South County Report: Immigration Takes Center Stage

Amid stepped up immigration raids across Southern California and President Donald Trump’s invocation of military powers to quell violent protests in Los Angeles, immigration, one of America’s most divisive political issues, has leaped to the forefront in South San Diego County – and jolted the District 1 Supervisor race in the final weeks before a July 1 voting deadline. 

“We’re all talking about this,” said Chula Vista resident Christine Brady on Monday. “The community in general is absolutely horrified by what’s going on.” 

Brady and other South County residents said immigration, so common it’s often taken for granted in a border region, became impossible to ignore following a May 30 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on two restaurants in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego. South Park is at the northern tip of District 1. 

The raid was followed by more enforcement actions and a series of violent protests in Los Angeles the following week. 

One of the District 1 Supervisor candidates, Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre, a Democrat, wasted no time seizing on the issue. She issued a statement denouncing the South Park raid, made a Saturday campaign appearance near the targeted restaurants and walked back previous comments she’d made questioning a controversial county sanctuary policy adopted late last year. 

Aguirre’s Republican opponent, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, took a different approach. McCann declined requests to comment on the South Park raid and kept his focus on nuts-and-bolts issues, such as budgets, housing policy and healthcare. 

Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. County governments have no say over the issue. One exception is the recently adopted sanctuary policy, which prohibits county employees from assisting federal deportation efforts even in cases involving immigrants convicted of violent felonies. The county also runs a legal aid program for immigrants in federal detention. 

Though decision-making happens far away, the issue still feels visceral in South County because immigration is woven deeply into the region’s economy and culture. 

Roughly a third of South County residents are foreign-born, according to the U.S. Census. The regional economy generates $70 billion in cross-border trade. 

“You better believe a lot of the motel workers and the people cleaning your gardens and watching after your children — you better believe a lot of them are undocumented,” Chula Vista City Councilmember Michael Inzunza said in remarks delivered at last week’s Council meeting. “You’re talking about people who want the same American dreams we do.” 

Michelle Celleri, legal rights director for the nonprofit Alliance San Diego, said immigrants seeking legal help from her organization live in every part of San Diego County but especially in the county’s predominantly Latino southern half. 

Celleri said immigrants she works with are afraid, especially following the Trump administration’s recent withdrawal of legal protections granted by former President Joe Biden. She said asylum seekers and other immigrants showing up for required court appearances now face the likelihood federal agents will detain them at the courthouse. 

Last weekend, a rumor circulated on social media “saying don’t go to Mass on Sunday because ICE is going to raid churches,” Celleri said. “It didn’t happen, but a lot of the parishioners were scared.” 

Blanca Cinthia Vazquez, who runs a day-care in her Chula Vista home, said emotions are running high in her neighborhood – and feelings are complicated. “It’s sad seeing all these people being deported…and families being separated,” she said. “I know they’re supposed to be here legally. But they should have had a different way of getting them out. I’m just sad in my heart.” 

Roughly two-thirds of District 1 residents are Latino. Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one. Still, it’s not a given Aguirre’s sudden focus on immigration will benefit her campaign. 

District 1 voters shifted right in the November election, according to an analysis conducted by Voice of San Diego and other media partners. The rightward shift was more pronounced in South County than in any other part of San Diego – and even more pronounced in precincts close to the border with a high proportion of Latino voters. 

South County voters in a panel convened by Voice late last year to discuss the election cited lack of border enforcement as a major reason they shifted right. 

That sentiment echoes words I’ve heard from several South County Democratic politicians in recent months – always off the record – that voters in their districts voice increasing dissatisfaction with stances taken by some of the Democratic Party’s whiter, wealthier leaders, including leaders’ focus on reining in law enforcement. 

In an April 8 primary vote in the supervisor race, Aguirre performed best in South Park and other wealthier, left-leaning neighborhoods in San Diego far from the Latino heart of District 1, according to an analysis conducted by political analyst Mason Herron. McCann bested Aguirre in the border precinct of San Ysidro and came close to beating her in her own city, trailing by just five percentage points. 

Susan Heavilin, who writes a community news blog in the unincorporated community of Bonita east of Chula Vista, said that though Bonita is roughly 50 percent Latino and one-fifth foreign born, “I’m seeing a lot of signs and hearing a lot of talk about John McCann.” 

McCann won 56 percent of votes in Bonita in April. 

Heavilin said Bonita voters’ top priority in the supervisor race is avoiding what she called “Nora 2.0” — a reference to former District 1 Supervisor Nora Vargas. Heavilin said Vargas was unpopular in Bonita because, though she trumpeted her status as a pathbreaking Latina politician, she rarely appeared in the community or responded to constituent concerns. 

“We haven’t had a supervisor and we’ve been dying on the vine,” Heavilin said. 

Blanca Vazquez of Chula Vista said the barrage of immigration news has felt demoralizing. And it’s made casting her vote in the supervisor race even harder. 

“I’ll be so flat-out honest, it’s making me not even want to vote,” she said. “I’ve been praying about it…It’s very heartbreaking.” 

In Other News 

Efforts by two South County state legislators to speed up housing construction and expand education opportunities continue to advance in Sacramento. Bills authored by Assemblymember David Alvarez that would prevent cities from placing last-minute restrictions on already-approved housing projects and streamline permitting for public university housing in coastal areas passed the Assembly last week. A bill authored by State Sen. Steve Padilla that would expand apprenticeship programs and other career technical education pathways passed the Senate. 

Cuteness alert: On Wednesday, students at Mi Escuelita Therapeutic Preschool in Chula Vista will celebrate a special graduation. The school, operated by South Bay Community Services, provides free education and other services to preschool-age children who have experienced domestic violence. Since its founding in 2006, the school has served 850 local families.