by Chris Nava, VP for Political Action
Outside the gates of the Rancho Bernardo Country Club a group of over 150 gathered to  conduct a press conference and follow-up rally to protest the appearance of Arizona Sheriff Arpaio.  The rally, a collaborative effort on the part of many human rights organizations from the Latino community and [...]

EDC member Jenifer Leiendecker, whose writings are often seen in local newspapers, is featured in a story in the San Diego Reader, “Checkpoint Moolah” that discusses what she’s learned about checkpoints. Here’s a sample:
Police drunk-driving checkpoints are big business. Just ask the City of Escondido, which has been racking up profits courtesy of federal grants [...]

By Chris Nava
The news of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s incursion into North County as a guest of a Rancho Bernardo conservative group spread rapidly among anti Arizona SB 1070 actvist groups who see his appearance as an audacious intrusion into southern California to spread his brand of extreme anti-immigrant messages.
Maricopa County’s Sheriff Arpaio has gained [...]

El Grupo, a coalition of community-based organizations in North County, has issued a travel advisory recommending that people who exhibit a “so-called ‘Latino appearance’ should educate themselves about their rights before venturing into the City of Escondido.”
The advisory noted that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are riding with Escondido police on patrol, which [...]

Logan Jenkins, columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, has written a column about the “fine line” that Escondido Police and agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) must walk as they work together. He points out that while police work to build trust, ICE agents succeed on fear. He concludes his column by [...]

Andrea Guerrero, an immigration law expert from the American Civil Liberties Union who spoke to EDC at its June 12 meeting, told the group that efforts to control illegal immigration into the United States are compromising civil liberties and rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens. Guerrero also said that the agencies enforcing immigration laws [...]

A group of activists, including members of EDC, rallied outside the Solana Beach offices of Congressman Brian Bilbray Friday, June 4 to protest his televised comments that illegal immigrants can be identified by their clothing or the shoes they wear. A large number of old shoes were dropped at Bilbray’s office. “We want to match [...]

EDC President Paul McNamara’s commentary about the Escondido City Council’s failure to show leadership in addressing the immigration issues has been published in the North County Times. Here’s a sample:
This is clearly a failure by the City Council to address an issue that is of concern to its residents. Not discussing it further fuels [...]