principal who spent over a decade in the school system.

A infleuncer asked why K-12 teachers, who she claimed “barely made it through school themselves”, insist on being called “Mr.” or “Ms.,” while high-level university professors with PhDs are often cool with being called by their first names.

Let’s get serious here though: To even step into a classroom, a teacher needs a bachelor’s degree at minimum, followed by a gauntlet of state-specific credentials, exams, and continuous professional development. Many of the educators I worked with were absolute leaders in their fields who chose to bring that expertise to the next generation. The idea that teaching is a “fallback” for those who couldn’t cut it is a tired, disrespectful myth that needs to be retired.

But the “Mr.” and “Ms.” debate isn’t just about ego or credentials; it’s about the unique environment of a K-12 classroom.

• In a K-12 setting, establishing a clear boundary between student and mentor is a functional necessity for classroom management. It creates a container where learning can happen safely. I’ve seen scenarios where without the boundary students try to be friends with their teachers and makes discipline hard.

• We advocate daily for respecting our students’ names, pronouns, and identities. That same respect should be extended to how an educator chooses to be addressed.

• In college, you’re working with adults. The power dynamics change, and the boundaries naturally shift. It’s comparing apples to oranges.

At the end of the day, there are always exceptions. I’ve known incredible teachers who go by “Teacher (last name)” or other identifiers that fit their comfort level and gender identity. If the students are safe and the learning is happening, the specific title is at the teacher’s discretion. But let’s stop acting like the title is unearned. Whether it’s a PhD or a teaching credential, the person at the front of that room has put in the work.

¡Feliz Día de las Madres!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there. I personally owe my mother everything, and I plan to show her my appreciation for as long as I am able.

A special shout-out to the immigrant mothers in our community. People often don’t realize the sheer scale of the sacrifices you made to get here; the courage it takes to leave everything behind to build a future for your children.

I wrote a poem for my mom that centers on the idea of her crossing and the weight of that sacrifice. I’ve shared it below→I hope you enjoy it.

Mi Madre Cruzo - My Mother Crossed

¿Cómo lo lograste mamá?

Escuche tu historia una y otra vez y no lo puedo entender

La fortaleza para seguir al frente

¿Que fue? cuentame

¿Fue la imagen ardiente de tus hijos con nada?

¿Oh la predicción de tus hijos con todo?

¿Esta era tu visión del futuro?

¿Cómo supiste que pasaría todo esto?

De casas sin techo que nuestros hijos no tendrán

De ser menospreciados por el pueblo

“Escuincles con lombrices”

¿Valio la pena? Cuentame

De no ver a tu madre por nosotros

Dejar el lugar que tu llamaste hogar

Para ir a un país que no te quiere por mas que intentes

Tus amigos y familia , tus raices

---------------

How did you do it mama?

I’ve heard your story time and time again and I just can’t understand

How you mustered the strength to continue on

What was it? Can you tell me?

Was it the burning image of your children with nothing?

Or a prediction of your children with everything?

Your vision of the future

Did you know this would happen?

From roofless homes that our children won’t have

From being looked down by the town

Children with worms

Was it worth it? Tell me about it

Not seeing your own mother for us

To abandon the place you called home

For a country that doe not want you no matter how much you give it

Your friends, family. Your roots

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